Good morning. We have two readings today that describe a gathering of God’s people around reading His Word, they’re read together this Sunday to give us a nice Biblical compare/contrast on how to react when you hear God’s word, and especially when it is convicting. It’s also opportunity to reflect on a few traditions we pick up from their worship practices which we practice today.
The first lesson was from Nehemiah, where Ezra reads and teaches from the Torah. A lot of people notice he read at the East Entrance of Jerusalem known as the Water Gate, but the name’s a coincidence. Hearing the story of God’s rescue of His people, and God’s hope that the people would obey Him and not serve other gods, the word cuts them to their heart.
The second lesson comes from Jesus first sermon back in Nazareth in the first year or so of his ministry. He preaches a sermon on Isaiah 61 and announces to His hometown people that He is the promised Messiah. Their reaction was not to be amazed or cut to the heart, but resentment. Both scenes are public, both are moments of great expectation, and both begin with the same action: the reading and teaching of Scripture. But what becomes clear is that it is not only important to hear God’s Word, but for God’s people hear and respond to it.
The people of Israel in Nehemiah’s day had been through a lot. They had just returned from exile in Babylon, and are rebuilding Jerusalem. Ezra’s in charge of worship, Nehemiah’s the governor. To celebrate finally rebuilding the wall to protect the city of Jerusalem, Ezra brings out Moses’s writings, and reads from a giant lectern. (what we call that ->)
And as soon as he opens it, everyone stands up, pretty much just like we stand for the Gospel. Amazingly, though he read and taught what it meant for hours, v. 3 says, “The ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.” That’s enthusiasm. They had spent years as slaves in Babylon, surrounded by foreign words, foreign gods, foreign ways. Now they are home again, and they are hearing their story of how God rescued them from Egypt, and able now to actually apply it to today. (their today, our 445 BC). The neat thing is, just like us, and just like you will see in the synagogue in Jesus day, they look at what God gave us in his Word centuries ago, and seek to apply it to today.
And when they hear it, something happens. The people begin to weep, because the Word has pierced them. They realize how far they’ve drifted from God’s commands as a people. And that’s always what happens when we truly hear God’s Word. It tells the truth about who we are.
But that’s not where God leaves them. Nehemiah and Ezra announce, This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep. They tell the people to go and celebrate, to eat and drink and share with those who have nothing prepared. “Do not be grieved,” they say, “for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
That’s the balance every believer needs. We should actually consider it a joy when we are pricked to the heart by God’s Word, or the Holy Spirit, because it shows how God is truly working in our lives to make us more like Him. God shows us our sin so that we might rejoice in His mercy.
Next, let’s turn to that other assembly. In Luke 4, Jesus returns to Nazareth, the town where He grew up. He goes to the synagogue, as He always does on the Sabbath and is asked to lead the service.
You may not know this, but God’s people in Jesus’ time had a lectionary (yearly cycle of readings based on the religious calendar) very much like we have today. They had one reading from the books of Moses, and one from the prophets every week, and the person reading would then explain the readings. Jesus stands up to read, and the prophet reading was from Isaiah 61.
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor,
Then Jesus rolls up the scroll, hands it back to the attendant, and sits down. Preachers sadly don’t do that today. Everyone’s eyes are fixed on Him. And He says, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing,” meaning, I am the one Isaiah spoke of, and my ministry is here.
At first, the people responded positively to his sermon. They didn’t reject him (hometown boy) until later. Luke says they “marveled at the gracious words that were coming from His mouth.” But when Jesus begins to apply the message to show them that God’s GRACE extends beyond Israel, to Gentiles like, their admiration turns to anger. They rise up in fury and drive Him out of town. And the difference in the lessons lies not in the message, but in the hearing.
The people of Nazareth and the people of Nehemiah’s day both heard God’s Word, correcting their sin and GRACE, but they responded very differently. One group was cut to the heart and then filled with joy.
The other was confronted and grew angry, because they wanted to keep hating the people they hated. It’s a reminder that hearing Scripture is never neutral.
God’s Word always asks for a response.
Nehemiah told the people to stop mourning and to celebrate, because “the joy of the Lord is your strength.” It wasn’t a shallow kind of joy, pretending everything was fine. It was the joy that comes from knowing that although we have turned our backs on God, God not abandoned us, but He has forgiven His people. And that same joy is ours.
The Bible is not just ancient history. It’s living reality. That’s why we gather here, week after week, to hear what God has done, and understand what it means today so we can let it reshape us to go out and live it. When we leave church, the question shouldn’t be “Was the sermon interesting?” or “Was the music good?” The question is, “What is God asking of me now that I’ve heard His Word?”
Maybe it’s to forgive someone. Maybe it’s to speak lovingly where we’ve been silent. Maybe it’s to take part in the mission of Christ in our community, to proclaim good news to the poor, to lift up the weary, to share what we have with those who need. When the Word is heard and received, it always leads outward.
So let us listen with open hearts, rejoice in His mercy, and live out the Word we’ve heard today. Amen.
