"So I failed Spanish"

Scripture reading, Nehemiah 8:1-10

When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, all the people assembled as one man in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel.
So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. He read aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of men, women, and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.
Ezra the scribe stood on a high wooden platform built for the occasion. Beside him on his right stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah and Maaseiah; and on his left were Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hshum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam.
Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
The Levites- Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Josabad, Hanan and Pelaiah- instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. They read from the book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read.
Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is sacred to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.”
For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.
Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
Sermon
I failed a class once. It was in high school, my sophomore year. Spanish. It was weird because I ended up being pretty good at Spanish, but you know what, if you don’t do your homework or pay attention in class you can be pretty sure of the outcome. Of course, during the semester when my parents asked me about the class I told them the same thing I was telling myself, that I was doing fine; but that was a lie.
I hope that this first sermon goes better than that first Spanish class.
If anyone cried because of my first sermon I would be pretty disappointed. I would. I want my first sermon to be good; I want all of you to think, man, I sure am glad we gave that young guy a chance. I sure am glad our search committee found him, I sure am glad he is here.
But crying is exactly what Ezra’s congregation did.
Maybe he just preached for too long…I will have to make a note not to do that.
Maybe his scripture passage was boring…I will have to make a note not to do that also.
But maybe it was something else.
I know that the longer this service lasts the longer it takes to get the rest of your day started, or the longer the line at the Red Lobster is going to be. I know that if this service goes over than somebody is going to be late for either soccer practice or football or dance or something. We are so busy these days; our Sabbath is rarely a day of rest. So maybe Ezra shouldn’t have gone on from early morning until midday. Or maybe he should have added some great story or good joke so he wouldn’t be so boring.
But maybe it was something else that made the people cry.
Maybe it wasn’t his fault at all…not his fault, but the fault of the book that he read from. In our scripture this morning Ezra read from the book of the Law of Moses. Maybe it would have been better if he had Psalm 23: “For the Lord is my Shepherd… (and) when I walk through the valley of the Shadow of Death I shall fear no evil.” I like that one. It can be so comforting.
But the Bible often does something different, something more than comfort us. Not only does the Bible show us who God is, but it also shows us who we truly are. Sometimes it can be like a mirror up to our faces, like a photograph where the light is all wrong and the angle is misguided and we end up looking older, balder, and 10 pounds heavier than we look when we suck in, comb forward, and smile.
For Nehemiah’s community, there were many who had just returned from Exile, who had lived among the heathen Babylonians, living lives of captivity yes, but also lives among the un-pure, the un-Biblical, the un-Kosher. They had picked up bad habits, a new language, a new culture, and extra wives.
They stood condemned by the Law of Moses.
And maybe we don’t have extra wives or husbands but we do stand here in this church, this place of holiness, purity, in God’s house…condemned by the law as well. This place, where we stand in awe of a perfect God and so become aware of our imperfections. Our imperfections, our heathenness, our selfishness, our impurities.
Here we worship the God who commands us to be the salt of the earth, and we must see ourselves and how we have settled to “just fit in.” Our busyness today and on other days at the cost of Sabbath observance and self-care is only one example.
As here we worship the God who created the world and here we are reminded how we have polluted the world. Polluted the world that God has trusted us to take care of.
Here we worship a God who renewed and freed the Hebrew people from slavery and captivity, and we are reminded of how many are still limited by poverty, homelessness, those who are slaves to their jobs, slaves to the rat race; living by the law of every man and woman for him/her self rather than the law of love your neighbor as yourself.
Here we worship a God who urged us not to judge each other, while we often stand in condemnation of friends, family, and others.
This book, this book reveals our brokenness so we should cry and weep as the Israelites did at the Water Gate.
Because this book calls us out, this book calls us sinners.
Our reading from Nehemiah presents a group of people so convicted of their brokenness that on hearing God’s word they wept, but do you ever weep, do I ever weep?
The newly returned Israelites did not rejoice as they heard the Law and did not find comfort but conviction. They did not rejoice as they gathered by the Water Gates, no they mourned as their sins were read aloud, while their short comings were revealed at the Water Gates, they mourned.
And we should mourn too.
The thing is, while the Bible is not just like Chicken Soup for the Soul, while it sometimes is a book that we would rather keep to the drawer in our Hotels, leave it dusty on the shelf, this Bible of ours is the Good News.
It is the Good News because seeing our brokenness means that we stop ignoring the fact that we mess up sometimes. Maybe then we can start making some real changes.
I am here to say that we believe in a God who can see our sins whether they appear on the front page, are read aloud at the Water Gates, or show up on a report card…but this God who created us, who knows our sin, offers not condemnation, but repentance, redemption, and reconciliation.
Repentance, because our brokenness is just that…brokenness.
Redemption, because life in brokenness cannot bring the happiness that new life can bring.
And reconciliation, because the God who created us wants to be in relationship with us. The life of Jesus Christ is a testimony to that truth.
Happiness lies in living life as the God who created us asks us to live.
It’s really hard, I know. It doesn’t really ever get very easy, but we have to trust in God’s forgiveness, we have to be honest about it or nothing will ever get better.
It’s natural to hide our brokenness I think. I certainly hid my failing grade in Spanish. I didn’t want to face the facts and I know I didn’t want my parents to see. I walked through the door that afternoon with my report card in my hand and I was so scared. When they saw it they didn’t know what to do. They didn’t say anything for a while, I knew they hadn’t forgotten, believe me, I knew they hadn’t forgotten about it, but I had to wait until after supper to hear the verdict. It was a long talk. I acted just as you would expect a future minister to act…just as it happened in the book of Nehemiah… I blamed someone else.
“I know, but Mom and Dad, you’ve got to believe me, it’s not my fault. This teacher, she hates me, and she doesn’t do anything. And then there’s Andrew who sits next to me, he’s always distracting me. It’s not my fault Mom, Dad, get mad at them, maybe you should go talk to my teacher.”
Fortunately, though it seemed unfortunate at the time, my parents didn’t buy it.
If you want to hear more about it you can ask my sister, she eavesdropped on the whole thing from the balcony.
But the book of Nehemiah shows a time when they did buy it. In an effort to cleanse the sins of the Israelite community Ezra the priest and scribe, and Nehemiah the governor blame the foreigners. At one point in Chapter 13 Nehemiah beats and pulls out the hair of some of the men who had married foreign women.
Rather than look inward, rather than blame themselves, Nehemiah chronicles a classic example of scapegoating, a popular practice throughout history: don’t blame me, blame them.
As Germany struggled through economic hardship, deflated morale, and harsh restrictions imposed by foreign nations they found a ready scapegoat in the Jews, the Gypsies, and others.
As the United States was overcome by the fear of Japanese military force we forced innocent Japanese Americans into camps against their will.
And today, in Kennesaw GA legislation may be enforced to prevent apartment owners from renting to illegal immigrants.
As we are filled by fear of terrorists' threats, we too often point fingers at easy targets rather than look inward.
Yes, I should have studied Spanish, but don’t blame me.
Don’t blame me, blame them.
Here in the figures of Nehemiah and Ezra, in this chosen community of Israelites we can see ourselves. Rather than face ourselves in the mirror, we look for someone to point at.
Rather than see ourselves, see our brokenness, we strive to place blame on someone else’s shoulders.
Rather than confront our brokenness, lets pick on the easiest target.
We don’t seem to trust in forgiveness that much. Do we.
We don’t really believe that God will love us anyway. Do we.
That Good News is just a little too good.
But here it is in Nehemiah, here our sins are pointed out and revealed. Here our condition is diagnosed, and here again, God invites us to see ourselves because in confronting our sin dead on, forgiveness and new life will be found.
God invites us once again to look ourselves in the eye, and trust that on the other side of sin, on the other side of brokenness, on the other side of our shortcomings, we will find forgiveness. God loves us that much, just as we are, and God invites us to change, to point our finger of judgment at ourselves; and to be freed.
Do not be grieved for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
-Amen.