Sermons

Fifteenth Sunday After Trinity
Sunday 19 September 2004 at 6.30pm (Choral Evensong)
Maureen Williams

Readings: Ezra 1

I'm preaching tonight on the reading from the Book of Ezra chapter 1. I suspect that the story we hear in Ezra about the release of God's people from slavery in Babylon, might not be as well known as the exodus from slavery in Egypt…. And the magnitude of what God is achieving in this part of Israel's history is something we may have missed.

The story of Ezra takes place at a dramatic time in Israel's history. In 587BC Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, invaded the country and captured Jerusalem. He destroyed the city and the temple, looting the temple treasury and taking its wealth. The leaders and many of the people were taken into exile, deported to Babylon to serve as slaves.

There they found a country of plenty with rich agricultural land, a wealthy civilization and a city of splendid buildings. But this counted for nothing to the exiles. They had lost all that was most precious to them and they longed with all their hearts for a return to Jerusalem, for the temple and all it stood for as the focus of their nationhood, the place where they worshipped their God. But in their fear, anger and deep sadness, there seemed to be no possibility that they or their descendants could ever return home.

This may seem to be ancient history, there are challenges in it for us. While we may not have to face the extremes of disasters that God's people had to cope with then, we don't have to look far to see that others do. All over the world today, for example in the Darfur region of the Sudan, refugees are being forced from their homes, separated from their communities because of persecution, war or political upheaval. It is not long since Hamideh worshipped with us. She had to leave Iran because of her Christian faith. All these people, like the Jewish exiles, must be longing for home.

Perhaps, on a smaller scale, we can see something of the same reflected in the ups and downs of our own walks with God - times when we feel distant and isolated from him. It may help us, to see God's answers to the exiles' prayers and the opportunities given to them for a new start; help us to go on learning to trust God, not only with global issues, but with our own everyday fears and anxieties.

We can learn from our ancestors in faith as they struggled to live as God's people in difficult circumstances, just as we seek to live in a way that shows our Christian identity, not only in our worshipping life, but in an often indifferent world.

Yet, we haven't to go further than the first verse of the reading to find reassurance. Through all Israel's difficulties, God is present; God is in control; God is fulfilling his promises - this time through a man who was not a Jew. Cyrus, Emperor of Persia. God can still change the hearts of people on the world stage and through them he can change the course of history - so let us remember to pray for leaders and governments today.

Cyrus changed the course of history for the Hews. In his first year as emperor, 539BC, after the Persian army defeated the Babylonians, God used Cyrus to make the words He had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah come true; prompted him to let the people return from exile and after long years in a foreign land, return to their homes and their own ways of worship.

The British Museum holds the Cyrus Cylinder. This cylinder describes Cyrus' policy of returning people and their gods to the countries they'd come from. It includes his request that, in return, they intercede for him. So it was Cyrus' policy to return exiles, but God who moved Cyrus' heart and God who was at work in his people.

In verse 5 God is moving hearts again, this time, the hearts of Jews who heard the call, caught the vision and decided to respond. They were the ones who were prepared to pull up their roots, go back, start again to re-build their country and in particular, rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.

God is moving hearts again in verse 6; this time moving the neighbours to give. Not all of them decided to return to Jerusalem. Some were moved to help by giving money, goods, animals and probably, their time. This may remind us of the New Testament image of the Body of Christ in which all our gifts combine to work out the plan God has for the Church and for the world.

But it is also a warning. For some people, captivity ended there, for others, the exile continued. They helped those who returned, but at this stage, did not take the step of returning themselves.

Are we ready to move on if we hear God's voice calling us to change and new beginnings OR are we tempted to settle in the "Babylon" of what has become comfortable and familiar ……even when sometimes, it may be less than God's ideal?

© St Edmund's Church, Roundhay - Charity Number 1131904