How Much Is Enough?
AM Psalm 45 • PM Psalm 47, 48
Ezra 5:1-17 • Rev. 4:1-11 • Matt. 13:1-9
When was the last time you heard a sermon based on the book of Ezra? Likely answers include “never” and “I can’t remember.” But we know the story Ezra tells, maybe having heard it read to us from an illustrated Bible story book. It is a story of the return of Israelites from exile in Babylon (later Persia and then modern-day Iran) and the rebuilding of Solomon’s temple and the walls of Jerusalem. This is one Bible story the gist of which is confirmed by archaeological evidence. That knowledge has trickled down to the world history courses we took in school, but don’t let that put you off. The passage for today (and for that matter, the whole short books of Ezra and its companion, Nehemiah,) gives us much to think about.
As revealed in chapters that come after our reading for today, this is not a straightforward story of good Israelites forced to leave their Promised Land and bad Babylonians like King Nebuchadnezzar, who destroyed the temple and sacked Jerusalem. For one thing, more Israelites stayed in Judah than left, and the returnees considered the stayers not to be fully Jewish, in part because many of them had violated the Mosaic purity laws, most especially the prohibition against intermarriage with non-Jews.
In the 5th century, BCE, Judah was a client state of Persia and constituted, along with Samaria, a Persian province named “Beyond the [Euphrates] River.” About a half century into the Babylonian exile, King Cyrus the Great decreed that the Jewish exiles should return home to rebuild the temple and the city walls. After several false starts, King Artaxerxes appointed a returnee named Ezra to lead the rebuilding of the temple and preserving Jewish worship based on obedience to the Torah] (7:21).
Ezra was “a scribe skilled in the law of Moses” (7:6b) and was descended from a prominent priestly family, which gave him the right pedigree for leadership. Not only did he help launch a massive building program, but, as the spiritual leader of post-exilic Jews, he created and sustained “a distinct community of Torah obedience in the midst of a Persian empire that is...supportive of such a community, so long as it adheres to the large imperial expectations.” * Membership in this community was disputed, with returnees (who had clout with the empire) insisting that they alone were sufficiently Jewish to rebuild the temple and participate in temple worship, including the first Passover to be celebrated after completion of the temple restoration.
Ezra was a strong advocate of the “purity codes” found in the books of the Pentateuch. Among other things, they helped define who was in and who was out of the Jewish community. In some Christian communities, parts of these codes play that role to this day. When Ezra learned of the widespread practice of intermarriage, not only among those who had stayed behind, but also by some former exiles as well, he went through all the acts of confession and repentance on behalf of the “the people.” Then, surrounded by “a very great assembly of men, women, and children,” one of the leading men of Israel said to Ezra: “So now let us make a covenant with our God to send away all these wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord [Ezra] and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God....Then Ezra stood up and made the leading priests, the Levites, and all Israel swear that they would do as had been said. So they swore.” (10:1-5) I dare say you will not find that passage in any children’s Bible story book.
***
Beyond the gender issues that arise here, the first thing that comes to my mind by way of comparison is the mass separation of immigrant children from their parents at our southern border. Walter Brueggemann suggests another thought experiment that invites an alternative reading of the Torah to the one that Ezra adopted: “How much Jewishness is enough Jewishness? And for Christians: How much Christianity is enough Christianity? And for whites, how much patriotism is enough...etc., etc., etc. For the insiders in any crisis over sameness, there is never enough...except our own.” **
Written by Bob McMath
I am thankful to be part of a congregation where the priest’s invitation to communion goes like this: “Whoever you are, and wherever you are on your pilgrimage of faith, you are welcome in this place, and you are welcome at God’s table.” May we all live into that invitation.
* Walter Brueggemann, An Introduction to the Old Testament: The Canon and Christian Imagination (2003), p. 364.
** Ibid. p. 374.