Ezra 9: Inbetween-ness – A Reprise
Wednesday, September 18, 2024
Written on February 2, 2010 and posted on February 3, 2012 as a Favorite.
About six months ago we looked at both Chapters 8 and 10 of Ezra to see what happened as the scattered nations drew themselves back together for their long and dangerous journey home. Today we look at what takes place between those book ends. Word has arrived that the hoped-for journey will be taken and the people realize that there is an obstacle to that return: they have intermarried with non-believers and, according to their explicit laws, they must rectify this situation. The measure taken by the Hebrew people seems harsh by our standards today; yet we can take this story as an opportunity to evaluate our own actions when we find ourselves in a state in inbetween-ness. When we are neither here nor there we are in a vulnerable position, we are in danger of losing ourselves – or our way to God.
The Jewish people established a regimen in order that they not forget Yahweh in their passage from life to death. Sometimes these rules were too difficult to follow. Sometimes the rules took on a life of their own. Coming from this tradition, we who are Christians have the need to investigate the rules we live by – in order that we not throw away something that is precious – in order that the rule not become more important than God. As Christians, we must be aware that as we make transitions from one point to another, we are in danger of focusing too much on the past or too much on the future at the expense of not knowing who or why we exist, at the cost of fouling the relationships that are so important to how we live and behave.
And so we pray . . . Good and gracious God, we are never quite certain of how to shift from one track to another as we shift and move with life. Our judgment may become fogged by our concern for legacy. Our vision may become blurred as we search for new alliances. When we are adrift as we swing from one stage to the next, we question once again. Is this path too broad that we travel and too easy? Is it too narrow and too stifling? Help us to see more clearly which way we are to go, why we are to proceed, how we are to decide. Keep the people in our lives more important than the rules. And keep the rules as simple as your one supreme commandment: Love your God above all gods, and love one another as I have loved you. Keep us ever in mind we pray. Amen.
Image from: http://www.dezeen.com/2011/09/09/reading-between-the-lines-by-gijs-van-vaerenbergh/
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