Texts: Nehemiah 8:1-10; 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a; Luke 4:14-21
We’re having a baptism (at St Barnabas) this morning, and once again the Scriptures have come up trumps. It seems that whenever we have a baptism the Scriptures set for the day will somehow manage to be relevant. That probably says much about the central importance of baptism in itself.
Take, to start with, this morning’s reading from the little known Book of Nehemiah. Not the easiest book to love and enjoy – nor even to find! It is one of those books that majors on lists – usually lists of unpronounceable names of no earthly interest to any of us – and, we hope, not essential to our salvation! But in among all that terribly detailed and boring stuff, there is a wonderful story of human interest. And it is, in its own way, a baptismal story.
The captives have been set free. (Already bells are ringing, aren’t they?) Very many of our Old Testament lessons feature prophets warning about the coming exile, or telling the people in exile it serves them right for disobeying God, or promising that exile will not be for ever – God has not forgotten them – and the time is coming when God will redeem them from exile. Well, now he has. History records that the Persians came to power and knocked the Babylonians off their perch; and, for whatever reason of their own, the Persians decided to offer the Jewish people the right to leave and return to their own homeland.
The Jewish religious people, of course, saw the hand of God in this unexpected turnaround in their national fortunes. God, they believed, was using the Persian ruler, Cyrus, to effect God’s purposes, to fulfil God’s promise to rescue the people from captivity in Babylon. Isn’t that wonderful – isn’t that good news for the captives?
Well, history also records that not all of them thought so. In fact, only a minority of them thought so. Less than a third – and, you know, nothing has changed to this day. Less than a third of the people worldwide who, under Israeli law, are recognised as Jewish and therefore have the right to reside permanently in Israel , actually do live in Israel. When Cyrus said to the Jewish exiles, you are free to go, about 70 percent of them said thanks but no thanks. Isn’t that strange? Or is it just human?
We have to bear in mind that the exile had lasted about 70 years. So most if not all of those who had actually been taken from Israel as captives had died out in Babylon. Those who were now told they were free to go had been born in captivity – born in exile – in Babylon. They had lived all their lives there. They were, as we might put it, second or third generation Babylonians. They had assimilated. This was their life – they had known no other. Under Jewish law they were in exile, in captivity, separated from the holy city, etc., but that’s not how it felt to them in their everyday lives.
It was during this period that they discovered it was possible to worship the God of Israel in a foreign land. It’s generally agreed that it was during this period that much of the work of writing and editing the Hebrew Scriptures into something like we have them today took place. The concept of the synagogue developed here. In other words, they learned how to be faithful Jews in the everyday world, without the comfort and security of the Temple, and of the land of their fathers, the Promised Land of their faith.
What was there to go back to? A ruined city – a pile of rubble – in material terms, nothing. So perhaps we can understand why a majority of the so-called captives, when offered their freedom, declined the offer. They did not understand that they were CAPTIVES because by this time that’s not how it felt to them. Materially, they were better off in Babylon than they would be if they went back to the ruined city of Jerusalem.
Perhaps the real question, faced with such a choice, is why did the third go back to Jerusalem. And the answer can only make sense in religious terms. They went back because that was the land God had given their people. That was the land of the covenant. They were bound to God in that place – they were chosen by God to be a light to the world in that place, and so on. That is where God had chosen to meet them That is where, in our terms, the incarnation of God was made manifest. In short, they didn’t belong in Babylon, they belonged in Israel. They didn’t belong in captivity and exile, they belonged in freedom in their given homeland.
What we have here are two views of life. We might characterise the first as the material view of life – the practical, commonsense approach to life. Go where the money is, go where the comfortable life is to be found. And if you’re fortunate enough to be already in it, stay there. Stay within your comfort zone – stay with the familiar and the secure. That’s the way of the world – and most of us live that way without thinking about it too much.
Until something happens. Out of the blue, something terrible happens, perhaps, that makes us think about things in a different way. Or we are suddenly presented with an opportunity, and we have to decide whether to take it or not. Something makes us think at a deeper level- we have to ask ourselves questions that go below economics. They take us into the scary world of emotions, feelings, beliefs, hopes and fears. We ask ourselves who we are, what sort of a person am I? What is really important to me?
An obvious example is the number of expatriate New Zealanders who are economically far better off in London, or Spain or Dubai or somewhere. Thoroughly enjoying the high life – until one day they start to feel the tug of New Zealand – family- friends – familiar places- scenery – and they start to feel that they don’t really belong in London or Spain or Dubai. And they start to think of going back home. Not all of them, of course, not even a majority of them. Perhaps no more than a third. For them, what seemed like the Promised Land begins to feel like a place of exile, like Babylon. It is when they feel like captives that they will begin to seek freedom.
Jesus is something that happens in the lives of many people. When he returned home to Nazareth and went into the local synagogue, we can imagine the scene. His reputation had preceded him. St Luke tells us that, after his baptism and his time of testing in the wilderness, Jesus had been all over the place preaching in the local synagogues, “and everyone praised him”. So now he comes back to his hometown as the local boy who has made good. I would bet the place was packed – the level of excitement high. They wanted to see for themselves just how good this guy was – this son of the local carpenter.
And Jesus launches his campaign, so to speak, by reading a passage from Isaiah, by which he identifies himself as the one anointed and sent by God to announce the inauguration of the Kingdom of God, a new way of life on earth. What will it be like? Well, it doesn’t seem to have any direct relationship to what we call the standard of living. There is no mention of interest rates or GDP.. Instead, it involves giving sight to the blind and release for the captives. (That sounds familiar, doesn’t it?) Today’s passage finishes on a high note: All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.
But we know what happened next. As Jesus continued with his sermon, it became clear to them that he was suggesting that they were blind, that they were captives, that they needed to be set free. That went down rather badly. They had been born into their state, they did not feel the need for change. Who the hell did he thing he was?
It is in his name that we offer baptism. And the message is the same as it was in the time of Nehemiah, and in the time of Jesus. We have a choice. We can live at the surface of things, or in the depths. We can follow the money or the Lord. We can live a life of commonsense, practicalities, and even comfort. Or we can take the risk of accepting God’s offer of redemption from captivity and enter the new world of freedom that the Bible calls the Kingdom of God.
And when we choose the latter, the first thing to do is to remember Nehemiah’s advice to the people: 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.”
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