22nd Sunday after Trinity
[Neh. 2:11-20; Rom. 5:15-21; Mk. 4:26-29]
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our reading from Nehemiah today feels rather remote in time and space: a historical event in the 5th century BC; what could it possibly mean to us today?
We perhaps don't realise, nor appreciate the full extent of what had happened.
Imagine, your holy of holies, not damaged, but gone!
The Roman Catholic Vatican, gone!
The Lutheran Wittenberg, gone!
The Greek Orthodox Mount Athos, gone!
The Reformed Geneva, gone!
All those important religious sites, gone!
Could we ever imagine Jerusalem, the Holy City, the city we see all too often on the news, for let's admit it for all the wrong reasons...gone, just, gone!
Temple, gone, walls gone, people, wells, market stalls, pets, shops, happiness, sadnesses, faith, hope...and everything else, gone!
Nehemiah this morning also feels rather political, taking into consideration the present situation in the Middle East, notably the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. So without being a historian or a politician, what could this text actually mean to us here this morning?
How about this:
Jerusalem, the Holy City, with or without its walls, is every single one of us.
We're the living stones built into the City of God, God's Church, with Christ as our Cornerstone.
Our walls too have been breached, from without ánd from within; all of us are breached, chipped away, slowly and painfully; we too are called to time and time again inspect our walls and evaluate what needs rebuilding, we too are called to admit we need to be restored, we too need God's uplifting and healing hand, even when others scoff and even when we ourselves are incredulous. We too need to be made living stones in a living Holy City, the Church, again.
And we all are in need of this restoration, the whole world is; there isn't a single individual soul living on this planet, not one in the seven billion plus people on Earth, that isn't in need of salvation, of rebuilding, of love and mercy!
We're all connected in our humanity, and we're all equal in human fallibility and sin, we all make mistakes and need forgiveness. None of us can claim to be better than anyone else, we're all, every one of us, inclined to only look out for numero uno, to be selfish and self-centred and to let ambition or greed or envy take the upper hand, and to forget our neighbour, Creation, God. This is what connects us all as a human family. In theology speak we call this Original Sin, concupiscence.
Adam's original disobedience resides in us all. In fact, the Hebrew word adam literally means 'man, human being', as such it includes everyone!
It might sound very depressing and pessimistic...but how about this...we're all equal! In good days and in bad!
HOWEVER,
What connects us even more, is God's grace and love for His people, all of His people and all of His creatures.
As Saint Paul wrote to the tiny congregation of Christians in first century Rome, one man's trespass may have brought death into humanity and led -past tense!- to condemnation for all, but one man's act of righteousness leads -present tense!- to justification and life eternal for all. (v. 19)
Grace will always trump condemnation, forgiveness will always beat judgement, life will always overcome death!
It all seems unbelievable, doesn't it, just like Jesus says in the Parable of the Growing Seed '...he does not know how.' (v. 27b)
Many people don't believe it, they don't believe that God would forgive them. They reckon their sin or sins are so great that God is unwilling or even unable to forgive them.
Not only is that untrue, it's also very self-absorbed and even lazy and prideful.
Perhaps they, we, would do well to look at Nehemiah's example, and without great gestures or tools, and setting aside individual pride and ignoring the comments of others, step out of our self-pity and self-wallowing, and listen to God's encouraging invitation to honest reflection, to survey our damaged walls in a open-minded way.
What's more, we do well to listen to His promise of restoration and rebuilding.
Because after all, we need to realise that Saint Paul wasn't just making some grand optimistic statement, he wasn't making some personal suggestion on what forgiveness is, no, he was stating the simple fact of the Gospel, the Good News of God for all people, that grace and justification not only could be ours, but are ours, and will be ours time and time again.
As the Small Catechism emphasises in the explanation of the Third Article of the Creed: '...He [God] forgives daily and richly all sins to me and all believers...and will give to me and all believers in Christ everlasting life. This is most certainly true.'
'Most certainly true'; not a personal opinion, not a suggestion, not a hope, but a true thing, a free gift for all, every single day!
And the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the love of God and in Christ Jesus. Amen