Today's Scripture Reading (September 26, 2020): Ezra 8
Is it possible
that we are possessions of someone? I know, in our current environment, these
are not pleasant words. In the shadow of an ever-present memory of the missteps
we have made with slavery, we want to believe that we are the makers of our own
destiny and the masters of our own lives. But, at the same time, we are also
people who owe our existence to those around us and, at least in some way, we
belong to them. One of the hardest things about the current COVID-19 mask
debate is that wearing a mask is not something we do for ourselves. I wear a
mask because I owe it to you and I want to protect you. And I belong to you; I
am your possession, at least in a minor way.
Ezra's words to
the Levites echo those of Isaiah, "Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the articles of
the Lord's house" (Isaiah 52:11). Ezra looks at the wealth of silver and gold, which had been freely
given for the Temple, but he understands that the real treasure was the men who
would serve in the Temple. They were the descendants of Levi, and Ezra reminds
them that they were consecrated to God from the very beginning, just like the silver
and gold that would be used in the Temple. These men were the possession of God,
and they needed to "come out" from among the rank and file and be
pure.
Ezra's words
contain a message that the contemporary church needs to hear. Peter reissues
the command of Ezra and Isaiah for the Christian Church.
As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by
humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones,
are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy
priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus
Christ (1 Peter 2:4-5).
You belong to
God and to each other. We are the possessions of someone else. That means we
need to live our lives with that fact in mind, concentrating on the task that God
has set before us, and understanding our responsibility to those living around
us. It is time that the Christian Church began to examine what it might mean
for them to "come out and be pure" and to understand what Ezra meant
when he spoke the words "You as well as the articles are consecrated to
the Lord."
The biggest
problem that the world has with the Christian Church is that the church has forgotten
to do just that. We have forgotten to whom we belong and that we are commanded to
be salt and light in a world that needs it. We are to respond to the world with
the love that God will place inside us, bringing unity and healing, and not
division, wherever it is that God, the one to whom we belong, places us.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Ezra
9
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