As One Man (Ezra 3:1)

 


Thursday, October 3, 2024


Psalm 78:16-38

Ezra 2:64-3:8

Colossians 2:1-7


As One Man (Ezra 3:1)


The people of God have been freed from exile and returned to their homeland. Having been given a little time to go back to their ancestral towns and settle in, they now assemble in the holy city of Jerusalem. The whole purpose of this exercise, as explained by God and repeated by Cyrus, is so that they may rebuild the temple and resume worship.


To have such a vast number of people assemble “as one man” is very impressive. I wonder if there is anything these days that could have the same number of Australians gather together in solid commitment to a common purpose. But these returned exiles have had a poor time of things; while many of them lived in material luxury under the Babylonians, there was also much spiritual persecution (just look at Daniel’s experience).


Do we have a similar situation today? To live in Australia means to be the wealthiest of our class. Our poorest are richer than the poorest overseas; our middle class is richer than the middle class most anywhere else; and we have some of the most fabulously wealthy people in the world. Our material wealth is impressive.


Yet if you speak your Christian beliefs in public, beliefs that fall outside a very narrow category of acceptable speech, then you won’t get very far. Religious freedom is restricted to what you do in private. Daniel was allowed to pray in private, but in public he had to pray to the king of Babylon; he refused, and was thrown to the fire and to the lions.


Christian unity is a theme pressed into us page after page of the Bible. St Paul, in today’s second lesson, writing from prison, prays that Christians may be united in love – because this is how we may have the full riches of complete understanding of the mystery of God hidden in Christ. The returned exiles, assembling in the ruins of the former temple, joined together “as one man” and brought about one of history’s greatest comeback stories.


Where do you experience division in the church? How might you find a way to heal the division and be united in love? What kind of mysteries might be revealed once we discover how to come together “as one man”?


God of blessed triunity, bring your people together as one body, so that we may be united in love, and bring your love to your hurting world.

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