000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

222 Third Sunday after the Epiphany/Year C
sought to help members of the Jewish community maintain their Jewish
identity while making their way through the requirements of being a Persian
colony. The rebuilding of the Temple and the wall and other economic
reforms sought to stabilize the nation for two simultaneous social
purposes: to improve the quality of life in the Jewish community and to
fulfill their responsibilities to the Persian Empire.
At the time of the new moon festival, people assembled before the
Water Gate (on the east side of Jerusalem near the Temple). Women were
included as were “all who could hear with understanding,” that is, mature
young people. In its present context, this event in today’s reading took
place after the reconstruction of the wall to instruct the community in how
they should live in their newly secured city for all to enjoy blessing (Neh.
7:73b–8:2; cf. 6:15–19).
Ezra read from the Torah from early morning to midday while
standing on a platform, perhaps a precursor to the pulpit. When he
unrolled the Torah, the people stood, and after the scribe blessed God,
they prostrated themselves in worship and in commitment to practicing
Torah in revitalized community (Neh. 8:3–6). The Levites passed among
the people giving “the sense” so that the community “understood the
reading” (8:7–8). Presumably these interpreters were helping listeners
apply the teaching of Torah to the issues discussed at the beginning of this
comment.
The people initially wept, probably in mourning as an act of repentance
for not having walked in the ways of Torah. But Ezra instructed them not
to weep but to celebrate and feast for the new moon festival as they originally
planned, and to send portions of their food to the poor and to
strangers as the Torah said (Neh. 8:9–12; cf. Deut. 14:22–29; 26:12–15).
Ezra thus points to consistent obedience to Torah as the path toward a stable,
responsible, and just future.
A preacher could use this passage to help a congregation understand
what should happen in preaching by pointing to the minister as
a kind of scribe and Levite making sense of sacred tradition. Going
beyond, the books of Ezra-Nehemiah raise the question of the degree to
which it is acceptable for a congregation to cooperate with the interests
of social forces beyond the congregation (e.g., government, transnational
corporations).
Today’s lection is paired with Luke 4:14–20. Nehemiah 8:1–12 tells of
Ezra interpreting a sacred text to help revitalize the community. Luke pictures
Jesus as a faithful Jewish interpreter in a similar effort.