Going Home
Ezra 1:1-4, 8:21
February 17, 2021 anno Domini
I want to take you back to the days of Ezra.
You were born in Babylon, but you aren’t a Babylonian. Since you’re living in Babylon you speak whatever Babylonians speak, probably Persian. You went to Euphrates Elementary school and your best buds are Babylonians. While your family has a few weird religious practices at home you regularly worship at Marduk Assembly. You sing Babylonian songs, but occasionally your parents hum different tunes.
Then one day, when you are fifteen years old, your mom and dad say, “We’re going home. King Cyrus has announced it. Ezra has proclaimed it. Within a few years we are going home to Jerusalem.”
You thought Babylon was your home, but now you are heading to Judah. Your thought Persian was your mother tongue, but now all your parents speak is Hebrew. Your friends become your enemies and your parents insist you quit playing those Babylonian records in your bedroom and start chanting the Psalms. Even your diet changes and some of the good old foods like crab legs aren’t allowed.
You are going home, but to do so you need to leave what you thought was home.
In 722 BC the Kingdom of Israel, the northern Kingdom of God’s people was taken captive by Assyria because of their rebellion against Yahweh – the Lord. Yahweh used Israel as a lesson for Judah in the south. Don’t be rebellious. Don’t fool around with the fun and sexy gods. Don’t get in bed with the nations or the government. Judah didn’t listen. Babylon overtook Assyria and then overtook Judah. In 605 BC Nebuchadnezzar started taking the first of the Judeans captive to Babylon. In 587 BC he destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. Then, like the cartoons where you see the little fish eaten by the middle size fish swallowed by the giant fish – the Persian Empire swallowed up the Babylonian empire which had swallowed up the Assyrian empire. The Hebrew people were nobody in the world – they were slaves to Assryia, Babylon, and finally Persia. They were nobody except to Yahweh. The Lord was their Father and they were His children whom He loved even as He hated what they did.
From 722 to 538 BC the Israelites were exiles. From 605 to to 533 BC the Judeans were stuck in Babylon. In 538 … read Ezra 1:1-4
Nearly 200 years of exile for the north and 70 years for the south end with Cyrus’ proclamation. How much of your Americanism would you lose living in a foreign land for 70 years? How much of your language would your family lose over 2 or 3 generations in a different country? How much of your faith and religious habit if you lived where there was no Lutheran, no Christian church?
You might wonder what we can learn from the book of Ezra. The writers of Hebrews tells us (read Hebrews 11:13) The Saints of God, the Saints of Israel and Judah and Saint, you live as strangers and exiles on earth as you journey toward the new heavens and the new earth.
You were born outside of God’s Kingdom. You were born in exile, under the devil’s rule, bound to sin, subject to death. Your life, apart from Christ, would be a life of slavery, death, and hell. When you are baptized it is as if God are, “You are no longer from here. You are now subject of a different Kingdom with a different King. From this day forward I will lead you back home – where there will be no more sin, no more death, no more tears. You’re going home where you will once again be made righteous in my image. You, like Adam, before the fall into sin, will have perfect faith toward Me and perfect love toward those around you.”
This is where the history of Ezra gives us wisdom. The whole life of the Christian from baptism until death, or from the beginning of faith to the last day, is a journey of going home. From the moment God gives you new birth in the waters of baptism He creates in you a new heart, gives you a new language and a new culture. But it is alien to you. As a sinner you feel at home in the world, but as a Saint you’re not home yet. You’re going home.
When the Lord turns us toward home He turns us away from the ways of the world. This is what repent means – to turn away from sin and turn toward God. Everyone who is of the world lives for himself. The Christian lives by faith in God and love of neighbor. For the unbeliever it not only okay, but good to lie, hate, hurt, divide, destroy, and oppress. God has given you a new tongue to speak the truth in love – the truth of sin and the truth that Jesus is the only way to forgiveness and freedom from yourself. The unbeliever lives for his pleasure no matter the cost to himself or others. You live for God’s pleasure and your neighbors good.
This is not an easy journey or easy life. For you speak the language of the world too well. It is the culture in which you live. The world’s liturgy begins in the name of me, myself, and I. God’s liturgy is in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The world never confesses sin or fault. You live by breathing out the poison of your sins and inhale the forgiveness of God, the breath of life. The world says, “You deserve whatever you can take.” God says, “You deserve nothing, but I have given you everything you need for life – above all my Son and His forgiveness.”
In Ezra 8, as the journey home begins which Ezra leads, he writes, (read Ezra 8:21 & 23)
They began their journey with fasting and prayer. The one Word that most people associate with Lent is fasting, which for people in Stearns county means fish fries every Friday. The reason Christians fast during Lent is to teach us discipline for the journey, to say no to the world, to our loves and pleasures. Perhaps this Lent you could fast from Television or Facebook for don’t those things just lead you in the way of the world causing you fear and anger and coveting. You can fast from food or from drink. Say “No” to yourself. It’s good practice for the Christian life. Usually when you say “yes” to your own desires you’re giving in to sin, so practice saying, “No” by fasting. Humble yourself before God for the journey. Ezra is going to lead us home to where Christ dwells with the Father and we will finally live in the place where God intended us always to be – in perfect faith toward Him and in perfect love toward our neighbor. Let’s go home with Ezra, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to the city of God, in the name of Jesus. Amen.