Nehemiah
I wish to draw your attention to an interesting character in the Bible called Nehemiah. He is called a "lesser" prophet because his book is short but his achievement in what he did for the lord was not in anyways less. The the book of Ezra and Nehemiah are the continuation of the 2 chronicles and chronologically both the books conclude a long period of prophetic struggle with the kingship that often failed to keep the faith and end up god turning God's face away.
Sometime late In the 6th century before Christ, the persian emperor destroyed all political dissent In the Middle East by sacking the city of Jerusalem and destroying the Temple (2 kings 25:9), Thereafter, the city of God was left in destitute for nearly a century and half when God raised a champion in Ezra and Nehemiah who together re-build the Temple and the wall of city. The second Temple stood for about another 500 years.
Ezra was commissioned to declare the Law before the people, to rededicate the remnants and the returned exiles; and to re build the Temple. This became the starting point for the great reform of Judaism. Jews thereafter turned decisively toward monotheism (worship of One God); began to read and commit to memorise the Scriptures; built synagogues all over the country and hired teachers to teach the people. In short, this gave rise to the Pharisees who eventually held a very tight inflexible theocratic hold on the people.
But a less glamorous job was assigned to Nehemiah. He declared that he was “the cup-bearer to the king.” Nehemiah’s job was to build the wall surrounding the city of Jerusalem of his time.
THE WALL
Bullding the Temple was symbolic and acts as a centre force for the nation but why did God raise Nehemiah to bulld the wall? What is the significance of the wall? What is the significance of the wall to us today? Let us explore these questions,
Nehemiah tells us that the foreigners in Jerusalem and surrounding areas were afraid that the Temple was being re-built. They were even more afraid when they saw the wall being re-built as well. A wall was seen as the first line of defence for the protection of the temple. It also meant control of tax and trade of the temple authorities who invariably acquired a vested interest in the economy, The wall established a boundary within which he Temple had authority; and the wall in many ways acted as a moral boundary; and in the spiritual sense the wall restricted the sacred space of the Temple.
Jesus is the new temple
The Temple that Ezra built was destroyed and re-built again by Herod, and it too was destroyed. And God raised a new Temple for all humanity in Jesus Christ. If Jesus Christ is our Temple, then the question of “what” is the boundary of this new Temple or the moral authority or sacred space is not the correct question but rather who is the moral boundary and authority of Jesus; and who creates that sacred space of this new Temple ... these are the new questions we need to ask.
This world we live in was created by God Almighty and God made it good and abundantly good. However, the presence of good and evil always challenges us in this world. Hence, it is into this sort of world that we, God's children, are called to go forth and proclaim the good news.
Our Part to Growth
A Church that does not plan and prepare for the future may not die but it may not grow. A Church that does not grow is like a seed that does not germinate, it is no different from a seed that is dead. I put it bluntly to you; a Church that does not grow is no different from a Church that is dead. One who cannot give fruit and one who does not give fruit are the same. We cannot afford to be a static Church/community; we need to develop an internal dynamism that must propel us forward. We need to go out there in the name of Jesus to proclaim the good news, and draw all people to him. Especially theological college like "Gurukul with Bold theological vision" are the voice that stands in the frontier of the wall that calls for the workers to come.
Nehemiah said, “I am the cup-bearer of the king!” As a cup-bearer of the King, Nehemiah declared his authority, capability and willingness to do his part. This one single line was a challenge to all of the remnants in Jerusalem to lift their faces up from their same and dejection and stand up on their feet, and declare ihemselves. The people listened. They stood up and spoke loudly their names and said, “I am a carpenter. My family and I will build this doorway!” or “I am a cook, my family and I will feed the workmen!” or “I am a mason, and my family and I will provide the bricks for this wall!”
I put to you this one question: How are we different from the citizens of Jerusalem in the days of Nehemiah? Did our parents (or God-parents) not stand before God and proclaim our names? Has God left us destitute without a skill or talent to perish in this world? Has he sent us away with nothing? Why not we too, build this wall? Why not we go back to our Lord and articulate our names and declare what we are good for Jesus our Temple?
Growth is Change
To accomplish growth we need to embrace change without which nothing else will happen. Change is always difficult, and upsets many people because there is comfort in not changing. But growth is all about change. Growth is change. If we must grow, we must change.
We cannot afford to say that this is how we did things in the past, and be self-satisfied about it... that was what the Pharisees became eventually, self-satisfied and self-righteous! Nothing remains the same in this world. For example, however much Indian parents protect and train their children, they grow up to be someone totally beyond them. They cut their hair differently, dress up differently, fall in love with persons whom they are not sure of, choose careers whom they do not know nothing about, worship and live a life-style that strikes them as strange. I do not blame them if they are afraid of change. It threatens their sense of well-being and self-satisfaction is a defence mechanism but they must give room to allow change in their life and in the lives of those whom they love.
And one of the most fundamental points of change in our life is to go out and make friends with people who either reject Christ or are ignorant of Christ. I believe if we can honestly answer the question: “How many non-Christian friends do I have?” the figure will be very small. It is important that we go out and engage our fellow human beings in our daily life. We must be the friend they want to disturb in the middle of the night for a cup of tea! We must be the friend they can talk to privately. We must be the one to whom they can pour their heart out. We must be the one whom they know that they will not be judged but can expect some compassion. We must be the one who should be the wall within which they must feel safe from the world so that they Can make an informed choice about our Jesus. I call this kind of response from us on as our Christian duty and joy in life.
Conclusion
I have read about different missionary methods from books on missiology but | find the greatest of inspiration from the prophet Nehemiah who had to build the wall to restore the Temple. He created the conditions needed for the restoration of the Temple. He had to marshal the people to the task. He stood there in the frontier and called. And the people came and gave of their time, talent and wealth. We find in the book of Nehemiah that in the end there was too much!
And we, too, in order to build, we need everyone. But not all of us are called to be carpenters. Not all of us are painters. Not all of us can lay bricks. It is folly to even think that all of us have equal skills and talents. That is simply not true. Some of us have more skills and others a little less. That is the way the world is made but not one of us is without a skill or a talent. We want everyone to come build this living Temple of Jesus, not the Temple in jerusalem. Every single one of us is needed to make a mark; identify where our skill is needed and decide if this will glorify God; and then go ahead and simply do it. Let us come logether to build the wall, so that God may restore Jesus a Temple in our hearts. we will grow because God loves this theological community. now go in peace and serve the lord!
(Courtesy: Notes from a Malaysian Lutheran Bishop)
