All in pieces
James Cathcart
March 10, 2024
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Nehemiah 2: 11-20 (NRSVA)
11 So I came to Jerusalem and was there for three days. 12 Then I got up during the night, I and a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. The only animal I took was the animal I rode. 13 I went out by night by the Valley Gate past the Dragon’s Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that had been broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire. 14 Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool; but there was no place for the animal I was riding to continue. 15 So I went up by way of the valley by night and inspected the wall. Then I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned. 16 The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing; I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest that were to do the work.
17 Then I said to them, ‘You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burnt. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we may no longer suffer disgrace.’ 18 I told them that the hand of my God had been gracious upon me, and also the words that the king had spoken to me. Then they said, ‘Let us start building!’ So they committed themselves to the common good. 19 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they mocked and ridiculed us, saying, ‘What is this that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?’ 20 Then I replied to them, ‘The God of heaven is the one who will give us success, and we his servants are going to start building; but you have no share or claim or historic right in Jerusalem.’
Under the cover of darkness, Nehemiah gathers a few others and rides up to the ruined walls. Scorch marks scar the torn stone. There’s an eery lack of life, just a few weeds, and brief glimpses of shadow and scuttle. The ground itself is cracked and rebelling, finally it gets so rough his steed can’t continue. So he slides off and continues on foot, picking his way across the rubble, surveying the damage. It’s all in pieces.
The next morning Nehemiah looks at the fractured broken souls before him, scarcely more intact than the wall itself. Here is a ropey bunch. He looks at their eyes and sees fear, resentment, jealousy, weariness, confusion, and hope. Yes a little hope, like dry twigs at the start of a fire. A hope so small, it seems inconsequential. But hope, like small dry twigs, can be all it takes. It’s perfect, Nehemiah thinks, grinning. He just has to get everything set in motion. It’s all in pieces.
This leap they’re going to have to make, this heap of disheveled souls restoring the dilapidated walls, seems comically big. Why would you set a broken people this enormous task?
Because it will make them whole.
And the job can be divided up, giving everyone a chance to belong. It’s all in pieces, Nehemiah smiles again.
Prayer:
Glorious God in Heaven,
Call us to the Common Good
That is Good for us All.
We come not because we are whole,
but because we are broken,
hoping,
alive.
Amen.
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