A coda, Nehemiah takes a walk with God
James Cathcart
March 16, 2024
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Nehemiah 13: 6-14 (NRSVA)
6 While this was taking place I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes of Babylon I went to the king. After some time I asked leave of the king 7 and returned to Jerusalem. I then discovered the wrong that Eliashib had done on behalf of Tobiah, preparing a room for him in the courts of the house of God. 8 And I was very angry, and I threw all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the room. 9 Then I gave orders and they cleansed the chambers, and I brought back the vessels of the house of God, with the grain-offering and the frankincense.
10 I also found out that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them; so that the Levites and the singers, who had conducted the service, had gone back to their fields. 11 So I remonstrated with the officials and said, ‘Why is the house of God forsaken?’ And I gathered them together and set them in their stations. 12 Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses. 13 And I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses the priest Shelemiah, the scribe Zadok, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and as their assistant Hanan son of Zaccur son of Mattaniah, for they were considered faithful; and their duty was to distribute to their associates. 14 Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for his service.
A number of years later Nehemiah returns and takes a walk along the walls. He is crestfallen, the walls are intact, but the people inside are not. He feels a nagging sense of things falling apart at the seams. There’s hints of disruption and disharmony, discontent and dysfunction. Things are not how he left them.
Remember me God, all I’ve done, all I’ve tried to achieve.
— I remember Nehemiah, my son.
Remember when these walls were built!
— I remember it.
Remember these people when we stood listening to the teaching in the shadow of this triumph!
— I remember them.
Remember what it felt like then.
— Yes.
Remember the glory of it, the wonder of it.
— Yes, my son.
Remember what could have been? Do you know what I mean?
— I do.
Remember the enormous leap we all took? How far we came? How much it felt things had changed?
— I remember the leap.
Remember the hope? Remember the accomplishment?
— I do Nehemiah.
It was finished! It was done. A wall rebuilt, a people rebuilt! It was finished.
— It was not finished.
How was it not finished? Were there any gaps in the wall? Any stress points? Any shoddy workmanship?
— No there was not.
I did what was asked of me.
— You’re good at that Nehemiah.
Why wasn’t it finished?
— It took you 52 days to repair the walls. But it takes much longer than that to repair a human. To repair humanity. To repair the world.
Humanity? What? The world?
— It is not finished.
When will it be finished? What needs to be done?
— Much my son, and there is another who is coming, who will do much of it.
I’ve let you down God.
— You haven’t Nehemiah. You held on to hope. You did it once and you can do it again.
It’s hard God.
— I know, but Nehemiah?
Yes God.
— I love you. I love all of them.
I know, God.
— Rest now Nehemiah, rest now.
Prayer:
Lord in Heaven,
We are grateful that you never give up on us,
that you are committed to caring for us
to our repair and renewal,
thank you for your Son,
thank you for all that we receive from your hands.
Amen.
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