25th Week, Tuesday, Sept 23
Ezra 6:7-8, 12, 14-20 / Luke 8:19-21
The Jews rebuild Jerusalem; When it was rebuilt, they celebrated.
The Jews who returned to Jerusalem were heartsick at what they saw. The city and the Temple were destroyed beyond all recognition. Nevertheless, the people set to work to rebuild the city. Samaritans tried to block their efforts. At times the workmen found themselves building with one hand and fighting with the other. To add to the hardships, farm crops failed their first year back.
Finally, inspired by Ezra and Nehemiah, the Jews completed the work around 450 B.C. They renewed the covenant with the Lord and celebrated the Passover.
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How persevering are we when everything seems to go wrong for us? "The heights great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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The generation that has seen WWII is passing on. Those that had survived a war that is termed as a "World War" are in their twilight years with not much time remaining. Whether as a soldier or as a civilian during those years of turmoil, whether as a war veteran or as a survivor, they know what it was like and had a story to tell. But more than a story, it was an experience that bound them together, a blood-and-tears experience that is seared into the flesh and into the memory for the rest of their lives. In the 1st reading, when the exiles returned to their homeland, it was return to the desolation and devastation that they had seen 70 years before. Those that had known what the Temple was before the exile had an experience to share with the younger generation who had not seen that Temple before. But it was that experience that bound the exiles together to build the new Temple and to build up the nation again.
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After the enthusiastic return of the Jews from the exile, they soon fell apart into factions: almost all looked after their own interests first. Because they were not a real community, they could not achieve the reconstruction of their modest temple, for to do this, there had to be a community of faith. Finally, with prophets exhorting them, they could muster that degree of unity to finish the temple and to celebrate the Passover feast. Where we are a community, God is present, even without a temple or church.
Herod too, was puzzled about this man Jesus. He wanted to see this strange prophet about whom there were so many rumors. Does Jesus, the Gospel and life and our faith puzzle us? Are we in constant search of the deeper meaning of our Christian life?
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Prayer: God of the covenant, you are present where there are people who believe in you and who gather in your name. Gather us together from our dispersion of selfishness and overconcern about our petty interests, that we may be your people and the living temple of your presence in the midst of all people. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
