Monthly Archives: April 2023

Arts, Christianity, Culture

Old Testament: Ezra risks all

OLD TESTAMENT

A narrative on Ezra 7,8: Ezra risks all in journey of faith

ADVENTURE holidays are popular and are not without their dangers. For instance, not long ago a group of adventurers in Yemen were kidnapped and held hostage, and some died in a bungled rescue attempt.

Ezra is going on more than a holiday: he is emigrating on foot with others across 900 miles of potentially hostile country carrying expensive gifts and all their worldly possessions. The slow-moving group would be easy pickings for highwaymen or local resistance fighters.

Yet he prefers God’s protection to an armed escort (8:22). One brand of Christian spirituality similarly refuses anything considered “worldly”. Often this is biblically in error. God has given us minds to use, responsibility to exercise, and a world full of good things and people to work and engage with. The realm of the “spirit” is not exalted above any other part of creation; all are God’s.

However, Ezra’s example is to be seen, and followed, as a spiritual discipline of renunciation in specific circumstances, if not as a general rule. The priest throws himself on God’s mercy (which all are to do) expressing his faith in this unusual manner, in order to make a point to Artaxerxes and the returning exiles (8:21-23).

A decade later his collaborator Nehemiah acted in just the opposite way. He armed his builders against threatened attack (Nehemiah 4:7-18). Both men honoured God. Both did the right thing at the right time. It just goes to show that the spiritual life is not simply a matter of thoughtlessly following rules.

The Book of Ezra has a special meaning for today. It tells us that we should be broadminded and recognise that God can use anyone for his purposes. We are to look for his activity everywhere. We are also to come back to God when things fall apart by allowing him to rebuild our lives. Trust God in everything and use the commonsense he has given you.

Not like the old days

Earlier in the book (Ezra 3) we encounter a series of contemplations that are as relevant today as they were in Old Testament times.

Most of the Old Testament leaders knew there was more to life than religious routines. People had to eat and work; faith was the focal point but not the sole occupation.

There is a realism about the six-month settling-in period before the services begun (v 1). This allowed people time to build houses, cultivate land, and set up trades and professions.

There is also realism about the order of events. Worship began in the ruins of the old temple (v 3) and only after another few months is the rebuilding planned (v 8). But there are mixed feelings once the foundations are laid. Joy and elation are understandable, but why the tears (v 12)? There could be several reasons:

. Tears of relief: we’ve waited so long for this

. Tears of sorrow: we’re dealing with the results of our fathers’ sins

. Tears of disappointment: older people would see the new temple was not as splendid as the old.

Comparisons of that kind often occur in life, when people build new foundations on the ruins of a marriage, a career, a business, or even a church. The message of Ezra is that new life can spring from seeds of faith watered by the tears of repentance and trust.

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Arts, Books, Culture

Book Review: The Covenant of Water

REVIEW & SYNOPSIS

FROM the bestselling author of Cutting for Stone comes a stunning and magisterial new epic of love, faith, and medicine. It is set in Kerala and follows three generations of a family seeking the answers to a strange secret.

The Covenant of Water is the long-awaited new historical fiction novel by Abraham Verghese. His previous work, Cutting for Stone, published in 2009, became a literary phenomenon, selling over 1.5 million copies in the United States alone. It remained on the New York Times bestseller list for over two years.

Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast. It follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person perishes from drowning – and in Kerala, water is everywhere. The family is part of a Christian community that traces itself to the time of the apostles, but times are shifting, and the matriarch of this family known as Big Ammachi – literally “Big Mother” – will witness unthinkable changes at home and at large over the span of her extraordinary life.

On display in this new work are all the great writing gifts of Verghese: there are astonishing scenes of medical ingenuity, great moments of humour, and the characters are imbued with a sense of life. It is a surprising and deeply moving story.

The Covenant of Water is a shimmering evocation of a lost India and of the passage of time itself. It is also a hymn to progress in medicine and to human understanding: a humbling testament to the hardships undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today.

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Arts, Christianity, Culture

Tough guy weighs up the risks

OLD TESTAMENT

A narrative on Ezekiel 2,3 –

FROM John Wayne to other characters like James Bond, the tough guy who wins through is a familiar figure of fiction. We need heroes like that, even if they are make-believe. We all face challenges, and we need the inspiration to overcome them.

Ezekiel is among the Old Testament prophets and belongs in the Babylonian exile. It is known that Jeremiah worked in Jerusalem at the same time (between 597 and 573 BC) and his message is similar to that of Ezekiel’s in places.

Ezekiel is the biblical tough guy more than the strong man Samson (Judges 13-16). Ezekiel is the dogged, never-say-die guardian of truth who sticks to his spiritual guns. Samson was like a grunting Sumai wrestler performing tricks, but whose personal and spiritual life was a mess.

It seems from this passage that Ezekiel was temperamentally independent, not easily swayed by others. But he still needed to be prepared for his assignment. He is warned that it will be hard, that he will face opposition, and that he will be ostracised (2:4-6; 3:4-9). Ezekiel must count the cost.

And so do we. We will know of many people offering themselves for neither a sinecure nor an ego trip. That is often rewarding, but it will also be tough. People called to witness in the secular world through ordinary jobs, for instance, find it no less demanding. Ethical issues can be fudged easily when we do not wish to rock the boat. We should count the cost from the beginning.

Ezekiel is given God’s word to sustain him in a vision and finds it “sweet”. (So did John, but it turned his stomach because God’s word is hard as well as nourishing; Revelation 10:9,10). Tough guys need the correct diet. We will not survive the battle without God’s sustenance; giving time to his word can be as enjoyable and is certainly as essential as a good meal.

(Podcast ends)

MODEL SHEPHERD

Later, in Ezekiel (34:11-31), we come across what can only be paraphrased as the Model Shepherd. This is the Old Testament root of the familiar teaching of Jesus in John 10: “I am the good shepherd”. It tells us both about God and life.

In biblical times, sheep grazed on open hillsides and wandered over large distances. Flocks could get split up, and mixed with others. Rounding them up was not easy. Judah has been scattered, so God promises to “round them up” and bring them home to Jerusalem from Babylon.

This is a promise for people who belong to God in any age but who drift from him. He organises a rescue mission to bring us back to himself. He may use our conscience, other people or circumstances. Thank him for his love and patience; but mourn that it is ever necessary.

Notice, too, that punishment is reserved for those who led the sheep astray (v 16). Jesus also warned us of the peril of being the cause of other people’s spiritual divergences, whether by word or by example (Luke 17:1,2).

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