Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Rebuilding the City

If you remember a post from a few weeks ago I shared that narratives, or stories, are a good way to gain insight into who we are. Here I want to add the importance of seeing our lives within the framework of someone else's narrative. The ability to see our story in the story of others allows us to relate with others at a much deeper level. And for the individual who seeks a story that considers God, it seems the Bible is a natural place to start. But let me first set the stage with a little bit of history.

Brief history of Israel
1260 BC Moses and the exodus from Egypt to the promised land
1220-1050BC Israelites conquer the promised land and judges are appointed to rule the land (Samson, etc.)
1050 BC Saul becomes first king of Israel
1010 BC David becomes second king of Israel
930BC Israel splits into two kingdoms
587 BC Israel is conquered by King Nebudchanezzar of Babylon and Israelites are forced into exile in Babylon
458 BC Israelites are allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple and city

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah are the stories of the Jews' return to Jerusalem. But to understand the return you have to understand why they left. If you read 2 Kings, the stories seem to almost repeat themselves. King So-and-so followed in the ways of King Whats-his-name and did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord. There were some better kings and some worse kings but most just let the people worship other gods and, believe it or not, sacrifice their first born sons to these gods. Throughout this time God had tried to get their attention through prophets but the Israelites just wouldn't listen and would kill the prophets. Finally, God basically said he was tired of how the Israelites were giving him a bad name. He let them be conquerred and he took them away from the land, which for an Israelite who believed God was a local God would be a tough blow.

But God did not give up on them. By miraculous intervention, God convinced the kings to not only allow the Israelites to return to Jerusalem but also financed their building of the Temple and city walls. They took a city that was in ruins and rebuilt it. They finally confessed their sins to God and were willing to live a Godly life. They divorced the foreign wives that they had taken and committed themselves again to God.

This is what the books of Ezra and Nehemiah tell us. But what good does the story do for us? It may be nice to know history but what impact does it have on our own lives? Well, I think it tells us a lot about God and about ourselves if we let the text speak to us.

The city was in shambles. So are we. I think about the wrongs I have committed in my life. I look at how hard it is for me to do something nice for other people. I am not a glorious representation of God. I am a city that is in devastation. Or as Mick Jagger put it, "Look at me, I'm shattered."

By the grace of God the resources and the freedom to recover is provided. We seem to never be able to take the first step. But God takes it for us. He finds us and captivates us in some mysterious way just to teach us to, at the very least, notice Him. We may be able to recognize the problem but unless we believe that we have access to a power that can bring healing, we will never believe it possible and therefore never try.

By the difficult labor of individuals, the city was restored. Perhaps we hope for the divine reconstruction. But the story of Ezra and Nehemiah didn't happen that way. The city of Jerusalem was rebuilt because the people cared deeply enough about it to spend the time, energy, and resources to work at it. Healing of our own lives takes time, energy, and resources. But it all becomes worthwhile when we believe in what we are doing. If we really see that our lives can become beautiful once again, then we are empowered to work diligently to bring it to fruition.

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah teach us about confession, faith, and discipline. They teach us about what it means to be human, what it means to be in ruins. But it is a lesson of hope. We can be restored. We can resurrect the self that is dead. We can be healed.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

you might say stories take us where doctrine can't often people can't/won't benefit from doctrines taught in scriptue [eg, if they are too depressed] but may be able to resonate with a story or scripture narrative or testimony and learn from this. maybe this is why the bible is as full of stories as of doctrine. so two natural questions follow:
1) as someone at fuller: do you struggle with the seemed evangelical emphasis on pauls' letters as the source of most theology? [and a sub question - would learning theology from story make some evangelicals more comapssioante in ther discourse?]
2) why is 1/4 of the bible 'dreams' and what can we learn from dreams?

Curt said...

I did not struggle with the emphasis on Paul's letter until I came to Fuller. During college the only books of the Bible that I was reading were the letters. But since then I have read more and more of the OT and have learned a great deal. Perhaps the biggest help has been learning the history and being able to put the books into context. I had tried to read Jeremiah before without knowing that it was occurring directly before, during, and after the exile to Babylon and let's just say I was pretty confused by it all. But knowing that helps to understand what was occurring.

Yes, I am certain that understanding and placing oneself in the stories of the OT (and the Gospels) can help us not only be more compassionate but also more effective in how we do ministry. The narratives show by example how to confess, how to worship, how to be a leader, and much more.

Also, I was not aware that 1/4 of the Bible was dreams. Perhaps you are counting prophesy as dreams? Anyways, I have not thought much about it but I have noticed that my dreams reflect what is occurring while I'm awake. Perhaps if we grow in faith our dreams will be a place where God can meet us more clearly.