Why are you here?
A Rosh Hashanah sermon
Delivered on 25 September 2022
Bondi Junction NSW AUSTRALIA
L’shana tovah to each one of you, here in Bondi Junction, and wherever you are watching across the world via LiveStream and even long after 5783 is under way via YouTube. I hope for you a sweet and meaningful, and deeply faith-filled year in spite of continuing uncertainties.
Tonight I want to address the passage we just read from the prophetic and historical book Nehemiah, and the question some of you have already asked, either before you made the drive over or the walk to the train to get here.
The question is, “Why are you here anyway?” Why do people attend Rosh Hashanah services? Why is this even of concern to you?
The rhythm of my life for 71 years has brought me to this season, with expected newness and a deep feeling of love for my people, for the shofar, for hope. When the calendar says “Elul” or “September” I know that Rosh Hashanah is on its way. I know that I will eat apples and dip them in honey. I know I will try to do a big clean-up around the house. Back in the US I knew that the school year was getting underway and other realities had to adjust to that. Here in Australia, it’s finals time for football seasons and time to ready for the nation to stop for a horse race. Of course, a long weekend holiday is also on deck and thus, vacations come into view. I don’t know that I ever considered not attending a Rosh Hashanah service. Ever.
And maybe that’s true for some of you, too. Did you sign up to hear Avinu Malkenu, Hashivenu and another sermon because, well, that’s just what we do? Did you even ponder the discussion to be had about not attending? Are you here only due to convention?
For others, you were almost made to come. In order to get along with your soulmate or to satisfy someone else’s religion, you agreed to attend and here you are. I’m actually glad you chose to be with us, and hope that your compliance leads to something of significance.
Besides convention and compliance, some of you might be here for cause. You know, you believe in our efforts, preaching that Jewish people, really all people, need to hear and believe in Jesus, and thus you are supportive of our cause. I won’t knock that back at all, for sure, and hope that you continue to support us on so many levels.
Besides those reasons, I wonder if something else might be at work. Atop those calendar realities, now I must ask you, why are you HERE? There are so many places to attend, and to hear the sounds of the shofar. The last 2 and a half years, we have learned to find anything and any place we want via Zoom or Live Stream. Yet, for those of you here in Bondi Junction, you purposed to attend, you eventually made it to this sanctuary and now I’m asking you why are you in this place?
Let me help you answer these steadying questions by looking into our text for this evening, the 8th chapter of Nehemiah and see what the Jewish people did almost 500 years before Yeshua lived and worked and cared for our people in Judea. The story has some surprises, and I hope it answers that question deeply for you, and with no disrespect to those watching online just now.
The story well-read for us from chapter 8 takes place on Rosh Hashanah. Did you notice that? Verse 1 says it’s the 7th month. Verse 2 says it’s the first day of the month. That’s where we are just now in our calendar. It’s Rosh Hashanah somewhere between 525 BCE and 500 BCE or so, and Ezra the priest is going to teach the people, and Nehemiah, the cupbearer to the king, who becomes for 12 years the governor of the land under Artaxerxes the king of Persia, records it for us.
But there is no mention of what we moderns think of as a Rosh Hashanah gathering. There are no shofars or round challahs. There is no mention of the King who will judge us. What we see is the Jewish people, gathered as one (verse 1), who are filled with regret. Verse 9 says that Ezra and Nehemiah encourage the people not to weep. Why had they wept? They were convicted of their sins, and yet, the leadership told them to go (verse 10)
“Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”
How did that happen? The people were involved in every aspect. Verse 1, they invited the preacher. The preacher didn’t announce, “I’m conducting a service and you are invited.” The people specifically set things in motion. The people were attentive to the reading of the Torah in verse 3. The reading lasted for several hours. (From early morning until midday). Ezra stood at a podium that the people had constructed (verse 4). Verse 5 tells us the people had built a large platform so they all could see. Listen, the people were very active in this ceremony. Verse 6, they responded with Amens and the people all bowed during the prayers and readings. In verse 7, they were gathered and didn’t leave. They remained. And in verse 8, they understood what was read and explained.
All together the people were very involved. And I’m hopeful for you that this will be what we will say of tonight’s gathering. The people of Bondi Junction were intent on being together and were listening with intent and were as one.
Look at the dismissal, which, be assured, will come soon here.
Verse 12, “All the people went away to eat, to drink, to send portions and to celebrate a great festival, because they understood the words which had been made known to them.”
If you only see Ezra and Nehemiah and the people, then you will miss the real answer to our question of the night. Look how many times in our text the word “Law”, “the words” or “the book” is used. Verse 1, verse 2, verse 3, verse 5, verses 7, 8, 9 and finally verse 12. The Lord wants us to understand what he wrote. The God of all understanding wants us to get it, that the conviction of sins that the people felt should be met with a relationship with the Lord himself, so much so, that the joy of that relationship, or as it says, “The joy of the Lord” is our strength. (Verse 10). No wonder the people left to celebrate. They had not come to a meeting out of convention. They did not simply comply with the demands of others. They were not cause-based; they were driven by wanting to be with God. And with his Word.
And for us as messianic Jews, there is a gathering that was prophetically proclaimed back in the Torah itself. There we read of Shiloh, and according to the rabbis, this Genesis prophecy is about King Messiah, “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” (Gen 49.10)
The Jewish people held onto that prophecy by Jacob of his son Judah and believed that the royal line would be his. Until the messiah could come and then our allegiance would switch from Judah to the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the King Messiah.
Here in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, the people gathered, not so much to the Temple, which was not yet rebuilt, nor to the king, who had been displaced decades earlier, but rather to the Word of God. Their gathering was to the Words of God and to what he was telling us. We gather tonight due to a calendar and some convention, but also and more importantly, we gather to HIM! The King James version quotes this as “unto Him shall the gathering of the people be.” I love that. I’m here due to the Words of God pointing me to Yeshua and that will give me joy and strength. No wonder I want to dip apples in honey and enjoy sweet fellowship. It’s not about my religion and my new clothing. It’s not about seeing old friends and well, that’s what we do. It’s about gathering to the Word of the Lord and to the Lord of the Word. Amen?
Lately, there has been much talk in the media and at water coolers around the country, and really around the globe, about equality. People wanting or demanding equal rights, equal pay, equal honor and equal status. I get that.
Regarding Equality:
https://plus61j.net.au/editors-picks/how-orange-is-the-new-black-raised-yael-stones-consciousness/
Let me say that I believe we are all equal before God in
1) Our desperate need for forgiveness
2) Being known and loved by Him
3) Our ruptured relationship with God due to our sin
4) The commensurate condemnation due to our behaviour/ thoughts/ deeds/ misdeeds/ left undone
5) His capacity to forgive each one of us
6) His solution to the problem-- Death of the Son
Ezra and Nehemiah and the leadership knew that if we got right with God, then the joy of the Lord would be our strength. That’s still true tonight.
The world teaches us that things that we create tend towards needs of maintenance. Last week I cleaned out my garage. Amazing what stuff grows from almost nothing. Think about those NASA space people readying the launch twice in the same week from Florida, and even though they had brilliant minds and the space engineers had assured the leaders of the Artemis program that the rocket was ready…they had to postpone the journey. Until this coming Tuesday, they say. Friends, what I’m saying is that everything needs maintenance. Nothing we make is ‘set and forget.’ Your car; your computer; your NBN; your family; your relationship with God… everything needs the attention of maintenance.
Once you receive Yeshua as your messiah and Lord, and once you profess him as such to your neighbour, your daughter, your mate, then next on the program is maintenance.
Why are you here? So that you might gather to him. Listen to his words in public, in public gatherings like this one, or on Yom Kippur next week. Listen to his words on your Kindle or iPad. Maintenance—that’s not just convention or cause; it’s gathering to him. Each day of 5783. Each day of your transitory life.
The Joy of the Lord will be your strength; no matter what inflation numbers climb to. No matter what health concerns you experience in the year to come. The joy of knowing the Lord—that’s where life and health and reality arise.
INVITATION:
Would you like to receive Yeshua as your Messiah, and be born again to a living hope? Say "Yes" to Yeshua now, and please let me know you have done that, by replying to this blog. Thanks.
Actual Text:
Neh. 8:1 And all the people gathered as one man at the square which was in front of the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the LORD had given to Israel. 2 Then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men, women and all who could listen with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month. 3 He read from it before the square which was in front of the Water Gate from 1early morning until midday, in the presence of men and women, those who could understand; and all the people were attentive to the book of the law. 4 Ezra the scribe stood at a wooden podium which they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand; and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam on his left hand. 5 Ezra opened athe book in the sight of all the people for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people bstood up. 6 Then Ezra blessed the LORD the great God. And all the people answered, “aAmen, Amen!” while lifting up their hands; then bthey bowed low and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground. 7 Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, explained the law to the people while the people remained in their place. 8 They read from the book, from the law of God, 1translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading.
“This Day Is Holy”
Neh. 8:9 Then Nehemiah, who was the 1agovernor, and Ezra bthe priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “cThis day is holy to the LORD your God; ddo not mourn or weep.” For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law. 10 Then he said to them, “Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and asend portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” 11 So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, for the day is holy; do not be grieved.” 12 All the people went away to eat, to drink, ato send portions and to 1celebrate a great festival, bbecause they understood the words which had been made known to them.
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