Sunday’s first reading tells the story of a people rediscovering and renewing their purpose. Like Jesus in the gospel the priest Ezra opens the scroll to interpret God’s word to the assembled people. He reads from daybreak to midday.
It is interesting to hold up Sunday’s gospel next to this first reading. In this passage Ezra is speaking to a whole city of people who might be tempted to think of themselves as poor or disadvantaged, as expendable keys, but Ezra says they are not poor at all.
These are people newly returned to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon. They have nothing but the word of God to sustain their hope — yet Ezra commands that they celebrate. “Rejoicing in the Lord must be your strength,” he says. In recognizing the true source of their life, this band of people is rich indeed.
The book of the law that Ezra reads is a wealth meant to be shared with everyone. He reads to “men, women, and children old enough to understand” as the passage tells it. No one in this scene has a corner on the market of God’s graciousness.
Sometimes those who consider themselves to be privileged are the poorest among us. We are all Christ for one another, and if our baptisms into Christ mean anything, they mean that we are anointed, just as Jesus was, with the Spirit of God both to receive the good news in our poverty and to bring it to our brother and sisters in their poverty.
We are anointed for prophetic purpose. The apostle Paul challenges the Christians in Corinth and us “to honor the members we consider less honorable by giving them greater care.”
“The spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.” It is only when we are ready to realize that we are poor — only when we begin to care for the poor around us — that the richness of Christ’s love can fill us.
Ezra reads the law.
The priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly, which consisted of men, women and those children old enough to understand. Standing at one end of the open place that was before the Water Gate, he read out of the book from early morning until midday in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. All the people listened attentively to the book of the law.
The scribe Ezra stood on a wooden platform that had been made for the purpose. Ezra opened the scroll so that all the people might see it (for he was standing higher than any of the people) and as he opened it, the people stood up.
Ezra blessed God and all the people, their hands raised high, answered, “Amen, amen.” Then they bowed down and prostrated themselves before God, their faces to the ground.
Ezra read plainly from the book of the law of God, interpreting it so that all could understand what was read. Then Nehemiah, the governor, and Ezra the priest-scribe, and the Levites who were teaching the people said, “Today is holy to our God. Do not be sad, and do not weep.”
All the people were weeping as they heard the words of the law. Ezra said to them, “Go eat rich foods and drink sweet drinks, and allot portions to those who had nothing prepared. For today is holy to our God. Do not be saddened this day, for rejoicing in God must be your strength.”
Nehemiah 8.2-4,5-6,8-10
- Who are the “poor” with whom you live each day?
- What is an example of someone you know who seems to be “rich” but who is in fact in desperate need?