The Joy of the Lord

​3rd Sunday after Epiphany – C                                                                      LSB #’s 908, 839, 803
Text – Nehemiah 8:10c
 
And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
 
THE JOY OF THE LORD
 
 
Have you had the opportunity to explore a cave at one of our national parks?   The rangers always warn of the impact of “total darkness.”   When all light is absent,  the effect of  “total darkness” is disorienting & debilitating.  Rangers stress that without at least some light,  even an experienced caver  is in grave danger of losing his way  & his life. 
Without God’s Word, without God’s Torah,  human beings are in total  spiritual & eternal darkness.   We cannot know   where we’ve come from,   who we are,   or  where  we are going.  We lose sense of how to judge what is right  & wrong.   We have no capacity, in God’s sight,  to be good spouses,  good neighbors,  or good citizens.  We are on a path  to eternal death. 
For several hundred years  that had  increasingly been the problem for the people of God.  Like that of Ezra & Nehemiah,  our culture has been struggling with confusion.   Some of our cultural leaders are simply “in the dark” about the most central matters that God has revealed to the human race.   In many cases  our government has also been promoting that darkness. 
At any national park in our country,  you’ll see signs explaining how the geology came into being over hundreds of millions of years.   The first verses of the Bible give us much greater clarity: “In the beginning,  God created  the heavens & the earth.”  (Genesis 1:1 ESV) 
Our government has been trying to tell us that there are any number of genders among the human population.  It has also been confusing us by claiming people can choose whatever gender they want to be.  As the first chapter of the Bible was being written, it’s like God knew what kind of confusion would come upon His creation, & V. 27 teaches us:
“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him;   male &
female He created them.”  (Genesis 1:27 ESV)    Our Lord knew the temptations Satan would put before us  in an effort to confuse people  about who we are.  Without God’s Word, we cannot know  where we’ve come from,   who we are,   or  where we are going.  Jan & I had a neighbor who believed that when she died  she’d simply to return to the ground,  & that would be her end. 
Many Christians claim John 3:16 as their favorite verse.  Could the reason be  that it tells us where we are going?  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son,   that whoever believes in Him  should not perish but have eternal life.”   Without God’s Word,   we cannot know  where we’ve come from,   who we are,   or   where we are going. 
That was the case with the people of God  after they returned from exile  to rebuild Jerusalem.  Disaster had struck in 587 BC, when the temple was destroyed, the line of kings from David ended, & the nation ceased to be.  The most valuable people were deported to Babylon to serve its king.  Yahweh allowed all of this  because the people had rejected Him as their God. 
Among other things,  they’d been worshipping the false god Molech by sacrificing their children to him by fire.  With that as their heritage,  & spending 70 years in exile in a pagan nation,  the people were set free to return to Jerusalem.  The first 7 chapters of Nehemiah record the external fortification of Jerusalem – the building of the walls. 
Chapters 8-10 record a spiritual rearmament of the people, & that’s where the OT lesson began: “And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate.  And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses  that the Lord had commanded Israel.”  (Nehemiah 8:1 ESV)     Did you notice whom it was  that asked for the Word  to be read? 
It wasn’t the prophet telling the people, “You need to sit down & listen!”   It was the people  telling Ezra  to bring the book…    “And he read from it…  from early morning until midday…”  (Nehemiah 8:3a ESV)   Are you thinking  that’d be your worst nightmare  to have me preach  a five hour long sermon!   The people of Israel were so confused  by all the false teaching of the world  that they were willing to sit, & listen to a five hour reading of God’s Word,  God’s truth,  God’s Torah.  What kind of trial & tribulation in your life  would it take  so that you’d  be willing to sit here from 7 AM to Noon  just to hear someone read  the Word of God? 
Now,  you have a tremendous advantage – you have the ability to read.   It’s estimated that maybe 3% of the population in Nehemiah’s day was literate.  And,  owning any sort of book  was impossibly expensive for 95% of the people in that time.  In Nehemiah’s day  the people could not sit down & read a daily devotion.  They could not sit down & read God’s Word. 
So when Ezra read it to them,  & they learned how far they’d fallen from God’s will, “all the people wept…”  (Nehemiah 8:9b ESV)   This heritage of life from God & from their forefathers had been completely lost to them.  They realized why they’d been so confused about life.   Now they understood  where they came from,   who they were,   & where  they could be going. 
They realized that their exile into Babylon was God’s judgment on an unrepentant people.  It was a fulfillment of centuries of warnings issued by the prophets sent from Yahweh.   But, instead of berating them with more Law,  Ezra, Nehemiah & the Levites “…said to all the people, ‘This day is holy to the Lord your God;  do not mourn  or weep.’”  (Nehemiah 8:9 ESV) 
This 1st day of the 7th month  was a scheduled day of celebration, as Nehemiah wrote: “…This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep…  …Go your way.  Eat the fat & drink sweet wine & send portions to anyone who has nothing ready,  for this day is holy to our Lord.  And do not be grieved,  for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”  (8:9-10 ESV) 
Another reason they were told not to mourn or weep is related to Jesus’ words in Luke 15: “…I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God  over one sinner who repents.”  (15:10 ESV)   Being lost in unrepentance  is like being lost in a cave of debilitating & total darkness, but the heavenly Father doesn’t need 24 hours of wallowing in repentance from you   before He will welcome you home.  The moment you turn back to Him  there is rejoicing in heaven.   When anyone recognizes the error of their ways & turns to Yahweh,  the joy of the Lord becomes their strength.  His Spirit lifts them up. 
With God’s Word,  brilliant & illuminating light shines upon us.  We learn that we are His special handiwork – created in His image.  We know we’re not “here today & gone tomorrow” into the darkness  of an aimless evolutionary process.   In Christ,  God has rescued us from the darkness of our own ignorance & sin.  Jesus is the light of the World.  (John 8:12) 
The foundation for the ancient nation of Israel  was the covenants  God made with Abraham & his descendants.   On the night when He was betrayed, Jesus instituted a new covenant, as He said, “Drink of it, all of you; this cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” 
Just as accurate a translation would be to say, “Drink of it, all of you;  this cup is the new covenant in my blood…”  Holy Communion is the fulfillment of Jeremiah 31:31, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel & the house of Judah.”  By faith, all of Abraham’s descendants are of the house of Israel & Judah. 
The scene of joyous covenant renewal,  led by Ezra & Nehemiah 500 years before Jesus,  was enacted for us  when God’s Son instituted Holy Communion.  The next day He earned forgiveness for our sins  through His death on the cross.   As Lutherans leave the Lord’s table, having received that forgiveness, we often hear words like these:
“Now may this body & blood, of your Lord & Savior Jesus Christ, strengthen & preserve you steadfast in the one true faith  unto life everlasting.  Depart  in joy & peace.”   That “joy   of the Lord  is your strength.”  That joy of the Lord is your forgiveness.  That joy of the Lord brings light & hope & peace  into all  the trials & tribulations  you are going through.   No matter how disorienting & debilitating  is the darkness of sin,  Jesus is always the light of the world.  Whoever follows Him will not walk in darkness, but will have the light  of life.  (John 8:12)   
Our Father who art in heaven  has created our path home  through the human flesh of His Son Jesus Christ.  (Hebrews 10:20)  His Spirit lights our way along that path.   Even in the confusion of our culture, knowing Jesus Christ reveals to us  where we truly come from.  It shows us who we are,  & guarantees where all of God’s children are going. 
No matter how well-intentioned, government & science are both the endeavors of sinful men.  They will never be done perfectly enough  to save anyone from destruction.  Looking at our sins honestly is disconcerting at best.  It is frightening at worst.  Yet, our Creator says to us:
“Go your way.  Eat the fat & drink sweet wine & send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord.  And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”  All the trials & tribulations & confusion of this life are temporary & none of them will follow us into eternity.  Cling to that hope & know that God is good. 
That is the promise of our Lord & Savior.  Depart in joy & in peace.  Amen. 
 
 
 
O Christ,  our true & only light,  enlighten those who sit in night;  let those afar now hear Your voice  & in Your fold with us rejoice.     O gently call those gone astray  that they may find the saving way!   Let every conscience sore oppressed  in You find peace & heavenly rest.     Shine on the darkened & the cold;  recall the wanderers to Your fold.  Unite all those who walk apart;  confirm the weak & doubting heart.     That they with us may evermore  such grace with wondering thanks adore  & endless praise to You be given  by all Your Church in earth & heaven.  Amen.  LSB 839:1, 3-5.