Word to the Wise
Monday, September 24, 2007 - Twenty-fifth Monday in Ordinary Time
[Ezra 1:1-6 and Luke 8:16-18]In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord inspired King Cyrus of Persia to issue this proclamation throughout his kingdom, both by word of mouth and in writing.......
With these words, the Book of Ezra recounts the events leading to the return of the Chosen People from their exile in Babylon (which was conquered by Persia). Unquestionably the author, Ezra, who is a priest, sees this as the work of God fulfilling a prophecy. The subsequent chapters of this book and Nehemiah show the challenges of returning from exile to create a new Jewish reality. It would not be easy. There was no temple and no royal family! There had been intermarriage with people in the country of exile. Things would not be the same as in the days of King David, that was for sure, even though those days were centuries before and the kingdom had been divided after Solomon and gradually everything fell first to the Assyrians and then to the Babylonians. At the same time, there is the joy at going home, no matter how bad off things would be at home. Much of this goes through my mind in the current storm season in the Gulf of Mexico because there has been a great deal of media attention to the Gulf Coast and New Orleans areas. The process of "return" is still going on with very uneven results. All the same challenges of any "return" are there. The old expression, "You can never go home again!" comes to mind, but where home isn't even a "development" of the home one left but only a largely devastated area, the impact of the statement is very hard. There is a big difference between building from memory and creating a future. All those who are "returning" deserve our prayers and support, just as Cyrus ordered neighbors to support the returning Jews. However, the geographic location of Jerusalem and the "Promised Land" between major military powers meant (and still means) trouble. New Orleans' location between Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River is always going to be a problem there. That raises the big question to those in exile: Should we return? (And a host of other questions as well.) The Book of Exra offers us a moment to think about it even if we're not the ones who face the problem. We can pray for those who do. AMEN