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Ezra 7:1-10

1 After this, in the reign of King Artaxerxes of Persia, Ezra son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, 2 son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, 3 son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth, 4 son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki, 5 son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of the chief priest Aaron— 6 this Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses that the Lord the God of Israel had given; and the king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was upon him.

7 Some of the people of Israel, and some of the priests and Levites, the singers and gatekeepers, and the temple servants also went up to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes. 8 They came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. 9 On the first day of the first month the journey up from Babylon was begun, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, for the gracious hand of his God was upon him. 10 For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach the statutes and ordinances in Israel.

A Commitment to Study

I often start my sermons with a joke, but this is a true story. It was graduation day at Princeton Seminary and Dr. Jeffrey Frymire, distinguished professor of homiletics was giving the baccalaureate address. All of the graduates (including me) were in attendance, as well as proud parents, grandparents, and other family members. Dr. Frymire's message was on the importance of lifelong study, and also the need for humility--just because we were graduating from Princeton with a Master's degree did not, in fact, make us experts in the Bible or exempt us from the need to continue studying the Bible in the years to come.

At least, that's what I think his message was about. To be honest, like most of the graduates that day, my mind was very preoccupied--graduation parties and receptions, out of town family visitors, moving out of our seminary apartment, trying to find a job, among many other things. Adding to that, I was still exhausted and sleep-deprived from final exams the week before. I listened half-heartedly (half-awakedly?) to Dr. Frymire's address, something from the gospel of Luke. Near the end of his remarks, he asked us to take out our bibles and turn to chapter 25 of Luke's gospel, and when we had found it to stand up so that we might read it together.

I was grateful for the opportunity to stand and stretch my legs, so I immediately stood up, as I reached for a Bible. Most of my classmates did the same. A long awkward silence followed, and some chuckles from a few of the faculty members. Eventually, standing on our feet and thumbing frantically through the Bible, the illustrious and overly-wise graduates of Princeton Seminary, class of 2012, came to the abrupt realization that there is no chapter 25 of Luke's gospel. It only has 24 chapters.

And as our proud parents, grandparents and family members enjoyed a good laugh at our expense, we all learned a memorable lesson that day, more memorable than any words Dr. Frymire could have spoken. First, be humble in your great accomplishments, and second, no matter how much you think you know...about the Bible, or anything else...there's always more to learn.

In today's passage, from one of the last Books to be written in the Old Testament, we meet Ezra the scribe, who is considered by many to be the father of modern-day Judaism. Other biblical scholars believe that Ezra is the one who put the books of the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures, in to their final form, and authored or edited many of it's later books.

Ezra is one of three late heroes in the story of the ancient Israel, after the destruction of the first temple in Jerusalem, and after the days of the exile or captivity in Babylon. The first wave of Jews who returned from Babylon to Israel are led by Zerubbabel, who begins the rebuilding of the Temple. The third wave are led by Nehemiah, who rebuilds the walls around the city of Jerusalem. But the second wave is led by Ezra, who re-establishes the Torah, the law of Moses, what we know as the first five books of the Bible,

For what it's worth--and to give you a sense of how important Ezra's contribution was--the re-built temple begun by Zerubbabel lasted for around 500 years but was then destroyed again, this time by the Roman Empire. The walls built by Nehemiah around the city of Jerusalem were also breeched by the Romans, and are largely in ruins. But the Torah--the Books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, where we find the creation story, the stories of Abraham and Moses, the escape from Egypt, the Ten Commandments--the study of these texts is still at the heart of Judaism and Christianity today, and these works have influenced art, literature, government, and philosophy throughout western culture.

So here's the first thing I want you to remember from Ezra's story: All of our buildings--our churches, our mansions, and our skyscrapers--will crumble and fall. All of our cities--our industries, businesses, our sports and recreation, our halls of power and influence--will fade into obscurity. But our ideas--the observations we learn, study, write, and record--these have the power to last and reach thousands of years into the future.