Stronger Together

Plate 24: The Isrealites Rebuilding the Walls of Jerusalem
from "The Battles of the Old Testament"
Artists: Nicolaus van Aelst and Antonio Tempesta
Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
 

Scripture

Nehemiah 2:17-18;3

¹⁷ Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we may no longer suffer disgrace.” ¹⁸ I told them that the hand of my God had been gracious upon me, and also the words that the king had spoken to me. Then they said, “Let us start building!” So they committed themselves to the common good...

3 Then the high priest Eliashib set to work with his fellow priests and rebuilt the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and set up its doors; they consecrated it as far as the Tower of the Hundred and as far as the Tower of Hananel. ² And the men of Jericho built next to him. And next to them Zaccur son of Imri built.

³ The sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate; they laid its beams and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars. ⁴ Next to them Meremoth son of Uriah son of Hakkoz made repairs. Next to them Meshullam son of Berechiah son of Meshezabel made repairs. Next to them Zadok son of Baana made repairs. ⁵ Next to them the Tekoites made repairs; but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work of their Lord.

⁶ Joiada son of Paseah and Meshullam son of Besodeiah repaired the Old Gate; they laid its beams and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars. ⁷ Next to them repairs were made by Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite—the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah—who were under the jurisdiction of the governor of the province Beyond the River. ⁸ Next to them Uzziel son of Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs. Next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers, made repairs; and they restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall. ⁹ Next to them Rephaiah son of Hur, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs. ¹⁰ Next to them Jedaiah son of Harumaph made repairs opposite his house; and next to him Hattush son of Hashabneiah made repairs. ¹¹ Malchijah son of Harim and Hasshub son of Pahath-moab repaired another section and the Tower of the Ovens. ¹² Next to him Shallum son of Hallohesh, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs, he and his daughters.

¹³ Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate; they rebuilt it and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars, and repaired a thousand cubits of the wall, as far as the Dung Gate.

¹⁴ Malchijah son of Rechab, ruler of the district of Beth-haccherem, repaired the Dung Gate; he rebuilt it and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars.

¹⁵ And Shallum son of Col-hozeh, ruler of the district of Mizpah, repaired the Fountain Gate; he rebuilt it and covered it and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars; and he built the wall of the Pool of Shelah of the king’s garden, as far as the stairs that go down from the City of David. ¹⁶ After him Nehemiah son of Azbuk, ruler of half the district of Beth-zur, repaired from a point opposite the graves of David, as far as the artificial pool and the house of the warriors. ¹⁷ After him the Levites made repairs: Rehum son of Bani; next to him Hashabiah, ruler of half the district of^[ Keilah, made repairs for his district. ¹⁸ After him their kin made repairs: Binnui, son of Henadad, ruler of half the district of  Keilah; ¹⁹ next to him Ezer son of Jeshua, ruler of Mizpah, repaired another section opposite the ascent to the armory at the Angle. ²⁰ After him Baruch son of Zabbai repaired another section from the Angle to the door of the house of the high priest Eliashib. ²¹ After him Meremoth son of Uriah son of Hakkoz repaired another section from the door of the house of Eliashib to the end of the house of Eliashib. ²² After him the priests, the men of the surrounding area, made repairs. ²³ After them Benjamin and Hasshub made repairs opposite their house. After them Azariah son of Maaseiah son of Ananiah made repairs beside his own house. ²⁴ After him Binnui son of Henadad repaired another section, from the house of Azariah to the Angle and to the corner. ²⁵ Palal son of Uzai repaired opposite the Angle and the tower projecting from the upper house of the king at the court of the guard. After him Pedaiah son of Parosh ²⁶ and the temple servants livingon Ophel made repairs up to a point opposite the Water Gate on the east and the projecting tower. ²⁷ After him the Tekoites repaired another section opposite the great projecting tower as far as the wall of Ophel.

²⁸ Above the Horse Gate the priests made repairs, each one opposite his own house. ²⁹ After them Zadok son of Immer made repairs opposite his own house. After him Shemaiah son of Shecaniah, the keeper of the East Gate, made repairs. ³⁰ After him Hananiah son of Shelemiah and Hanun sixth son of Zalaph repaired another section. After him Meshullam son of Berechiah made repairs opposite his living quarters. ³¹ After him Malchijah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs as far as the house of the temple servants and of the merchants, opposite the Muster Gate, and to the upper room of the corner. ³² And between the upper room of the corner and the Sheep Gate the goldsmiths and the merchants made repairs.

Devotion

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the task that God has set before you?  I have.  In fact, I felt that way earlier this week.  Our church had just received a long-awaited grant to help us provide rent, mortgage, and utility assistance to people in our county.  Before the check even cleared, I was already worried.  Even though we had received a sizeable amount of money, we knew it was drop in the bucket when it came to people's needs.  And as phone began to ring constantly, I despaired at the thought the people we wouldn't be able to help.  What little we could do would never feel like enough.

I expect that the people who rebuilt Jersualem after the Babylonian exile felt the same way.  The returning exiles were poor and small in number.  When arrived at the their once great capital, they discovered that entire place was in ruins; even the walls and gates that protected the city from attack had been completely destroyed.  The monumental of rebuilding an entire city was overwhelming...so overwhelming that when Nehemiah heard of it back in Persia, he sat down and wept for days.

God, though, had a plan.  First, God has Nehemiah convince the the King of Persia to give the people the money, supplies, and permission they need to rebuild the Jerusalem's walls.  Then, Nehemiah travels to Jerusalem to lead the construction effort.  He gathers the exiles and explains that with God's help, they can work  together to rebuild the city's outer wall. The people are so motivated by his words that they immediately commit to the common effort of rebuilding their home.

What happens next is a miracle.  Nehemiah devotes an entire chapter to naming the different people who work side by side on the city's walls. The list includes goldsmiths and perfumers; old men and young women; rulers and servants and priests.  Everyone was there.  As each group did its part, big changes began to occur.  Stones were set back on top of one another.  Stairs were rebuilt.  Gate after gate was repaired.  The work continued until one fine day, the people of Jerusalem looked up at a fully restored city wall. 

There are very few things in life that we can accomplish all by ourselves.  Nehemiah's experience with rebuilding Jerusalem's walls teaches us that when God brings us together and inspires us to work with one another, we can accomplish monumental tasks. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the impossible becomes possible, and the Kin-dom of God begins to reach towards the sky.

If I had remembered this basic truth earlier this week, then I could have saved myself a lot of emotional turmoil.  God, though, did not abandon me to my despair.  A few hours after the phone started ringing with requests, we learned that a government agency had received funds to help people who met certain criteria.  If we sent applicants to them first, they could decrease the number of requests for us to process.  Then, we got a miraculous call from another organization.  They, too, had just received a grant; if we wanted to focus on rent and mortgage payments, they could handle a lot of the utility requests.   Suddenly, the daunting task our Mission Committee faced seemed much more manageable.  Through the grace of God, the grant we received stretched much further than we had imagined; and the three of our organizations were able to do much more together than any of us could have done on our own.

If you feel overwhelmed by what lies before you, I urge you to take a moment to breathe.  Then step back and look around.  Who is out there who may be able to help you...and who is the Holy Spirit calling you to support in return?  When we join our efforts with those of others, we will see that God will make the impossible possible.  Our communities will begin to thrive, and the Kin-dom of God will be built up on Earth. 

Friends, we see the trouble that our communities are in, but we will not live in shame forever.  Let us join hands with one another and rebuild.  God is here to bless our efforts as we work for the common good.  And with God to bless our work, we can do amazing things.

Prayer

God, the needs of your people are great, but you are greater.  Inspire us to join hands and work with one another to build your Kin-dom in our homes, our communities, and our world.  And may we always remember that when you bring us together, you make us stronger and more capable than we are on our own.  Amen.