A place to call home

Posted on by stmaggiep

We all have that special place that we call home and everyone had different views of where that place is and what they think home is or what that definition of it is:

  • It could be your old family home, the place you grew up.
  • That place in the world that you love visiting and enjoy your time there
  • Being with your partner/children/other loved ones in a home that you all share together.
  • Being in the place you were born/grew up after you have left/moved away.

Then we all know the feeling of being up rooted from that, when you are sent away or taken away from that place you call home and sometimes unable to return. There are those who leave home for work or study, I can relate to that having spent three amazing years living in Birmingham but also being a little home sick and having itchy feet to return to the North. There are also those who don’t have any choice, those who are refugees or asylum seekers who have to leave their homes through fear for their own lives or the lives of their families and try to resettle in a strange place, maybe not even their first choice of where they want to be. Those who live in war zones who don’t feel safe in their own homes or in fear of their lives. It’s really tough and you can’t imagine what it must feel like to be in that situation.

God calls all people home, we need God to be there to truly feel at home and when God is absent it’s unsettling and we feel the pull to be closer to God again. When there is distance there is the want and longing to return home. We see that displacement in the first reading today from the book of Ezra, speaking of God being there for the people of Israel, even during their displacement and being thrown out of their own homes. This happens as part of the drama of the people of Israel so to put this into context, the Israelites have been wandering for quite a while by this time. The have been slaves in Egypt, wandered in the wilderness before returning to Cana (detailed in the books of Law). They have then had the upheaval of the judges and the kings who have ruled over them (Told through Samuel, Kings, Chronicles and the prophets). Then the Babylonian invasion and displacement of the people, then the invasion by Prussia (again the prophets, Daniels Court tales are vivid stories of the exiles in Babylon) and this reading from Ezra is during the time when the Israelites are returning home. The King of Persia is allowing the people to return to Judea. In the reading you have this story of how the people are pleased that God has let them part for their home land ‘given us a stake in this holy place, in order that he may brighten our eyes and grant us a little sustenance…for we are slaves yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery’. God has brought the people home to safety, however it’s not quite as final as it seems. In Ezra the Israelites celebrate their return home by rebuilding the temple but God doesn’t come and dwell there (bear in mind God did dwell in the tent in the desert) but something about the people at this time meant God wasn’t ready to dwell with them, there still had to be something else, Ezra tried to make changes to bring God to the temple but failed miserably, when they return there is this strange narrative in Ezra about Ezra worries of those returning from exile mixing with those who had remained in Cana and taken on the culture of the natives (it seems also to be similar to the concerns in the book of Judges) and starts breaking up mixed marriages which God doesn’t instruct, it’s an interesting but strange.

So what did the people have to do to return into the fold with God, returning to their homeland just isn’t enough. Then Jesus came to earth as the word of God in flesh to bring humanity back into the fold and from todays Gospel Jesus sends out his disciple to share his teachings and his words, they are teaching about the Kingdom Of God which is the home where humanity can finally dwell with God again. Jesus has come to preach this he says at the beginning of Marks Gospel ‘The Kingdom of God is near, repent and believe in the Good News’ and that is pretty much the Good News that the disciples take out, those who want to hear it do and those who don’t want to hear don’t. Jesus tells them only to speak to those who wish to hear what they have to say, only for those who wish to receive the good new will truly hear it, which is what we still do to this day, passing on Jesus message and being good people, showing his love and teachings through how we act and behave. Jesus gives the message for people to return to God if they wish to hear, not by force repentance or change as Ezra did. Jesus is the person, the royal priest, who gave the people what they needed to bring them back home to God if they wish to hear. That is the home revealed in the Book Of Revelation, those who are followers of Jesus will be marked and come to the New Jerusalem where God will dwell with them there.

The journey home can be easy and it can be difficult, we have all had times when we have felt out of place or see the tragic and disturbing stories of people being up rooted. No matter where you are in the world or where you are displaced God longs for a relationship with us and to bring us home. The people tried after the fall and failed several times, but then Jesus came and by following Jesus, listening to what he said he allowed us to come back into the fold with God, through his death and resurrection he allowed his followers to be marked and never feel out of place again. Amen

Rev Helen

Bible project –

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