Readings for the Day:
Original Manuscript:
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In the film It’s a Wonderful Life, George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart, it is fair to say, loses his way. He starts off his career finding himself thrust into running the local Building and Loan business. His motivations are altruistic as he tries, and often succeeds, in making the area a better place.
Yet when financial troubles hit, he becomes focused too much on the money. It is only thanks to Divine intervention that he finds his way back to the right path for himself, his family, and the town.
It’s easy to find ourselves wandering in the wrong direction, even if we have the best of intentions. That’s certainly what happened to George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life. It is unfortunately also what happened to the Israelites as they returned to Israel.
After their exile during the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires, finally under the Persians the Israelites were allowed to return to their home. From the Tanakh, we learn that the Israelites ended up in exile because they turned away from God towards false idols. When we see them in Nehemiah this morning, the Israelites are determined to repent and follow Torah so that they will never have to be exiled again.
Unfortunately, they went to far in the wrong direction. In reading the law, they decided that they needed to get rid of their foreign wives, as we see at the end of The Book of Nehemiah, not thinking of what would happen to them. It is in response to this action that Ruth was written as a reminder that one of the great King David’s ancestors was herself a Gentile.
But the Israelites did not learn. Jesus too tried to point His countrymen back to what the Law really said, the same Law that the people around Him were so desperately trying to fulfill. It’s not of the righteous or of the rule followers that Jesus speaks. Instead, in reading from The Book of the Prophet Isaiah, Jesus points those around Him to look after the poor as He gives hope and Good News to the captive and the blind. Yet, as we will see next week, Jesus’ countrymen would not listen. They try to throw Him off a cliff instead. When they could have found hope in Jesus, the leaders of those around Him will eventually kill Him.
The Israelites in Nehemiah’s day, as well as in Jesus’, had the very best intentions. They wanted to not disappoint God and make sure that they never fell to captivity again. But they went too far in their attempts to assure they remained home and not in exile. They made an idol of the Law and followed it instead of God. They forgot the true point of the Law, to love God and their neighbors as themselves instead of merely appearing to be “righteous”.
George Bailey fell prey to these same good intentions too. His story is where we can find some hope. While it takes a miracle, George Bailey is able to find his way back to the man he was and who he intended to be. Our hope is for the same.
Thankfully for us, we too have a miracle meant to bring us back. His name is Jesus Christ, and He transforms our hearts and lives in a way we cannot do on our own. To let Christ Jesus do that, we have to be open and listen, unlike those in the synagogue with Him in the Gospel today. What are the ways our good intentions have become corrupt? What direction is Jesus telling us to turn instead? These are the questions we must ask ourselves from time to time so that we don’t try to push God away, like those in Nazareth, but that we might instead embrace our Lord as we listen at His feet.