Unification Brings Joy!

When I was in kindergarten and primary school, sometimes the punishment for misbehaving in class was to sit in the corner. In an earlier era, when a student did not pay attention in class, he might have to sit in a corner wearing a dunce cap. Today, when a child misbehaves, she might have to take a “Time Out”.



The Exiled Jews were like a Misbehaving Child

In all the above cases, the child is separated from their friends, and more importantly, from the one in authority. After spending some time alone, the child is reinstated with their fellow students.

Imagine the shame the student felt when separated. Imagine the joy the student felt when reunited with their friends.

Today’s reading is Nehemiah 9:9-21. The exiled Jews had returned to Jerusalem. They were exiled because they had sinned, tremendously, against God. Figuratively speaking, God gave them a “Time Out”, sat them in a corner and maybe even made them wear a dunce cap.

The chosen people had been exiled and their city destroyed. Imagine their lives in exile, in a foreign culture and without their God to turn to.

Now they were reunited! Imagine the joy they felt.

The Jews were now confessing their sins and repenting. They were rebuilding their spiritual life and re-establishing a relationship with God.

They were not just confessing individual sins, but the sins of their entire race. Like all of mankind, the Jews had turned away from God. It is man’s nature to think he does not need God, to think he is in charge of his own life.


Adam and Eve turned from God, and so did the Sethites.  Mankind turned from God when it built the Tower of Babel. Nonetheless, God chose Abraham to be the father of his chosen people.


As today’s story shows, even the chosen people turn from God.


Today we are no better. We are all sinners. We deserve more than a “Time Out.” We deserve death.


Yet God loves us so much that he re-instated us into a relationship with him, through the death of Jesus Christ.


Unification brings great Joy!