Did you ever read something in a book or printed page that made you stop and reread it? It hit you and it was almost like you couldn’t believe what your eyes read? Perhaps it was a statistic that was so astonishing. Maybe it was a quotation that you couldn’t believe so-and-so said that! So you were compelled to read it again, just to make sure. Instead of looking just to comprehend the big picture, you looked closely at each word to find nuances and meaning.
You read it again and paused. You noticed. And thought. And nodded. And you understood.
Think for a moment about one of the concepts in this passage: building. When Nehemiah was able to paint the correct picture to the people, and mapped out a plan for them to follow and rebuild, the people responded positively. The time is now. The culture is in despair. The walls and structures of society are in shambles.
Come. Let’s start rebuilding. The Lord will give us success.
Building walls is taking responsibility for who you are and who God is calling you to be. Do you see the difference? There are parts of who we are that are not who God wants us to be. We are to take responsibility for our sins. That is difficult and humbling. We want to blame someone or something else for who we are. It’s my parent’s fault. I am the product of my culture. I need to take responsibility for my sins and I need to repent of them.
God is in the process of building, building a new way. In Nehemiah’s day, it was shifting from the Law to grace. In the New Testament, Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6 ESV). The early church were known as followers of the Way, often shortened to just “The Way.” It wasn’t a name claimed by their own; it was a name bestowed upon them by others. These followers of Christ were first called “Christians” by the leaders of the community in Antioch (Acts 11:26).
The interesting – and quite unusual – thing about this is that sects of the Jewish faith usually did not get a distinctive name among the Gentile population. The Jewish faith had different sects, groups like the Pharisees and Sadducees and Essenes and several others, but to the outside world they were all Jews. So why weren’t Christians simply lumped in with all the other variants of the Jewish faith?
A little context to the culture might help. Antioch became the first major city outside of Judea to be touched by the message of the gospel. The city of Antioch was often referred to as “all the world in one city.” You could see the riches and diversity of the entire world located in the city of Antioch. The city was designed like most cities of the day – a circular wall surrounding the boundaries of the city and inner marketplace at the center of the city, serving as its hub. From the hub of the city were inner walls, sometimes constructed, but sometimes natural barriers that served as spokes reaching from the hub to the outer wall. The spokes marked ways that divided different people groups from one another. Jews from Gentiles. Rich from poor. Color from color. All cities followed a similar pattern. Each of these walls were known as “ways.”
Until the Christians came to Antioch. Here the message of reconciliation of the gospel came across in stark contrast to the design of the city. There is no male nor female – gender, something that was a huge divide in the early world. There is no Jew nor Gentile – race and religion, two more dividing walls in the boundaries of the city. There is no rich or poor, slave or free – economy and education, two more avenues that separated the city.
The people of Antioch were amazed, but also astute. “These Christians are followers of the WAY,” they said – meaning Jesus.
But I don’t think the people of Antioch said it like that. I think they said,
“The people are followers of THE Way.”
THE Way that tears down walls. THE Way that builds new walls. THE Way that leads to the Father.