Ezra: The Lord HelpsSample

Groundhog Day, a film starring Bill Murray, is one of the most frustrating and maddening films I have ever watched. A cynical TV weatherman finds himself reliving the same day over and over again. 

What happens in these verses feels a little bit like that film. No sooner does work on the temple begin again than opposition comes again. This is not the blatant opposition of Ezra 4 but officious, red-tape opposition. Tattenai and Shethar-Bozenai, along with other officials from Trans-Euphrates, want an authorization code, planning permission, completed forms, and the like. 

As opposition goes, this seems a lot less menacing than the fear-inducing, threatening, and bullying behavior of chapter 4, but chapter 5 is intimidating. In verse 4 the officials want names, which is always threatening. 

Think about encountering an awkward customer at work. They’re complaining about something, the conversation gets a bit frosty and then they ask for your name and the name of your line manager. At that point, you feel threatened. You know they haven’t asked for your name because they’re going to send you a personalized Christmas card from moonpig.com. 

The officials here want names so that they can press charges once they’ve established that the building work is unauthorized. While this opposition is not life-threatening, be under no illusions: officialdom is nonetheless an attempt to hamper and hinder the building work of God. 

Christ Church Fulwood has experienced this in recent years with our school's work. People who don’t want us going into schools to proclaim the gospel have cited rules, regulations, and political correctness to close the door. University Christian Unions encounter the same situation when their Student Union insisted that they go through official channels before they can hold meetings. They are blocked from hiring rooms and not allowed to have particular speakers on-site. It happens in the institutional church too. Order and protocol are appealed to, hindering imaginative ideas to proclaim the gospel. Institutional rule-keeping, while important, can be so overbearing that it stifles the work of God that has been inspired by the Word of God. 

So when the church is growing and this sort of opposition comes and scuppers the work of the gospel, don’t be surprised.

Reflection

Consider where red tape has hindered the work of building the church. Pray for people who are gospel-hearted, or at least friends of the gospel, to be placed in key positions of authority