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Ezra 4:9-10 "[T]hen wrote Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their associates, the judges, the governors, the officials, the Persians, the men of Erech, the Babylonians, the men of Susa, that is, the Elamites, and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Osnappar deported and settled in the cities of Samaria and in the rest of the province Beyond the River".

 

The Jews had begun rebuilding Jerusalem as they returned from exile and the higher-ups to the north were none too happy about it. The complainers were people from foreign nations who had been settled in the northern part of Israel after the Assyrian conquest. They had no love for Jerusalem, the Temple, or the Jews, and saw the return from exile and rebuilding as a threat to their power and comfort. So they wrote to King Artaxerxes, warning him against letting this "rebellious city, hurtful to kings and provinces" be rebuilt. (Ezra 4:15).

 

The truth is, these men are right. Judaism is so different, so tied to God, that it is a danger to worldly kings. Jews will be rebellious when there is a conflict between a foreign king and God's commands, at least they should be. When Jews are being good Jews, they are a thorn in the side of other worldly powers. They can't help it, God's ways are so different from worldly ways, this is just what happens.

 

The truth also is that we should be the same. We can go along with worldly powers as long as they are not asking us to violate God's law, but the minute they do, we have to resist. We should be rebellious for God's sake, a discomfort to worldly powers opposed to the Kingdom of God we are to be helping build. I think we should ask ourselves whether some of the Church's current problems, both as an institution and among the individuals comprising it, result from not wanting to be seen this way in the eyes of the world.