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The Sermon for Sunday, August 2nd, 2026, the Ninth Sunday after Trinity
The Lessons: Nehemiah 9:16-21; Psalm 78:14-26; Romans 8:35-39; Matthew 14:13-21
The Text: Nehemiah 9:16-21
INTRODUCTION
Our First Lesson from the Book of Nehemiah (after 433 B.C.) is a passage from the confessions and prayers of Ezra and Nehemiah, and the gathered Levites as they read the book of the Law, confessed their sins and worshipped God. All this led to the priests, Levites and people of God making a covenant with God to obey his laws and do his will. The passage which precedes our first lesson tells of God’s covenant with Israel, his deliverance of Israel from bondage in Egypt, his miracles that he performed in leading them out of Egypt, his faithful provision for them throughout their desert wanderings, and his gift of wise and righteous laws.
Our First Lesson begins with citing the people of Israel’s pride and stubborn rebellion against God:
But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments.
(Nehemiah 9:16, KJV)
Much later on, in the defense that resulted in his being stoned to death by the Jews, St. Stephen, inspired by the Holy Spirit, levelled the same charge at them, saying, “Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye (Acts 7:51, KJV).
In Neh. 9:17, the gathered Israelites acknowledge that their fathers refused to obey God and chose not to remember all the miracles God had performed for them, going so far as to refuse to obey God and appointing a leader to lead them back into bondage. This alludes to the people’s expressed determination in Numbers 14:4: “Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt” (Numbers 14:4b, KJV).
However, God showed his kindness and forgiveness by not destroying them all when they refused to enter the Promised Land on account of their fear of its giant inhabitants and because of their unbelief. We read this wonderful testimony to God’s lovingkindness:
But thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.
(Neh. 9:17c, KJV)
This reminds us of God’s description of his own nature to Moses when he passed by Moses after Moses asked God to show him his glory (Exodus 33:18-23):
The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin….
(Exodus 34:6-7a, KJV)
Again, the gathered assembly including Ezra and Nehemiah confess the idolatry of Israel in making a molten calf and worshipping it, but add to that the testimony to God’s mercy and preservation of his people (Neh. 9:18-19), guiding them with the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. Added to this was God’s goodness in teaching them by his good spirit, feeding them with manna, and providing water to quench their thirst (Neh. 9:20). For forty years, God sustained his people in their desert wanderings, so that they lacked nothing, their clothes did not become old, and their feet did not swell (Neh.9:21).
THE PURPOSE OF RECOUNTING GOD’S MERCY, GOODNESS, AND LOVINGKINDNESS
The original purpose of this statement of God’s goodness and confession of their sin and their fathers’ sin against God was both to show God’s righteousness and love for his people and the people’s own sinfulness, so that they would all be motivated to cleave to God and obey his word and law wholeheartedly.
St. Paul, in interpreting Israel’s journey in the wilderness to his Christian readers, commented that “our fathers,” that is, the Israelites whom God led out of Egypt by the hand of Moses, all ate the same spiritual meat and drank the same spiritual drink, “for they drank of the that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4, KJV). He proceeds to point out that despite this, God was displeased with many of them, for they died in the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:5).
As we reflect on our First Lesson today, let us remember how pictures of human unfaithfulness and sinfulness are put next to recurring testimonies to God’s goodness, mercy, and love. This is deliberate. Human failure and sinfulness, as we each realize them, must lead to confession to God of our sins and failures, but the love and goodness of God must always inspire us to grow into maturity in Christ, filled with his love, patience, kindness, goodness, and all the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Even in heaven, more healing is received by people of all nations, showing further growth of life in us in the life hereafter, for the tree of life produces leaves that are “for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:2c, KJV).
CONCLUSIONS FOR US TODAY
If we wonder about the relevance of this passage from Nehemiah 9 today, let us remember not to follow the bad examples of disobedience, pride, and rebellion set by the Israelites in the wilderness. Rather, let us always remember the lovingkindness, goodness, mercy, and patience of God, and reflect on the fact that God’s love and goodness are meant to lead us to repentance and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, as St. Paul reminded us that the goodness of God is designed to lead us to repentance (Romans 2:4). We can go further than this by pointing out that that the more closely we walk with God, the more God’s healing power will heal our broken, sinful human nature. The returned Israelite exiles in the late fifth century hear God’s word read day after day, confessed their sins and the sins of their fathers, worshipped God, and made a covenant with God to keep his law. Reading and hearing the book of God’s Law being read motivated them to make a covenant to obey God’s Law. We Christians are motivated by the supreme love that the Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated by his passion and death on the cross to live lives faithful and obedient to God.