February 28, 2024 – Where’s The Beef?

“All the people gathered together into the square before the Water Gate. They told the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel. Accordingly, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could hear with understanding. This was on the first day of the seventh month. He read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.” (Nehemiah 8:1-3)

“Where’s the Beef?” is a catchphrase that comes from a 1984 commercial for the Wendy’s Hamburger franchise. It starred an elderly woman named Clara who was disgusted with the tiny burger served with her huge bun at the “Home of the Big Bun” restaurant. It was a hilarious commercial that become a social phenomenon before social media existed.

In our text from Nehemiah the people wanted to hear the word from G-d – so Ezra decided to read — and read, and read, and read. And the people wept – but not for the reasons we 21st century Christians would weep. If I preached for six hours, people would weep, but not for their hungering for the word. They would weep because of the smallness of our attention span today. People would shout things like “He never preaches six hours, why now?”. But the people in Nehemiah’s time were so hungry for the word that they stood and listened because they didn’t want just a nugget– they wanted the whole beef. And Ezra gave them the whole beef, and they were filled with so much joy, they wept.

We need to have that same hungering for the Word of G-d. We often look at the process of beginning a bible reading plan as drudgery, as something we “have to get done today”. This is not the attitude to have when reading the bible. We have to hunger to read, hunger to study, and hunger to know more. When Jesus came to his hometown of Nazareth (Luke 4) and entered into their Synagogues to read, teach and preach, the people were anxious to hear what he might say about the word of G-d. And when he read from Isaiah, they were sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to hear what he might have to say. And when he said “This scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing today”, they were also weeping – crying out in anger.

Reading the word should promote some amount of reaction from us – joy, sadness, hope, anger, trust, and longing for more. As you read G-d’s words, expect to be moved to many different emotions.

Pastor Dave