Editor’s note: After careful and prayerful consideration, the Presbyterian Outlook editorial team has made the difficult decision to discontinue Outlook Standard Lessons. Our final lesson will be material for Sunday, May 18.
For many years, the Outlook has offered these lessons — rooted in outlines from the ecumenical Uniform Lesson Series — as a resource for churches and individuals across the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). We are deeply grateful for the ways these lessons have supported your study and teaching of Scripture.
This change comes as we discern how best to serve the evolving needs of the modern church. In an effort to make Presbyterian theology more digitally discoverable, our small team is launching a new initiative to strengthen our search engine optimization efforts and support long-term digital growth. This work will require substantial time and focus. As a result, we’ve made the difficult decision to pause lower-traffic projects — including the Outlook Standard Lessons — to direct our energy where it can have the greatest impact.
We understand this transition may cause inconvenience, for which we apologize.
For those interested in continuing the Uniform Lesson program, we recommend The Present Word, published by Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Like Outlook Standard Lessons, The Present Word follows the same foundational outlines — and includes additional resources such as teachers’ guides and worship leaflets. To continue seamlessly, look for The Present Word’s Summer 2025 Quarter.
Finally, subscribers may wish to explore our archive of past Outlook Standard Lessons, which may help fill curriculum needs in the months ahead.
Thank you for your understanding — and your continued support of the Presbyterian Outlook.
Ezra 3:1-6, 10-13
In 2018, my husband and I traveled to Israel with our friends, Rabbi Shawn Zell and his wife, Shirah. I remember standing at the Western Wall in Jerusalem in awe of the sights and sounds surrounding the faithful as they prayed. The murmuring of prayers was juxtaposed with the armed guards everywhere keeping watch. In preparing this lesson review, I realized that I was able to experience the Western Wall because of the efforts of Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah.
Stepping into the world
When the Israelites were released from their 70-year captivity in Babylon, it took time to reintegrate into Jerusalem and rebuild the city for the people of Israel. Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah were notable leaders during this period. Zerubbabel rebuilt the temple. Ezra focused on restoring right worship and the purity of the community. Nehemiah reconstructed the walls of Jerusalem and supported the work of Ezra. This trio formed a sort of “three-legged stool” style of leadership. Each building on the work of the other.
Ezra, a descendant of the high priest Aaron, was like Moses — a leader that folks listened to and followed. Ezra was a Torah specialist and wanted to bring Israel back into compliance with the Law of Moses. He was a legalist, a letter-of-the-law kind of guy. Ezra set about rebuilding the Torah community and its religious identity.
While there would have been a small number of returning Israelites who were old enough to remember the holy city and temple before captivity, most who returned were born into captivity and only knew Jerusalem from their family’s stories. For either group, the city was built up in their minds. Their expectations were likely high — and woven through with grief and anxiety for a disappointing past and unknown future, as well as hope for a new beginning. We see this mix of joy and sadness play out in Ezra 3.
“But many of the priest and Levites and heads of families, old people who had seen the first house on its foundations, wept with a loud voice when they saw this house, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted so loudly that the sound was heard far away” (Ezra 3:12-13).
The same but different
The Hebrew captives’ return to Israel, like any human endeavor, had its problems even with their best efforts to obey God’s direction.
Problems such as the returning leadership intentionally rejected the people in Jerusalem who were not exiles. These folks offered their help in the rebuilding and were rebuffed, breeding jealousy and distrust of “the other.” Ezra also insisted on the purity of the Jewish community, demanding that those married outside the faith send their non-Hebrew wives and children away, which also proved quite problematic.
Where God meets us
Change can be unsettling. We are torn between the desire to honor the work of those who have gone before and charting a new path forward. Celebrating the new ways while honoring the past is easier said than done.
God meets us when our worship is genuine, merciful, full of grace, and celebrates creativity through the movement of the Holy Spirit. God meets us when our communal efforts are heartfelt, morally sound and ethically compassionate.
Questions for discussion on Ezra 3
- What changes in the worship or faith life of your church have elicited difficult feelings between members? How were they handled or resolved?
- While “inclusion” may be a politically charged word in our world today, consider how Ezra could have had better success had he included the folks who were already in Jerusalem when they returned.
Want to receive lectionary content in your inbox on Mondays? Sign up here.
