Ezra 10:20-24: a reflection

This passage is a list of names, part of a longer record from the time of Ezra's reform. Ezra had confronted the people over ways in which they had disobeyed God, and now, group by group and name by name, those who had sinned are recorded as they acknowledge their wrong and set about putting it right. Behind these otherwise unremarkable names lies an act of honesty: these were people willing to be named among those who owned their sin and dealt with it.

Notice what these named people did: they acknowledged their wrong and corrected it, publicly, at cost to themselves. It would have been easier to hide, to make excuses, to refuse to be counted among the guilty. But these were willing to be named, to own their sin openly, and to do the hard work of putting it right. There is a humility and courage in this, in being willing to acknowledge our wrong rather than conceal it, and to correct it rather than defend it.

That is a harder thing than we often admit. When we have done wrong, the temptation is to hide it, to make excuses, to avoid being counted among those at fault. But there is honesty and courage in owning our sin, even publicly, and setting about putting it right, as these named people did. Be willing to acknowledge your wrongs rather than conceal them, to be counted among those who own their sin and correct it, rather than defending yourself or hiding. It takes humility to be named among the guilty who put things right; but that honesty is the way of repentance. Do not hide your sin or defend it; own it, correct it, and be found among those willing to put right what they have done wrong.