The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)

Episode: Day 270: God's Favor with Ezra
Date: September 27, 2025
Host: Fr. Mike Schmitz

Overview

In Day 270 of The Bible in a Year, Fr. Mike guides listeners through Ezra chapters 7 and 8, Zechariah chapters 7 and 8, and a brief passage from Proverbs. The episode centers on the theme of "God's Favor with Ezra": how God's providence, faithfulness, and guidance directed Israel's return from exile, and how we are invited to live lives wholly consecrated to Him. Fr. Mike draws connections between scriptural events and contemporary faith, emphasizing faithfulness in daily living, authenticity in worship, and the importance of aligning our actions, study, and teaching with God’s law.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Context: Ezra and the Returns from Exile

• Transition between Ezra and Nehemiah: Fr. Mike explains that Ezra and Nehemiah were originally one scroll and are thus part 1 and part 2 of the same story ([02:00]).
• Timeline Placement: There’s a 60-year gap between Ezra chapters 6 and 7 ([22:45]).
• Three Waves of Return:
  • First wave: Led by Zerubbabel
  • Second wave: Led by Ezra
  • Third wave: Led by Nehemiah

2. Ezra’s Calling and God's Favor

• Ezra’s Credentials: Ezra, a scribe and priest, is a descendant of Aaron—the chief priest ([24:10]).
• God Working through Secular Authority: King Artaxerxes shows favor to Ezra, giving him all he asks, allowing the journey, and supporting the rebuilding and worship in Jerusalem ([25:15]):

  “...the hand of the Lord his God was upon him.” (Ezra 7:6)

• Letter from Artaxerxes: Lays out decrees supporting the Jews and instructs others to help.

3. Ezra’s Disposition: Study, Practice, Teach

• Ezra 7:10 Key Verse ([25:30]):

  “For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach his statutes and ordinances in Israel.”

• Fr. Mike’s Reflection: Applies the same threefold formula to listeners' Bible journey:
  • Study: Deepening understanding through scripture.
  • Do: Allowing study to transform one’s actions.
  • Teach: Sharing knowledge, whether with children, students, or others.

  “He studied it in order to do it, in order for that to actually change his own life, to change his own heart.” ([25:50])

4. Ezra’s Trust in God versus Reliance on Human Help

• Fasting and Humbling at the River Ahava ([27:20]):
  • Ezra proclaims a fast for safe passage, refusing to ask the king for armed protection to honor their declaration of God’s faithfulness.

  “I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers... so we fasted and besought our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.” (Ezra 8:21-23)

• Contrast with Nehemiah: Nehemiah later accepts an armed escort, also recognizing it as God’s providence ([28:40]).
• Takeaway: Two legitimate paths—depending wholly on God directly, or recognizing God’s hand in human help. What’s critical is not to leave God out either way.

5. Zechariah: Hypocrisy in Fasting and True Worship

• People ask about continuing fasts ([30:55]):
  • Zechariah rebukes empty ritualism—fasting without real conversion or justice.

  “When you fasted and mourned... was it for me that you fasted? And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves...?” (Zechariah 7:5-6)

• Fr. Mike’s Application:
  • Danger of compartmentalizing faith—giving God just a part, treating the rest as “ours.”

  “You give God that fast... but the rest of your lives, you treat like he’s not part of them... the entire week is yours, the entire paycheck is yours, all my life is yours.” ([32:00])

• God’s Desire: Wholehearted belonging, not just outward gestures.

6. Zechariah’s Vision of Restoration and Universal Inclusion

• God’s Promises to Zion ([33:00]):
  • Restoration of Jerusalem—a city of peace, old and young flourishing again.
  • God pledges to dwell once more among His people, bringing blessing and fruitfulness.
• Prophecy of Global Pilgrimage ([34:40]):

  “In those days ten men from nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’” (Zechariah 8:23)

• Fr. Mike’s Reflection: Sees this fulfilled in the Gentiles’ inclusion in the new covenant through Jesus, expressing gratitude for the gift of adoption and union.

  “That’s us... brought into the covenant through the blood of Jesus Christ.” ([34:50])

7. Proverbs Wisdom

• Honoring the Mundane as God’s Work ([35:45]):
  • “The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both... the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.” (Proverbs 20:12-15)
• Wakefulness, prudence, honesty, and valuing wisdom above riches.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On God’s Hand in Human Favor (Ezra 7):

  “It’s not because I was so great... it was because God’s favor was there... it’s worth noting whenever we have these blessings in our lives to be able to say God was present.”
  — Fr. Mike ([25:00])

• On Integrity in Religious Practice (Zechariah 7):

  “Yeah, you give God a little pittance, right? ...But the rest of your lives, you treat like he’s not part of them.”
  — Fr. Mike ([32:10])

• On Fasting as Symbol of Total Belonging:

  “This little fasting I’m doing today, or this prayer I’m doing today... is a sign of the fact that my entire life belongs to Him.”
  — Fr. Mike ([32:50])

• On the Inclusion of All Peoples (Zechariah 8):

  “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”
  — (Zechariah 8:23, read and echoed by Fr. Mike) ([34:48])

• Gratitude for God’s Adoption:

  “I’m so grateful that God allows someone like us, who are not the Jewish people... to become his people through adoption by baptism.”
  — Fr. Mike ([35:10])

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [02:00] – Background on Ezra and Nehemiah being one scroll/book.
• [22:45] – Noting the ~60-year gap between return waves in Ezra.
• [24:10] – Ezra’s pedigree, role as priest and scribe.
• [25:30] – Three aspects of Ezra’s heart: study, do, teach.
• [27:20] – Fasting for protection and contrast with Nehemiah’s approach.
• [30:55] – Zechariah addresses hypocritical fasting.
• [32:00] – Application: Authenticity in giving our whole lives to God.
• [34:40] – Zechariah’s prophecy of universal inclusion.
• [35:45] – Proverbs on wisdom and daily faithfulness.

Takeaways

• God’s favor isn’t earned by our own merit but received through humility, prayer, and faithfulness.
• A life of virtue: Authenticity is at the heart of worship—external acts like fasting or tithing must be matched by a life surrendered entirely to God.
• Scripture is for change: The study of God’s word is meant to transform our hearts and actions, and flow outwards in teaching and witness.
• Gratitude for adoption: The Gentile inclusion in God’s saving plan, foreshadowed by Zechariah, comes to fruition in Christ—we belong through grace.

Fr. Mike’s Final Words:
"You guys, I am praying for you. Please, please pray for me. What a day!” ([35:56])