阅读经文 

流亡者回到耶路撒冷后，他们的首要任务之一就是重建圣殿，以恢复对神的敬拜。这段经文强调了这个群体对这项工程的兴奋之情，以及他们对神再次把他们带回家的感激之情。人们为这项工程付上代价奉献。

但我们也得知，许多上了年纪的人都哭了。他们目睹了旧圣殿的荣耀，没想到新圣殿今非昔比。（参拉 3:2-9）

快乐和遗憾有时是并存的。当我们回顾人生，发现自己本应采取不同的行动或做出不同的决定时，我们会悲伤地看到我们的罪对周围人造成的影响。有时，我们只有在神恢复我们并欢迎我们回到祂身边之后，才会明白我们错误行为的全部份量。

年长流亡者的眼泪并不意味着对神的失望。这些眼泪反映了人们意识到国家的罪孽代价有多重大。古老的圣殿毁于一旦，因为人们悖逆了神。

然而，人们想起了另一个关键真理：“（耶和华）是良善的，祂的慈爱……直到永远。”（参拉 3:3-11）在基督里，每一个罪孽都被除去，每一滴眼泪都被擦去，剩下的只有得救的喜乐。

When the exiles returned to Jerusalem, one of their first tasks was to rebuild the temple so that the worship of God could be restored. The text emphasizes the community's excitement about this project, and their gratitude to God for bringing them home again. The people gave sacrificially for the work.

But we are also told that many of the older people wept. They had seen the glory of the former temple and did not think that this new one would be as glorious (see Ezra 3:2-9).

Joy and regret sometimes go together. When we look back in life and see that we should have acted differently or made different decisions, we can see with sadness the effects of our sins on the people around us. And sometimes we only understand the full weight of our wrongdoing after God restores us and welcomes us back to himself.

The tears of the older exiles did not signal a disappointment with God. Those tears reflected an awareness of how much the nation's sins had cost. The old temple had been ruined because the people had rebelled against God.

Yet the people recalled another key truth: "[The Lord] is good; his love . . . endures forever" (see Ezra 3:3-11). In Christ, every sin is removed and every tear is wiped away so that what remains is only the joy of salvation.