Narrative Lectionary Reflection
October 14, 2018
Introduction
Joshua was the successor to Moses. He had led the people across the Jordan River to begin taking the land. Now, the land was theirs and Joshua, now an old man, wants the people to recommit to God again.
God had defeated the Egyptians, allowing for their escape. God was with them as the warred with the people living on the land promised for them. But now as the land has been subdued, the people are being challenged. Meeting other cultures, meant meeting other gods. As Joshua is getting ready to pass from the scene, he wants the people to take stock of their lives and choose who they would worship or serve: the gods of their neighbors or the God that led them out of slavery?
Today we study the farewell speech Joshua and the people of Israel’s response.
Engaging the Text
I sent the hornetb]”>[b] before you. It drove them out before you and did the same to the two kings of the Amorites. It wasn’t your sword or bow that did this. 13 I gave you land on which you hadn’t toiled and cities that you hadn’t built. You settled in them and are enjoying produce from vineyards and olive groves that you didn’t plant.
-Joshua 24:12-13
Joshua 24 includes some of the last words of Joshua. He was a protégé of Moses, and when Moses died, Joshua took over. He is speaking to the people after they wandered in the desert for 40 years, after they crossed the Jordan into the Promised land, after the people had battled the inhabitants of Canaan, and after they had set up the beginnings of a nation. It took decades, but the Israelites had arrived in more ways than one.
Instead of kicking back and enjoying their new life, God is calling them to enter into covenant with God. Joshua gives a final speech that is in three parts: recalling God’s mighty acts, discussion the covenant and then solemnizing the covenant. When he speaks it is in the first person, meaning that it was not simply him speaking, he was speaking with divine authority.
It’s important to note that when the Israelites conquered the different nations, that meant coming into contact with foreign gods. Joshua’s talk is a reminder to make a choice to follow God, and sometimes that choice has to made daily.
Joshua starts by recounts the story of the Israelites, showing what God had done for them; the calling of Abraham and giving he and Sarah a son named Issac. Issac had Jacob and Esau. Leading the Israelites out of Egypt, the destruction of Pharoah’s Army, and God being with them as they battled differing nations. God even reminds them that they were given land they didn’t toil and living in homes they didn’t build, reminding them they didn’t do this on their own.
Everything that the Israelites had done; winning battles against the different nations, the vineyards they planted, the cities they lived in, the fields they farmed were not done by them alone. Joshua reminds the people that all the good things they had at this moment, came from God. It was God that brought them to this moment. And because God got them to this point, they should give thanks to God. Joshua wasn’t saying that they should just say thanks and move on, no, they were to give thanks to God’s goodness by serving God.
This concept that God is the one who is at work in our lives is something that is hard for our modern society to understand. For good or for ill, modern society is focused on the self. It doesn’t matter what your political orientation is, we all tend to look at our achievements as solely the result of our hard work. In Joshua’s speech, God is continually saying that it was Yahweh that did so much for the people. Yahweh brought Israel into being and then led them out of Egypt. It was Yahweh that defeated all the enemies of the Israelites. Joshua tells the people they are free to worship other gods. In verse 15 God says that a choice has to be made: “then choose today whom you will serve. Choose the gods whom your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But my family and I will serve the Lord.”
This is a call to choosing to follow God and it is also a call to live a life of gratitude. One of my Old Testament professors at Seminary shared his view on how people take communion and how that has changed over time. In the past, the congregants would come to the communion table in fear and trembling. They didn’t even take the bread, but opened their mouths and the pastor would place it on their tongues like a mother bird to her chicks. In modern times, people come joyfully to the table, take the bread and wine and had back to their seats almost skipping.
In the future, the professor envisioned church members stomping down the aisle to the communion table. The pastor shakes in fear. These members grab their bread and wine and then stomp back to their pew.
His little tale brought a few laughs in the room, but there was some seriousness about it. It showed how one can go from having a grateful and humble heart to thinking that they don’t really need God and in fact, God should be honored they are doing this. We can go from gratitude to a sense of entitlement, thinking God didn’t do anything for us.
Joshua was trying to remind his people that their lives are not simply their own. The Israelites were part of something bigger than themselves. They were part of God’s salvation story, God’s attempt to redeem creation from the bondage of sin.
At the end of the passage, the people recommit to following Yahweh. Of course, the Israelites would forget what God had done in their lives. Joshua knew this. But at that moment, the Israelites get it. They will strive to live the life of a servant.
In some ways, this reminds us that we say “yes” to God day after day. It isn’t just a “one and done” debate. People in recovery usually say that the road to sobriety is one day at a time.
Conclusion
I heard a phrase a lot when I was growing up. It’s phrase you hear a lot in the black church. “God woke me up this morning and started me on my way.” When I was a kid, I had a hard time understanding this. Was God sitting next to my bed and maybe nudging me to wake up?
As I got older, I began to understand what that meant; it means that our lives are not are own. God has done wonderous things for us and our response is a life of service to God and to our sisters and brothers. It’s to enter into God’s continuing salvation story and see how we can model and show what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.
Do we see that the God that demanded allegiance to the Israelites long ago, also demands our allegiance? We are being asked who we will serve. We can choose the ways of the world that leads to “death” or will we choose the one who brought us salvation through Jesus Christ.
Choose this day who you will serve. Who will you serve? As singer Bob Dylan says, “you gotta serve somebody.”
Dennis Sanders is the Pastor at First Christian Church of St. Paul in Mahtomedi, Minnesota. He’s written for various outlets including Christian Century.
Come Sunday 