Thursday 12 September 2024
But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins." (v. 19)
Background
Do you ever wonder how some people support whatever it is they support? Do you feel that we cannot even agree on what the issues are, much less have a meaningful conversation about them that might leverage our different approaches to possible solutions?
Do you see the world feeling grief, fear, confusion and rage? Or perhaps you’re holding a challenging mix of emotions and thoughts as you try to process the most extreme, hateful reactivity in these days. Some may want revenge for damage done. Some will not trust anything that is being said by anyone.
Today’s scripture offers a challenge to the tribes of Israel and perhaps also to us. This passage says there are some choices to make – and at the core of the choices is the central question: which God will we serve? Because the kind of God we serve makes a difference for better or for worse. It forms our sense of purpose, priorities, values, and our understanding of what it means to be human and how to be in community. The passage goes on to suggests that naming which ‘god/s’ you serve informs your response to the choices of coming months and your place (or not) as citizens of God’s Kingdom.
Into this moment comes, what for many will be the most shocking statement in the Old Testament: in verse 19 Joshua says the people cannot serve the Lord. Joshua is denying that the people can do what he’s just spent 18 verses trying to get them to do! If you’ve not read Joshua 24:1-18 then it might be worth a look now. Joshua has won their statement of faith, and the people have pledged their allegiance to God and now he rejects it. Why?
A lifetime could be spent pondering this question. Is the text a later addition, a corruption of a later tradition, a literary device or prophetic word? But essentially Joshua has understood his people can quite happily worship God as they have worshipped other gods over time and is trying to get them to own a deeper motivation for their response to worship God.
To Ponder:
- What God will we serve?
- What roots you, what holds you, what is the deeper motivation behind your choices?
Prayer
Gracious God, you know my frailty, my best intention and my worst actions and thoughts, and yet you seek me out, to save me, to lead me to a fuller life. Lord open my eyes, my ears, my minds and my heart to clearly receive your word for me today and may I have the courage to respond. Amen.
Bible notes author: The Revd Dr Mark Cheetham
Mark is Superintendent Minister of the Salisbury Circuit and Minister at Salisbury Methodist Church.