NEW LIFE BEGINS

October 30, 2011
Pentecost 20
Joshua 3:7-17
Matthew 23:1-12

(prayer)

October is here in full force and for me that includes that the second season for my kids’ football have arrived. The regular season is over and the playoffs are underway. My oldest son’s high school team has already played their last game. Based on their records, they were the underdogs for the game this past Tuesday. The lost a close one 21-18, with Ft Saskatchewan scoring in the final minutes to take the lead for good. My second son’s bantam team has already played two playoff games. Yesterday, they faced a team that had beaten them 46-06 back in early September. After a big 40-13 win yesterday, they will play for a league championship next Sunday. My youngest son’s semi final game is this afternoon (in Sherwood Park at 3) – if they lose, these 6-10 year olds (which I have helped coach this year) can drown their sorrows in Halloween candy tomorrow; if they win, we’ve got one more week of chilly practices and they go for all the marbles on Saturday.

I have watched it all season – there are so many small things that determine the outcome of each game – a good block here, a missed block there; a dropped pass or a fumble recovery. I think I have a healthy attitude: I know it’s all just a game and that wins and losses can’t be taken too seriously. But I do love the game and all of the possibilities that occur between the whistles.

On the way home, after the high school team’s close match on Tuesday, Sean and I found ourselves talking about more than a half dozen little plays that could have changed the outcome. “If only...” Hindsight is not only 20/20, it has magnifying glasses.

All of this a metaphor for me as I look at life in general – all along the way, the small moments, the choices and circumstances along the way, dictate the joys and sorrows, the frustrations and the wisdom, we will experience.

//

When Jacob and his family left their estate in Canaan (~1700BCE) to survive the drought with the help of Egypt’s bounty, it would be a huge overstatement to say that the Jacob clan was in control of every kilometre of Canaan. Jacob’s family had found themselves living into the truth of the promise God had made with Abraham (Jacob’s grandfather) that their family all their descendants would live in a new land. When they fled the drought, they had come a long way toward that goal, but they were not a nation, but simply a large family with large tracts of land within Canaan.

Four hundred years later, when the descendants of Jacob’s family fled a life of slavery in Egypt, they felt called back to the land promised to Abraham, Sarah and their descendants. Only this time, they viewed all of Canaan as theirs not just the part of the land which Jacob had. By 1300BCE, the people of Jacob were a nation of people. Under the leadership of Moses they made their freedom exodus through the Sinai wilderness for a full generation of forty years. Along the way, they had grown in their trust and faith in God and they were prepared for what a new life in Canaan would be like. All of the small events of that journey led them to the eastern shore of the Jordan River. They had lived through the mysterious hardships that plagued the Egyptian pharaoh and convinced him to give the Israelites their freedom. Faced with walls of water ahead of them and a second-guessing pharaoh behind them, they followed Moses along the path God had provided. When they were hungry and thirsty, they learned to trust in the providence of God. When they were impatient, they felt God’s forgiving compassion.

We have every reason to assume that Joshua was a relatively young man (15-20 years old) when the Israelites first began their exodus journey. The book of Numbers tells us that he had served as Moses’ attendant since his youth (Num 11:28). The varied experience of his life included being among the initial twelve Israelites (one from each tribe) chosen to do some recognisance in Canaan in the early years of the exodus. Ten of the spies came back and reported that they were no match for the current inhabitants of Canaan, Joshua and another young man named Caleb believed that the Israelites would be successful.

The legend in the book of Numbers says that it was this unfavourable report by ten of the spies that led to another forty years in the wilderness before the people would be able to enter their promised land: enough time for a new generation of faithful people to be the ones to enter the land. From the start of the Exodus, Joshua had demonstrated a strong faith. He was seen as a leader among the tribe of Ephraim to be chosen as their rep among the spies. He boldly stood against the majority in his assessment of Canaan. Moses made him his aide and Joshua became Moses’ eventual successor.

//

All of ‘this’ brought the people of Israel to the end of their journey. We heard today about the first steps into this land that the spies had once reported to be filled with milk and honey. In an account that sounds remarkably similar to the escape across the Red Sea, the high waters of the Jordan stood still to allow the people to follow the priests and the Ark of the Covenant into Canaan. [The Ark was the ornate box which had been built to house the remnants of the stone tables containing the ten commandments.] The people and all of the experiences that had brought them to the eastern shore of the Jordan stepped out into the future’s unknown waters.

On that western shore a new life began.

//

It would be a life of hope and promise, but it would not come easily – there was the still the problem of the current inhabitants of the land: the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites. The book of Joshua does give an account of how some of this conquest of the land took place, including one fairly well-known story about how started their own “occupy Jericho” protest refusing to leave until the walls that stood in their way came-a tumblin’ down.

This year the lectionary will skip over all of those details as next week we will read from the last chapter of Joshua after all of the battles are done and the people are faced with making a choice as to who they will serve in this new land and the new life that comes with it. But the book of Joshua is a good and interesting read – I encourage you to give it a look sometime, maybe even before next Sunday, if you want to be chronological about things.

//

The exodus journey served the purpose of preparing the descendants of Jacob to begin the new version of his old life in Canaan. The things they learned about themselves and God were valuable lessons along the way. As were, the expectations of behaviour and conduct that would govern them as they anticipated what true nationhood would be like. They had their God, their experience and the Law. All this would be the foundation of the new life that lay on the western side of the river.

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The exodus was a deeply spiritual journey. It is fair to say that the people’s faith was severely tested along the way. But the exodus journey was ultimately a practical one: how people actually lived in this promised land of milk and honey would be the ultimate test.

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How people live out their faith is the theme of Jesus’ comments from the gospel of Matthew in today’s second reading. Jesus has some concerns about the way that some of the synagogue and temple leaders offered their leadership. Jesus recognizes that the Pharisees and Scribes are the keepers of the people’s story and traditions. Jesus does not want his disciples to ignore the lessons that tradition has to offer, but he did have words of caution for some of the actions of these faith leaders. He pointed to a hypocrisy that was obvious in their pursuit of status and honour, all the while chastising others for a lack of faithfulness.

Jesus expected his followers to be leaders as well, but their leadership would not be based on titles or status, but would be God-centred and servant-focused.

They are not to see themselves as rabbis, but rather students – always learning, always growing – even as their lives and actions could serve as examples to others. The Matthew passage ended today with the wonderfully paradoxical statement that self-exaltation leads to humiliation, but that a humble heart will be respected and honoured: all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.

//

I guess one of the calls I am hearing in these passages today is to allow my life to be centred in God. I know that each moment (each choice) can and will bring changes to the path of my life. If I am solely on my own, that can be a scary prospect. But if I have company for the journey, even a hard path is passable.

We are sisters and brothers in faith. We share a common story and tradition which unites us with each other and the one who brought us to this point in history. Now, in this unity, is a wonderful variety that encourages us to see the wideness of God’s grace and the multitude of the gifts of the Spirit. We are like a body with many parts.

And...

We are not alone,

we live in God's world.

We believe in God:

who has created and is creating,

who has come in Jesus,

the Word made flesh,

to reconcile and make new,

who works in us and others

by the Spirit.

We trust in God.

We are called to be the Church:

to celebrate God's presence,

to live with respect in Creation,

to love and serve others,

to seek justice and resist evil,

to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,

our judge and our hope.

In life, in death, in life beyond death,

God is with us.

We are not alone.

Thanks be to God.





**prayer** 

Let us pray:

Holy, Loving God;

We hold you in the sanctuary of our hearts and we are not alone. We hold the story of faith and bring it into a new generation. Hold us always. AMEN.



#3MV River