Remember the old westerns?The ones where the good guys and the bad guys were easily identifiable.Sometimes it was as easy as looking at what color hat they wore.Sometimes the bad guy was the one who hadn’t shaved for days and the good guy was somehow always clean cut and well groomed.If someone had a scar running down the side of their face, you knew they were the bad guys.
Well, one of the things that you could count on in a whole bunch of these movies is that somebody, somewhere, sometime, would have a gun pointed at someone and they would utter the fateful line:“Just give me a reason.”
But here’s the thing: that line can be used by both the good guys and the bad guys, the black hats and the white hats.If the good guy is pointing the gun and uttering the line, he probably means “give me a reason to believe you.”If the bad guy is the pointing the gun and uttering the line, he probably means “give me a reason to shoot you.”
In the first case, the bad guy will plea for mercy, or give up some pertinent information that will allow the good guy to slowly put the safety back on his gun and holster it.Because we all know the good guy would never shoot someone in cold blood.
In the second case, the bad guy is waiting for the good guy to make one false move, maybe go for his own gun, so that he can justify shooting him.Of course, in those old western morality plays, the good guy would be a lightening draw, or another good guy would save the day, because good guys couldn’t be killed when they were on the side of right.
Have you noticed in the new westerns that it’s awfully hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys?It’s almost as if everyone is a good guy and a bad guy, and so the old cues hold no weight.They’re probably a lot more realistic than the old westerns, but, you know what?I miss the days when good always triumphed over evil and the good guy always got the girl.
When I read the story of Joshua’s valedictory, I have some of the same thoughts.Who are the good guys here?Who are the bad guys?Are they intertwined?Is God saying to the Israelites, “Give me a reason to believe that you will be faithful to me?” or are the Israelites saying, “give us a reason to follow you?”Wait a second.Is this an old western or a new western?
This story takes place in a place called Shechem, a place important to many stories in the Hebrew Bible.Shechem is nestled between Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim.Jerusalem is to the south, Mt. Hermon is to the north, to the west is the Sea of Galilee, to the east is the Jordan Valley.In short, Shechem sits centered in what the Hebrews knew as the Promised Land.Schechem was a flourishing crossroad city, important for trade and for political maneuverings.
It was the place where Jacob built an altar and buried the false idols, where the awful rape of Dinah took place, where Abraham migrated to, the place of Joseph’s family homestead.It is, in short, a very important city for the Hebrew people.
So, it is no surprise that Joshua used this site for his farewell, his parting shot to the people he had led after the death of Moses.It was a scene that would have been remembered well by those who witnessed it, and most likely might have been used as part of a worship liturgy for generations to come.A liturgy to remind the Jewish people from where they come and to whom they should be thankful.
In the passages just before where we picked up this morning, we are told that Joshua has gathered all the tribes of Israel: the elders, the heads of families, the judges, the officers of all twelve tribes scattered throughout the region.In Shechem they gathered and heard Joshua deliver to them the word of the Lord for the last time before he died.
And what word did the Lord speak through Joshua?It was a history of their people, and most importantly, God’s involvement with those self same people.
Hear the way Eugene Patterson presents this story in modern language:
“This is what God, the God of Israel says: A long time ago your ancestors, Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor, lived to the east of the river Euphrates.They worshiped other gods.I took your ancestor Abraham from the far side of the river.I led him all over the land of Canaan and multiplied his descendants.I gave him Isaac.Then I gave Isaac Jacob and Esau.I let Esau have the mountains of Seir as home, but Jacob and his sons ended up in Egypt.I sent Moses and Aaron.I hit Egypt hard with plagues and then led you out of there.I brought your ancestors out of Egypt.You came to the sea, the Egyptians in hot pursuit with chariots and cavalry, to the very edge of the Red Sea!
Then they cried out for help to God.I put a cloud between you and the Egyptians and then let the sea loose on them.It drowned them.
You watched the whole thing with your own eyes, what I did to Egypt.And then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.I brought you to the country of the Amorites, who lived east of the Jordan, and they fought you.But I fought for you and you took their land.I destroyed them for you.Then Balak son of Zippor made his appearance.He was the king of Moab.He got ready to fight Israel by sending for Balaam son of Beor to come and curse you.But I wouldn’t listen to Balaam – he ended up blessing you over and over.I saved you from him.
You then crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho.The Jericho leaders ganged up on you as well as the Amorites, Perrizites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I turned them over to you.
I sent the Hornet ahead of you.It drove out the two Amorite kings – did your work for you.You didn’t have to do a thing, not so much as raise a finger.
I handed you a land for which you did not work, towns you did not build.And here you are now living in them and eating from vineyards and olive groves you did not plant.So now, fear God. Worship God in total commitment.Get rid of the gods your ancestors worshiped on the far side of the river and in Egypt.You. Worship God.”
I am suddenly back in the old western where the morality play is about to play out.But we seem to be confronted with a harsh God, an angry God.A God who speaks through Joshua and says, “Give me a reason to walk away from you.After all I have done for you, you choose.But you better choose wisely.”
Well, Joshua is no fool.He makes it clear, “Hey you all can do what you want, but as for me and my house, we will worship God.”
You can almost here the click of the safety going back into place as Joshua makes the right choice.
But here is where this story gets really curious to me, and really confusing.The people gathered before Joshua almost fall over themselves to join Joshua.“Us, too, us too!” they fairly shout.“God is our God.God has done so much for us.We’d never forsake God! Count us in!”
No, that is not the confusing part.After that litany of God’s power, who is going to stand against God?The confusing part comes in Joshua’s response.
“I don’t think so.”
Huh?This is Joshua’s closing salvo to his people.To tell them of the great and mighty deeds of God and to instruct them to embrace God, worship God, honor God.And then, when they shout, “Yes, yes, yes,”Joshua responds sternly “no.”
Really?This just doesn’t make sense.Look, the people have been reminded.They know the consequences of standing opposite of God: removal from the land, hardship, death.And they get it!But here’s God’s emissary saying, “Sorry, you can’t do it.”
But the bottom line here is, Joshua is right.They can’t do it.Oh, it’s not that they don’t want to do it.It’s not that their hearts aren’t in the right place, but they cannot do it.They are human.
When we go back to the litany of the awesome things that God has done for the Hebrews, what we also have to understand that in the midst of all of those amazing deeds are equally amazing example of God’s chosen people turning their backs on God’s power.Those who grumbled in the desert that they would be better off in Egypt. Those that built a golden calf in direct contradiction to Moses’ admonitions.Those who intermarried and set up temples and shrines to their spouses gods when they settled in the bountiful land God had given them.
They were human!Joshua knew they would stumble and wanted them to fully understand what they were saying, how important it was.When the people protested again, he relented.“But,” he said, “your words will be witness against yourself when you fail.”“Yes,” they cried, “Remember this day and the pledge we make: we will worship God.May our words be used against us if we turn away.”
To this day, people of faith are witnesses against themselves.To this day, people of faith pledge to honor God.To this day, people of faith fail in their pledge to honor God.
Several generations later, Jesus confronted the same issue in a slightly different way.With his disciples in Caesara Phillipi, Jesus found himself in the center of pagan worship.At the foot of Mt. Hermon, so close to Shechem, he found himself surrounded by foreign temples and the worship of false God’s.It is where Isrealite King Jeroboam worshipped a golden idol, where others worshipped Pan, and Gaal, and Paneas, and Zeus, and where a curious open air shrine known as the “Temple of the Goats” can still be seen.
In this place in ancient Palestine where the Hebrew people had long settled, Jesus saw the evidence of what Joshua spoke about.In the midst of this worship of pagan idols and false gods, Jesus turned to his disciples and asked “Who do people say that I am?”Mark’s gospel tells us that his followers answered, “John the Baptist, Elijah, maybe one of the prophets.”But then Jesus asked, “But who do YOU say that I am?”And Peter, the rock upon which Christ’s church was built, answered, “You are the messiah.”
The parallels are important here.The people of Israel, God’s chosen people declare that they are committed to worshipping God and nothing can lead them astray.Peter, the strongest and most forceful of the disciples, declares that Jesus is the Messiah, yet is the one most famous for denying any connection with Jesus when the going gets rough.
Joshua was right.As much as we want to say “yes” we will stumble along the way and occasionally say “no.”
But here’s the good news, the word of hope: as right as Joshua was about people of faith being unable to completely fulfill their pledge, he was just as wrong about God’s response.God does not destroy those who turn away.God does not consume or harm those who walk away.God DOES forgive those who turn back.It may feel like we are being punished when we turn our backs on God’s will.But that feeling is what we bring on ourselves when we try to go it alone in God’s world.When we turn back, God is there, forgiving and accepting us with open, loving arms.
Today, in 2007, we are confronted with much the same situation.God has done amazing things for us. Yet, too often, we will wander away.Too often we will let the pull of false idols lead us away. As Jennifer and I have both talked about all month in these lessons from the Hebrew Bible, we are confronted with so many competing messages, so many “false idols” that hold sway over our time, so many places where we can become sidetracked in our allegiance to God.It is a common theme through so many of these stories: it is not always easy to do what we should when society tells us we don’t have to, when what is wrong before God feels so good to us, when our peers look askance at our faith.Too often we are too proud to ask for help in getting back.
We will find, however, that like the Hebrew people, like Peter, we will be welcomed back.We will be forgiven.God will never leave us, no matter how many times we try to leave God.
But it is good to be reminded who we are, and even more importantly, whose we are.We are children of God and all that we have, ALL that we have, comes through God’s grace and mercy.Before Joshua died, he wanted to make sure that his people understood just how great God was, and how merciful God had been to them.He wanted to convince them that God is great, but that they were mere mortals, unable to be gods themselves.
If Joshua wanted to give us that same message today, what might the litany of God’s power look like?This week, I want you to think about it, in your individual life, in our collective lives together: Where has God blessed us, even when we didn’t deserve it?How has God treated us, even when we have turned away?Who has God sent us that has enriched our lives? How have we reacted to all the reasons God has given us to follow faithfully?
In our rush to understand God, we sometimes conjure up the image of an anthropomorphic God, a God that takes on human dimensions that we can relate to.The old man with the beard, sitting on a throne of God comes to mind for many of us.How about this one to add to the pantheon of God images:
Imagine a hill that overlooks a wide valley with blossoming wild flowers and a gentle wind.The mountains in the distance are stark against a clear blue sky and stand watch over the valley and keep it safe from harmful intrusion of any kind.The scene represents the wonder of all that God has given us. On this hill, atop a beautiful horse, clean shaven, well groomed, white hat firmly in place sits this idealized version of God.Sitting majestically in this beautiful setting, he spreads his arms wide, grins broadly and says, “Let me give you a reason…”
Let us pray: Gracious God, we are humbled at the goodness you have heaped upon us.We are ashamed of all the times we have placed something else first in our lives and turned away from you.We are in awe that when we come back to try again, you are always there, welcoming us, forgiving us, blessing us.Help us to remember all that you have done for us, all that you do for us, all that you have promised us.And help us to say “Yes’ and mean it.In Jesus’ name we ask it all.Amen.