Joshua 5:13-7:26
It’s like Einstein asking a 2 year old to sit his maths test for him. God could easily have cinched this “taking the promised land” thing but he preferred to let the Israelites have a go, even though he knew they would screw it up. And screw it up they did. Joshua waltzes away from the shores of the Jordan towards the first settlement in the promised land, possibly self-importantly filled with a sense that he was breaking new ground and pressing into new things. So God puts him in his place a little bit. He shows him that the commander of His army of the Lord had got there before him. Long before him. He’d probably been sat around sharpening his sword for 40 years while Israel learnt how to listen to God. And then when Joshua tries to suggest that the world is split into those who are for him and those who are against him (maybe Israel’s perpetual problem??) the Lord reminds him that it is around God, and not around a group of people that the world’s dividing line falls. Remarkably the Israelites actually do the Jericho thing pretty well but then Achan steps up and sullies what would have otherwise been quite a good section. Achan’s sin was quite a familiar one; losing sight of the fact that this is God’s maths test and any prizes we win for it completely belong to him. We live in extraordinary grace. We could so easily have been given a life of watching God do incredible things completely independent of us but, for some inexplicable reason he chooses to include us in them. And what is more, he helps us pass - He tells us what he wants us to do and we just watch the walls of Jericho come down.
Luke 22:39-62
I think Luke must have consulted Peter quite a bit when he was writing his gospel. We don’t get the Jesus-looking-straight-at-Peter bit in any of the other gospels and it surely is an anecdote that could only come from the horse’s mouth. Poor old Peter must have soiled his toga when he realised the depth of his shamefacedness. From that point on he could never have doubted the basis of any future engagement with Jesus - epic portions of grace. And yet the funny thing is that we don’t even get told what Jesus’ look was. I’m not entirely sure why that is but perhaps it because it is less important than the fact that Jesus looked at all. Jesus had more than enough to be getting along with and yet his mind was on his followers. Jesus already knew that Peter would betray him and yet he didn’t take that knowledge and whack Peter with it. Rather, he used it to focus his attention on Peter, turning his aspect towards him in the moment of his greatest betrayal. Isn’t that wonderful? Jesus chooses to give himself particularly to those who are goofing up and bankrupting themselves. He doesn’t blandly say that everything is OK but he does show he is there, watching, aware of our plight and dropping hints of the redemption that he is wanting to bring.
Psalm 50:16-23
I wonder what a thank-offering would look like in the New Covenant?
