Tuesday 3 May

Joshua 23:1-24:33

And so ends the life (and book) of Joshua.  What are we to make of him?  He certainly was a meathead.  But he also certainly loved the Lord and acted for the very large part out of zeal for Him.  It’s actually not the killing that I find most difficult about Joshua but his leadership.  I just can’t work out why he didn’t raise someone up to take over from him.  And, while the phrase “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” adorns Christian hallways aplenty, I’m just not sure that it was the right thing for Joshua to say.  Joshua was the God-appointed leader of Israel, he had been charged by God to lead the people and yet he seems to be happy to separate himself off from them and release them to follow whatever god they want.  Is this not a dereliction of duty?  Is this not leadership by example but not leadership in love?  Is it not true that God yearns not only for his people to possess the land but for them to be cared for and wooed into relationship with Him?  As a leader I find Joshua deeply challenging.  I think I take from him that zeal for God is good but not enough.  Holy zeal must be coupled with love for and commitment to God’s people, to reassure them of God’s love, to demonstrate to them His forgiveness (perhaps 24:19 is more a reflection of Joshua’s character than God’s?) and to compassionately call them into His service. That is what we ourselves have received from Jesus and what has asked us to share with his people.

John 3:22-36

We smashed into this passage still reeling from Jesus’ revelation that he has come to claim people for himself.  And this bold statement is reinforced today by the witness of John the Baptizer.  You could scarcely get a more impressive witness than John but, as he himself said, he is not the focus of the day.  That accolade is entirely Jesus’.  Jesus is the one who must become greater. Jesus is the one who is above all.  Jesus is the one who has everything in his hands.  John, the first among men, the most-desired conference speaker of his day, the dynamic Elijah-prophet of God is a mere side-show, a meagre warm-up act compared to the One Who Came From Above.  And what does this mean?  It means that people have got to rearrange and reorganise their lives around a brand new centre.  It means that people have to stop, ponder and then change-up their lives, basing everything upon the words of this Speaker of The Words of God.  It’s like an entire company re-branding around a new logo, throwing away the old things that defined it and putting this new identity at the centre of its communications, its properties and its workforce.  That seems to me to be what John (the gospel writer) is understanding by the words “believing in Jesus”.  It is appreciating that Jesus has come from heaven and comprehensively responding to that new piece of knowledge.  And the beauty of the response is not just that life is now lived around a sure and certain truth but that eternal life is also thrown into the bargain.  What on earth this eternal life thing might mean is sure to be unveiled as we trek on through John.

Psalm 55:12-23

For someone to say that they have cried out evening, morning and noon and that the Lord has sustained them certainly carries some clout.