Bible notes
Joshua 5.9-12; Psalm 32; 2 Corinthians 5.16-21; Luke 15.1-3,11b-32
Joshua 5.9-12
Under the leadership of Joshua, the people have crossed the Jordan and entered the Promised Land.
There are many links back to earlier experiences and rituals being renewed in these verses. For instance, the Israelites crossed the Jordan when the water was rolled back (v.1), just as the waters of the Red Sea were rolled back when they left Egypt. They have celebrated the Passover and taken time to circumcise all the men who had not undergone this initiation into the covenant with Abraham while growing up in the desert (vv.5-7). We should not underestimate the need to re-visit experiences – to remember them, to draw strength from them and to frame them within our present moment so that we can move on. The people had entered the land of Canaan, but the excitement and the sense of fulfilment in this moment is not enough – they also need God to ‘roll away’ the shame of their experience in Egypt (v.9). Make whatever connections you will with the rolling away of the stone at the Resurrection.
Psalm 32
The writer explores the delight of coming into the light with truthfulness. He discovers that confession, far from being the pathway to condemnation, is the high road to forgiveness and release. God ceases to be the one he hides from and becomes instead his hiding place in times of trouble.
2 Corinthians 5.16-21
Paul makes some momentous statements in this passage. We have been drawn into what God is doing in the world, and this has changed everything – our relationships with other people, our relationship with Christ, and our main task in life. God’s purpose through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus is revealed to be ‘reconciling the world to himself’ (v.19), therefore the ministry of reconciliation in all its forms falls to us. What a challenge it is to realise that God is committed to ‘not counting their trespasses against them’ (v.19), whereas we sometimes seem to feel that it is our duty to define and enumerate trespasses! The whole tone here is about reconciliation – making people glad, not sorry, when they encounter the good news. ‘Everything has become new’ (v.17) – ‘become’ is the same verb used by Matthew to describe the fulfilling of prophecy: ‘this took place’ or ‘came into being’ (e.g. Matthew 1.22, 21.4, 26.56). Here, it becomes a momentous verb, implying something coming into being that had never before existed. Similarly, the ‘old’ that has passed away is also ‘the ancient’, the entire old order, rather than simply yesterday’s news.
Luke 15.1-3,11b-32
The younger son lived wastefully and shamefully, the elder son lived narrowly and resentfully – whatever is this generous father going to do with his two sons? The surprising (even shocking) answer seems to be: let them be who they are, and love them whatever they do. The younger son dishonours his father with the very suggestion of wanting to live a wild life, but his father allows it. Then he returns, ready with a rehearsed speech (even the hired hands do not go hungry). He is facing up to the reality of his situation, but he could still be viewed as looking out for number one. In an eastern culture with a stress on family duty and honour, the idea that such a disgraced and disgraceful son could return to the family on any terms would be anathema. In fact, it would be the duty of the father to banish him with a solemn curse. But what does this father do? He waits, watching for his son’s return. He runs to him, something that is beneath the dignity of a patriarch. He does not wait to hear the whole prepared speech, but dresses his son in luxury and orders a celebration feast. The elder son cannot stomach this generous forgiveness, neither could the scribes and Pharisees listening to the parable. Often, nor can we. Yet it is one thing to discover that God forgives and is willing to wipe out a downward scale of sins; it is quite another to discover that God also does not operate an upwards scale of merit, where we might gain extra recognition for our good behaviour. The father has only two categories – dead or alive; lost or found – and his concern for both sons is only to love them and see them alive and found. We do not know if the elder son went in to the feast. Will we?
See also: In conversation with the scriptures: A season of sifting