The Descendants
It’s pretty hard just to walk past Stonehenge without thinking what on earth was going through the minds of the people who put those rocks there? Did they just have a lot of time on their hands, were they trying to confuse future generations? You can’t simply go there, have a sandwich and enjoy the view. You’ve got to think about the people that did this. They’re our descendants after all, there’s something to learn here… right?
A grown up story
Joshua. I’m pretty sure I know this story. Something like… a young, probably handsome and very awesome fella takes over the leading of God’s people and becomes this heroic commander. A kind of tactical genius who orchestrates Israel’s passage into what, in Christian speak, is referred to as the Promised Land. That’s pretty much how I’ve grown up with it, how (as someone who’s gone along to church since a kid) it has existed in my mind. Joshua is just plain awesome and life in the Promised Land is just ‘all good’. So the moral lessons that formed in my head were kind of, if you’re a great Christian, then it’s a great life. If you’re a great Christian you’ll win all the battles that come along in life. If you’re a great Christian, things will just fall into place. Like Joshua in Jericho!
Sometimes the way you see stories when you’re young and how they appear when you’re an adult can be quite different can’t they! Remember Rod, Emu and all the children that lived in that windmill. (Target market here age range 35–45) The funny green lady who would chase them around. I would laugh my head off at that. Now as an adult with kids of my own, when I think about it, that’s basically some kind of poorly run orphanage, with an incapable adult and a mad bird in charge. If that’s not bad enough, they’re stalked by a witch who comes and steals the children. How dark is that! This story should never have been on children’s TV, this is a grown up story.
This story I’ve known most of my years is as dark and difficult a story as you will ever read. For sure Joshua is a hero, great name for your son and all that, but we shouldn’t just read the story with him in mind. If you’re a person of faith, or if you’re someone who’s asking bigger questions than usual about life and is in anyway considering God as part of the answer, then you’ve got to read this and find out what’s going on.
Why?
Well how can a good God chase ordinary people out of their city? How can ordinary people die at the hands of his people? This is basically the plot-line of the first third of the book. God’s people come in and everyone else must leave. They walk to Jericho, quite weirdly walk round Jericho and its inhabitants are annihilated. How is this OK? Surely the only logical outcome of a story like this is that we dismiss the notion of God altogether. If God is going to play any part in our life, we’ve got to get to the bottom of this.
Stories from a different time
One thing we often forget when we look at historical events is their context. We lift them straight off the page and place them into our own culture and way of thinking. These were very different times. Nowadays a nation’s success is explained by way of its economic strategy and its trade deals or things like that. But in these times people put it down to the favour and stature of their gods. Our god favours us just now so we have a good harvest. Our god is more powerful than yours so we’ll have victory in battle. Lots of nations and lots of Gods. How would you go about communicating a message about one true God in times like these? How would God’s nation (his people) stand out in this environment?
Another thing to have in your mind as we look at this story is the subject of justice. At the centre of any civilisation is it’s judicial system. At the heart of this story, and in fact the story of the whole bible, is the matter of justice! This is not simply a story of one people ousting another, it’s a story about God correcting an injustice and been seen by all the different nations around to be the bringer of justice!
These are the loudest noises in the story. This is the message; There is a God who is bigger and perfect justice comes at his hand.
Here’s why this story is interesting for me. This story about nations and kingdoms, this story of perfect justice being worked out is the same story that fills our thoughts today. The version closest to us comes under the ‘Brexit’ heading but it has had many different titles over the years and exists in every corner of the globe in one way or another. How do we organise ourselves in order to best look after each other? So what do we do? We unite and form unions of one type or another or we devolve to form smaller groups, but it doesn’t seem to matter how smart we get or how much we debate it out or whatever solution we come up with. There is still injustice. In lands of plenty, people still go hungry with council parishes covered in law are unable to fix human ills. Even though we make ‘human progress’ we’re incapable of answering the justice question.
We still fight for and long for a perfect system. A perfect kingdom. It feels like it really ought to be possible but it never gets any closer.
The Descendants
When we look at the story of Joshua. We’re getting an insight. For people of faith, God talks about a perfect kingdom. Where everything he promised is in order. Where it’s perfect. The kind of place we all long for, Jesus talked about it. The kind of perfect justice that’s hard to get your head around is so perfect you almost daren’t let yourself think it; no pain, no suffering, no tears, no death. He said it was close, he said you would glimpse it in the lives of faithful people from time to time. But that it might prove hard to find in a world with so much going on. You’ll need to keep your eye on it, treasure it even.
The story of Joshua gives us a great look at the value of that kingdom. We see God’s kingdom now in the hearts of his people and ultimately in heaven but here, it’s foothills are laid out in the physical actions of the people and measured in earth. The lessons for kingdom living are laid bare in the lives of his people and the measure of a holy God is seen in the bloodshed of the people of his land. We can’t walk past this, we’ve got to stop and look. These people are not so different from us, they’re our descendants. There’s too much to learn to ignore the lessons of their lives.
Come along on Sunday or catch up online as we look at the story of Joshua, what happens to God’s people when he keeps his promises.
Ash Gibson, Assistant Pastor, Christchurch Xscape
