Saturday of Week 19 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on Joshua 24:14-29

This is the last of our readings from the book of Joshua. It is an immediate continuation of the previous passage (vv 1-13) as Joshua gives his final words to the tribes gathered at Shechem. Today’s reading consists of the second and third parts of the whole passage.

In part two of the reading (vv 14-24) all the people declare for Yahweh and renounce pagan gods, and in part three (vv 25-29) a covenant is adopted and its statutes committed to writing.

Having reminded them of all that Yahweh did for them from time immemorial down to the present, Joshua urges the people to “fear” the Lord and to serve him truly and sincerely. ‘Fear’ here means to trust, worship and serve in a spirit of deep respect for the immensity of God. There is no place for fear in the ordinary sense before our loving God:

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. (1 John 4:18)

They are to get rid of the gods their polytheistic ancestors served those days long beyond the Euphrates, in Mesopotamia and later in Egypt. In Ur and Haran, Abraham’s antecedents, Terah’s family, would have been exposed to the worship of the moon-god, Nanna(r) or Sin. The sin of building the golden calf at the foot of Mount Sinai was primarily that of making an image of Yahweh, but it probably was also influenced by Apis, the sacred bull of Egypt.

With a slight touch of mockery, Joshua tells the people that, if they find serving Yahweh is not a good thing, let them make up their minds which gods they want to serve, whether those of their ancestors in Mesopotamia or those of the Amorites, in whose land they are right now. There is a suggestion that they are not totally committed.

As far as Joshua and his family are concerned, they will continue to serve Yahweh. Joshua publicly makes his own commitment, hoping to elicit a similar commitment from Israel.

With one voice, the people affirm their allegiance to Yahweh:

Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight.

It was Yahweh who kept them safe among all the different people through whom they passed. It was Yahweh, too, who drove out all the nations so that they could take over the land. They conclude:

Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.

Joshua, however, is somewhat sceptical of their promises and warns them that they will, in fact, not be able to serve Yahweh. He is warning them of over-confidence. Fidelity to God’s service is not easy, and therefore those who take such solemn obligations on themselves must be ever vigilant against human weakness. Time will show just how attractive the Canaanite gods were to the Israelites.

They must remember that Yahweh is a holy God, a jealous God who will not tolerate their misdeeds and sins. If they desert Yahweh and turn again to the gods of other peoples:

…he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.

But again the people insist:

No, we will serve the Lord!

To which Joshua replies:

You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.

They cry out with one voice:

We are witnesses.

In that case, retorts Joshua:

Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.

This was a direct challenge. It was likely that some of them did have around them other gods represented by idols of wood and metal, which could easily be thrown away and destroyed—if they were really sincere.

But once again the people make their pledge:

The Lord our God we will serve, and him we will obey.

Our reading concludes with the third part of the verses where Joshua makes a solemn covenant between God and the people and lays down a statute and ordinance for them there in Shechem. This consisted of the pledges they had agreed to and the decrees and laws from God. All was solemnly recorded in the Book of the Law of God and a large stone set up as a memorial.

Joshua set it up under the oak tree in Yahweh’s sanctuary at Shechem. Finally, he said to the people:

See, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us; therefore it shall be a witness against you if you deal falsely with your God.

The stone was set up as a witness to the covenant renewal that closed Joshua’s ministry. It will be the seventh memorial in the land to remind Israel of what the Lord had done for them through his servant. To these memorials were added the perpetual ruins of Jericho (Josh 6:26). This refers to the famous occasion when Joshua and the Israelites marched round the walls of Jericho blowing trumpets, causing the walls of the city to collapse (see Josh chap 6).

Thus the promised land itself bore full testimony to Israel (seven being the number of completeness)—how she had come into possession of the land, and how she would remain in the land only by fulfilling the covenant conditions. The land shouted its own story.

Joshua then dismissed the people, everyone to their own heritage. Joshua’s work was done and he was ready to go. He died at the venerable age of 110, just 10 years short of his superior and mentor, Moses. Ancient Egyptian records indicate that 110 years was considered to be the ideal life span. It was also the age at which Joseph died.

Joshua was buried at Timnath-Sera, which lay in the highlands of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash (and about 30 km north of Jerusalem).

We are also told in this passage (though not in the reading) that the mummified remains of Joseph, which had been brought all the way from Egypt at the time of the Exodus, were now buried in Shechem, near the borders between the two Josephite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh and:

…in the portion of ground that Jacob had bought from the children of Hamor, the father of Shechem (Josh 24:32)

This fulfilled a final request Joseph had made before he died (see Gen 50:25).

With the death of Joshua, the great epic of the Exodus is complete and the people are in their Promised Land, committed to serving Yahweh faithfully as his people forever. As we shall see, it will not quite work out like that.

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Thursday of Week 19 of Ordinary Time – Gospel

Commentary on Matthew 18:21—19:1

The last part of Matthew‘s discourse on the church is about forgiveness. This is not unconnected with the previous section on excommunicating the unrepentant brother or sister. As soon as a brother or sister does repent, there must be forgiveness—not just once, but indefinitely—”seventy-seven times”.

The reason is given in the parable which Jesus speaks about the two servants in debt. The one who had a huge debt to the king was forgiven, but then refused to forgive a relatively trivial debt owed to him by a fellow servant. Understand that ten thousand talents then would be the equivalent of hundreds of millions in a major currency today, and the 300 denarii would have been the equivalent of about three months’ wages.

In the Gospel, the ones with the big debt to the king are clearly ourselves; the ones with the small debts to us are our brothers and sisters.

We do not expect God to forgive us once or twice or any limited number of times, but every time. It is nowhere written that we have, say, only ten chances of going to confession and, once our quota is used up, there is nothing left. But if that is true of our relationship with God, it also has to be true in our relationships with others. We can never refuse an offer of reconciliation. And, we might add, forgiveness is much easier to fully complete when reconciliation has taken place.

This is not at all the same as turning a blind eye to wrongdoing. Yesterday’s text made that very clear. We are talking about healing divisions between people; we must never put obstacles in the way of that.

We have now come to the end of this discourse indicated by the first sentence of chapter 19:

When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.

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Monday of Week 19 of Ordinary Time – Gospel

Commentary on Matthew 17:22-27

For the second time Jesus warns his disciples about what is to come: his suffering, death and resurrection. Once again the word ‘delivered’ or ‘handed over’ (Greek, emiparadidomi) is used. It is a refrain running right through the Gospels—applied to John the Baptist, to Jesus, to the disciples, and to the giving of the Body of Christ in the Eucharist.

We are told that the disciples are overwhelmed with grief over what Jesus says. Whether that is purely out of sorrow for Jesus, or whether it represents their disillusionment, is hard to say. This was not the kind of end they were expecting to the coming of the Messiah.

The second part of today’s reading is a peculiar scene, only to be found in Matthew. The collectors of the temple tax want to know whether Jesus pays it or not. Peter assures them that he does.

But on entering the house (there is that anonymous ‘house’ again, which seems to symbolise the Church or the Christian community), Jesus asks Peter (though, interestingly, he calls him by his old name ‘Simon’):

What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tribute? From their children or from others?

In other words, from whom do they collect taxes, from their subjects, or from foreigners? Peter replies:

From others…

And, in fact, the Romans did collect taxes from their colonised peoples and not from their own citizens.

In that case, Jesus says, the sons—that is, he and his disciples—should be exempt from paying the temple tax. After all, the Temple is God’s house, and Jesus is his Son, and his disciples are his brothers, sons of the same Father.

But to avoid giving scandal and misunderstanding, Peter is told to catch a fish in whose mouth he will find a shekel, enough to pay taxes for both of them. A half shekel was levied each year on all Jewish males of 20 years or older. It was for the upkeep of the Temple. A half shekel at this time was roughly equivalent to two days’ wages.

This passage seems to reflect a dilemma of the early Church, in fact, a double dilemma. Should Christians who are Jews continue to pay the temple tax? And, should Christians in general have to pay tax to a pagan government, especially one whose emperor claims to be a deity?

The first dilemma solved itself in time, especially with the destruction of the Temple (which had already taken place when Matthew’s Gospel was written). The second dilemma took longer. The problem seems to have been solved by the principle laid down elsewhere by Jesus:

Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s. (Matt 22:21)

We too have to discern what is legitimately required of us by our governments and make our contribution to the needs of our society while, at the same time, not compromising on issues where universal principles of truth and justice are at stake. Civil disobedience is sometimes not only a right, but also a responsibility.

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Saturday of Week 19 of Ordinary Time – Gospel

Commentary on Matthew 19:13-15

This short passage is an echo of the statement Jesus made at the beginning of the discourse on the Church (Matt 18:1-4). Parents were bringing their children for Jesus to bless. The disciples, with the officiousness of minor officials, thought they were doing their Master a favour by protecting him from such trivial nuisances.

Jesus scolds them:

Let the children come to me, and do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.

Thus, not to children alone does the Kingdom of Heaven belong, but to all those who have the qualities of the child: their simplicity and openness, teachability, freedom from prejudice and readiness for change and adaptation. Only such people are ready to hear the message of the Gospel in its fullness.

The passage leads naturally into the next one about the rich man who asked Jesus what he should do to enter eternal life. For all his wealth, he would prove to be wanting in this particular area of openness.

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Wednesday of Week 19 of Ordinary Time – Gospel

Commentary on Matthew 18:15-20

Today’s part of the ‘Discourse on the Church’ shifts from the harm that we can do to others, to the harm that others can do to the community, and how the community and its members should respond. Clearly we are speaking here of some serious wrong which hurts the mission of the Church community.

The wrongdoer is to be tackled on three levels, and this reflects what has just gone before about bringing back the sheep which is lost. Reconciliation, not punishment, is the objective.

If the wrong directly affects one person, then that person or another should go along to the wrongdoer privately and try to help the individual change their ways. If this works, then that is the end of the matter. However, if the wrongdoer will not listen, then one or two others who are also aware of the wrongdoing should be brought along as corroboration. This is based on a passage from Deuteronomy:

A single witness shall not suffice to convict a person of any crime or wrongdoing in connection with any offense that may be committed. Only on the evidence of two or three witnesses shall a charge be sustained. (Deut 19:15)

If the wrongdoer remains obstinate in the face of this evidence, then the whole community is to be brought in. And if in the face of the whole community, there is still no sign of repentance, then the person is to be expelled and treated like a “gentile and a tax collector”, in other words, as a total outsider. The tax collectors were among the most despised people in the community. They were local people employed by Roman tax contractors to collect taxes for them. Because they worked for Rome and often demanded unreasonable payments (they had to make a profit!), they gained a bad reputation and were generally hated and considered traitors to their own people and their religion.

The word Matthew uses for ‘community’ here is ‘church’, ekklesia or, in Hebrew, qahal, which refers to the gathering of a Christian community. As mentioned earlier, this is only one of two places where this term is used in the Gospels (the other is Matt 16:18).

Jesus now goes further in saying that all such decisions by the community have God’s full endorsement:

…whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. [i.e. by God]

Jesus also tells them:

…if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.

This mandate seems to be given to the community as a whole and not just to specific individuals.

It would be worth our while going carefully through this text and seeing how it applies to our church situation today. To what extent do we feel responsible for the wrongdoings of our fellow-Christians? To what extent do we realise that our behaviour, both as individuals and groups, reflects on the overall witness that the Church is called to give as the Body of Christ? Do people clearly see the message of the Gospel from the way we live both individually and corporately?

While, on the one hand, we are told to be compassionate and non-judgmental, are we over-tolerant of people in the community who believe that anything they do is just their own business? Every Christian community has a solemn responsibility to give witness to the vision of life that Jesus gave to us. There have then to be standards of behaviour which bind all. Moments of weakness can be and should be treated with compassion, but deliberate and continued flouting of our central commitment to truth, love, justice and other foundational principles cannot be overlooked or allowed to undermine the central mission of the Christian community to be a sacrament of the Kingdom. It is not a question of image, but of our integrity.

What has all this to do with the way we use the sacrament of reconciliation, and what is the relationship of the sacrament to this passage? The passage is closely linked with what Jesus says about the problem of giving scandal, of being a stumbling block in people’s coming to Christ. At the same time, as tomorrow’s passage will indicate, the long-term aim—above all—is not punishment, but reconciliation and healing of divisions.

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Thursday of Week 19 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on Joshua 3:7-11,13-17

We move on now to the next phase in the history of Israel. We begin reading the book of Joshua. It is the first of the so-called historical books which include Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings. They are also known as the ‘Early Prophets’.

The book of Joshua falls into three parts:

1. the conquest of the promised land (chaps 1-12);
2. the partition of the territory among the tribes (chaps 13-21);
3. the last days of Joshua, especially his last discourse and the assembly at Shechem (chaps 22-24).

Joshua is the link with the previous five books and takes up where Deuteronomy left off. He was the leader, chosen by Moses and accepted by the people, to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land.

Today’s reading comes from chapter 3, which describes the miraculous crossing of the Jordan into the Promised Land. It is reminiscent of the crossing of the Sea of Reeds when the Israelites escaped from Egypt. Then it was the command of Moses which drove back the sea. Here it is the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant in which were the tables of the Law, representing the presence and power of God, which stop the river in its flow and allowed all the Israelites to cross in safety.

As the reading opens we hear Yahweh speak to Joshua:

This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they may know that I will be with you as I was with Moses.

Joshua will be made great in the eyes of the people so that they will know that, as with Moses in the past, God is with Joshua now. A major purpose for God’s intervening wondrously in the crossing of the Jordan was to validate the leadership of Joshua. With a miraculous event so much like that of the Sea of Reeds crossing, Joshua’s position as the Lord’s servant would be shown to be comparable to that of Moses.

Joshua is then told to give an order to the priests who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant. When they reached the banks of the Jordan, they were to stop in the river itself. Speaking to the Israelites, he told them to gather together and listen to the words of Yahweh their God. There was going to be a sign by which they would know that the living God was with them and that he was going to drive out the Canaanites before them (as well as the Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites).

The manner by which God is about to bring Israel across the Jordan River, the watery boundary of the Promised Land, will bring assurance that the one true God is with them and that he will surely dislodge the present inhabitants of Canaan. Two fundamental issues are at stake:

1. Who is the true and mighty God—the God of Israel or the god on whom the Canaanites depend (Baal, who was believed to reign as king among the gods because he had triumphed over the sea-god)? By opening the way through the flooded Jordan, the Lord would show both Israel and the Canaanites that he is Lord over the waters (as he was at the “Red Sea”, at the Flood and at Creation) and that he is able to establish his own order in the world.
2. Who has the rightful claim to the land—the Lord or the Canaanites? By passing safely through the Jordan at the head of his army, the Lord showed the rightness of his claim on the land. In the ancient Near East a common way for obtaining the judicial verdict of the gods was by compelling the accused to submit to trial by water ordeal. Usually this involved casting him into a river (if the accused drowned, the gods had found him guilty; if not, the gods had declared him innocent).

In Israel, however, another form of water ordeal was practiced. Significantly, the Lord would enter the Jordan first (in the Ark with the priests) and then remain there until his whole army had crossed safely over. Thus his claim to the land was vindicated before the eyes of all who heard about it. And it was Yahweh’s claim, not Israel’s. The Israelites came through the Jordan only with him and as his army, “baptised” to his service. It was a message intended not only for the Israelites, but for the residents of Canaan as well and they would understand the symbols very well.

Now Joshua tells the people:

…the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is going to pass before you into the Jordan.

As the people left their tents to cross the river, the priests with the Ark went ahead of them. As soon as the priests carrying the Ark put their feet into the waters of the Jordan:

…the waters flowing from above stood still, rising up in a single heap far off at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, while those flowing toward the sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, were wholly cut off.

What Joshua foretold immediately took place. Zarethan was also near the entrance of the River Jabbok, which flows into the Jordan on its east bank.

And this happened even though at that time of the year, the harvest season, the river was in spate. The harvest season in the lower Jordan valley was towards the end of March and the beginning of April, when the grain and other crops that grew during the rainy season of winter were reaped. The crossing took place “on the 10th day of the first month” of the Hebrew year, which began with the first new moon after the spring equinox. At this time of the year the Jordan would be swollen as a result of the winter rains and the melting snow from Mount Hermon.

The Hebrew for ‘heap’ twice used here can also be found in the poetic accounts of the Sea of Reeds crossing. The sudden damming of the river could have been caused by a landslide, as has happened on other occasions. According to an Arab historian, something similar happened in AD 1267; landslides dammed the river in this area (Adama-Damieh) for several hours. And, as recently as 1927, a blockage of the water in this area was recorded that lasted over 20 hours.

Nevertheless, the miraculous element of the event is not diminished, because God, who foretold it (Jos 3:13), also caused it to take place at precisely the right moment (Jos 3:15), whether or not he used natural forces to accomplish his will. Similarly, the drying up of the Sea of Reeds has been attributed to the effects of an earthquake in the Mediterranean, perhaps accompanied by a tsunami. Meanwhile, the lower reaches of the river flowing into the Sea of Arabah, the Salt Sea, and the Dead Sea were completely cut off from the upper waters.

The people now crossed the river near to Jericho. As they did so, the priests carrying the Ark stood on dry ground in the middle of the river bed, while the whole of Israel crossed on dry ground until every single person had completed the crossing. The priests stood firm on dry land, signifying that the Lord himself remained in the place of danger until all Israel had crossed the Jordan.

This whole operation has the approval and protection of Yahweh. It is the fulfilment of the solemn promise he made to provide a home for a wandering people. It brings to closure the epic saga which began with the crossing of the Sea of Reeds and the Hebrew people escaping to freedom and now ends with another water crossing and the entry into the long-awaited Promised Land.

The Jerusalem Bible shows the links between the two events:

“There is a deliberate parallelism between the narratives of the crossing of the Jordan and entry into Canaan and the narrative of the Exodus from Egypt. The editor himself calls attention to it (3:7): Yahweh halts the Jordan just as he dried up the Sea of Reeds; the Ark of Yahweh leads the Israelites as did the pillar of cloud or of fire; Joshua plays the part that Moses played in the Exodus; and just as the adults of the Exodus period were circumcised, so in their turn are their desert-born children; the manna that had served Israel in the desert ceases as soon as the Israelites enter Canaan and the Passover is celebrated in Gilgal after the second ‘crossing’ as it had been celebrated in Egypt before the first. The parallelism between the events at the beginning and the end of the Exodus produces at the departure from Egypt a water miracle analogous to the water miracles at the crossing of the Jordan. As the Passion and Resurrection of Christ spiritually renew the events of the Exodus, so Joshua, who gave the events of the Exodus their physical fulfilment, was regarded by some Fathers as an ante-type of Jesus, who has the same name (Joshua is another form of the name Jesus and means ‘God saves’)”.

In the liturgy of the Catholic and other Christian churches, these water crossings are seen as anticipatory symbols of the saving waters of Baptism. They are recalled especially during the liturgy of the Easter Vigil when the baptismal water is blessed. Let us remember today our own Baptism and how its meaning is symbolised in our daily life as a follower of Christ.

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Wednesday of Week 19 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Our final reading from the book of Deuteronomy is also the whole of the final chapter of the book. It is also our last reading from the Pentateuch.

The death of Moses ends the long saga which began when he first received the call to lead his people out of slavery in Egypt, through the great experiences on Mount Sinai, the tribulations of the 40 years in the desert until the moment when they reach the threshold of the Promised Land.

As the reading opens, we see Moses leaving the plains of Moab and climbing Mount Nebo, described as:

…the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho.

He went in obedience to the Lord’s command (mentioned earlier—see Deut 32:48-52).

On the mountain, Moses has a vision which embraces the whole Promised Land, into which he will not go, but of which he thus takes possession on behalf of the people. While he could not actually see the whole territory with the naked eye from the top of the mountain:

…the Lord showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, the Negeb, and the Plain—that is, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees—as far as Zoar.

Dan was in the very north of the country (the names of the provinces come from the names of Jacob’s sons).  Naphtali lay immediately to the south and southwest of Dan.  Manasseh and Ephraim occupied the centre of the country, just north of Jerusalem.  Judah stretched southwards from Jerusalem (Jerusalem was in Judah).  South of Judah was the Negeb, lying west of the Dead Sea.  Jericho was on the north end of the Dead Sea and Zoar at the southern end. The “Plain” refers to the plain lying between the mountains of Moab, which lie to the east of the Dead Sea, and the River Jordan.

Pointing to the whole territory spread out below, Yahweh says to Moses:

This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob…I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.

Moses’ life work was now over. He had been shown the goal of all his labours, but not permitted to enjoy it. However, he did take possession of it in the name of the people.

Then we are told:

…Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord’s command.

‘Servant of the Lord’ is a special title used to refer to those whom the Lord, as the Great King, has taken into his service; they serve as members of God’s royal administration. For example, it was used especially of Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, the prophets, Israel collectively, and even a foreign king the Lord used to carry out his purposes (Nebuchadrezzar, see Jer 25:9). In Nebuchadrezzar’s case, the king becomes an instrument by which God can reveal his power and glory.

Earlier God told Moses he would actually die on Mount Nebo itself (Deut 32:50). He was buried in the valley below, in the country of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, to the east of the northern shores of the Dead Sea. However, the author says:

…no one knows his burial place to this day.

Moses was “was one hundred twenty years old when he died”, but in full use of his faculties:

his sight was unimpaired, and his vigor had not abated.

This is perhaps a round number, indicating three generations of about 40 years each.

The mourning by the Israelites went on for 30 days. Once this period was over, Joshua, son of Nun, assumed leadership. He was full of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him, and the Israelites accepted him as the successor to Moses.

In a final encomium, the author says:

Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.

Finally, we are told Moses:

…was unequaled for all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants and his entire land, and for all the mighty deeds and all the terrifying displays of power that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.

That is, no one could compare to Moses until the coming of Jesus (see the Letter to the Hebrews 3:1-6, where Moses the “servant” is contrasted with Christ the “son”).

We Christians also owe a lot to this great man. His story and the story of his people are also part of our story, part of our tradition and heritage. And it has much to teach us.

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Tuesday of Week 19 of Ordinary Time – Gospel

Commentary on Matthew 18:1-5,10,12-14

Today we come to the fourth of the five discourses which are the distinctive characteristic of Matthew’s Gospel. This one focuses on the Church (and is called the “Discourse on the Church”), the Christian community, and in particular the relationships among its members.

The reading begins with Jesus asking the question:

Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

By implication, this question is asking about the greatest in the Christian community—a sign of the Kingdom.

Jesus answers the question very simply by putting a child in front of his disciples. To become the greatest is to become a small child.

Why? Children have many precious qualities. They are born free of prejudice and they are totally open to learning. It is these qualities, which we tend to lose as we grow up, that we need to enter the Reign of God. We need to be totally open and free of prejudice when it comes to listening to God, and to allow ourselves to be fully teachable, malleable and flexible. Then we will be ready to receive everything that God wants us to have, and to become everything God wants us to become. Furthermore, to welcome a person who has these qualities in Jesus’ name is to welcome Christ himself.

From that the Gospel moves on to another related consideration. It skips a passage which deals with those who cause others to fall into sin and the kind of punishment such people deserve. Instead, it moves from children to the “little ones”. The “little ones” are not just children, but the weaker ones in the community, and they may be adults. But they are the ones who can very easily be led astray by the bad example which others give. And there are severe penalties for doing this (which are mentioned in the omitted passage).

This is emphasised by the parable of the lost sheep. God is compared to a shepherd who has lost just one sheep out of a hundred. When he finds it again he is happier than over the other ninety-nine which have not strayed. As such, the Gospel concludes:

So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.

How terrible, then, if one of us is responsible for someone’s being separated from God forever! Sadly, sometimes it feels like that happens quite a lot in our society and in our Church.

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Friday of Week 19 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on Joshua 24:1-13

We go to the end of the book of Joshua. The intervening chapters which we have skipped deal mainly with the conquest of the Promised Land by the Israelites and later with the sharing out of the land among the tribes of Israel.

In this first part, Joshua asks his hearers to recognise God’s intervention on behalf of Israel. We will read the second half of the address in tomorrow’s reading.

An ancient tradition underlies this chapter. It possibly implies something more than a renewal of the covenant, namely, an offer of the Israelites’ faith to associated groups which had not experienced either the marvels or the revelation of the desert period. However this may be, the pact of Shechem confirmed the religious unity and thus preserved the political unity of the tribes. It was to have a decisive effect on the history of the nation.

Chapter 23 begins Joshua’s last words and testament, and today’s reading is part of a great assembly at Shechem where Israel is once called to a renewal of the covenant. It was Joshua’s final official act as the Lord’s servant, mediator of the Lord’s rule over his people. In this he followed the example of Moses, whose final official act was also a call to covenant renewal – of which Deuteronomy is the preserved document.

With its position right in the centre of the country, Shechem was ideally suited for tribal gatherings and its history made it the ideal place for making this religious pact. Abraham had built an altar there, Jacob had bought land there, and there had been buried the idols brought from Mesopotamia.

Joshua asks his hearers to recognise God’s ever-continuing intervention on behalf of Israel. The elders of Israel, its leaders, judges, and officials are all assembled in the presence of the Lord. Joshua then addresses the people bringing a message from Yahweh. Only a divinely appointed mediator would dare to speak for God with direct discourse, as Joshua does here.

There follows a brief history of all that God has done for his people from the earliest times. In accordance with the common ancient Near Eastern practice of making treaties (covenants), a brief recital of the past history of the relationship precedes the making of covenant commitments. Joshua here focuses on the separation of Abraham from his polytheistic family, the deliverance of Israel from Egypt and the Lord’s establishment of his people in Canaan.

From time immemorial their ancestors, Terah, father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the River and worshipped other gods. The ‘River’ is the Euphrates. We know that Abraham originally came from Ur of the Chaldees, in the south of present-day Iraq.

Yahweh then brought Abraham from across the River and led him through the length and breadth of Canaan (where the people have now returned).

Abraham had, as promised, many descendants:

-There was Isaac, who had two sons, Jacob and Esau.
-To Esau was given the land of Seir, while Jacob and his sons settled in Egypt.
-Then he sent Moses and Aaron, brought the plagues on Egypt and then led his people out.

As they left and reached the Sea of Reeds pursued by the Egyptians, the Lord put a cloud between his people and the Egyptians, who were drowned in the waters.

-After that, for a long time they lived in the desert (there is no mention of Sinai).
-He then brought them to the land of the Amorites, who lived on the east side of the Jordan.
-The Amorites made war on the Israelites but were defeated and their country captured.
-Then Balak, son of Zippor, king of Moab, made war on Israel.
-He sent for Balaam, son of Beor, to go and curse the Israelites.

But the Lord would not listen to Balaam; instead, he turned Balaam’s curse into a blessing (see Num 23-24).

The Israelites then crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. While the peoples of Jericho made war on the Israelites, God tells them:

I put them all at your mercy.

Yahweh also sent hornets ahead of the Israelites, which drove out the two Amorite kings. ‘Hornets’ may refer to the Egyptians who had long used the hornet as a national symbol, in which case Egypt’s military campaigns in Canaan may be in mind. But “the hornet” may also refer to the reports about Israel that spread panic among the Canaanites (see Jos 2:11; 5:1; 9:24). It may also simply indicate some troublesome afflictions, even leprosy. In any case, all that happened was God’s work. It was:

…not the work of your sword or of your bow.

Finally, Yahweh reminds his people:

I have given you a country for which you have not toiled, towns you have not built, although you live in them, vineyards and olive groves you have not planted, although you eat their fruit.

All in all, Yahweh is making clear that he has been with his people all the way from the earliest times to the present. Let them not think that it is all their own doing. At the same time, he is offering them a choice to continue following Yahweh or to opt for the far lesser gods of the surrounding peoples which they are often tempted to follow.

Maybe we too might look back and see the hand of God in the events of our lives, things which happened quite beyond our expectations or our ability to bring them about.

We might also reflect what are the gods in our lives we are tempted to follow. The gods of mammon: money, career, success, enjoyment, consumerism, status and image. Can we really opt for these gods and still be totally committed to the one God?

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Tuesday of Week 19 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on Deuteronomy 31:1-8

We come to the last part of Deuteronomy which tells of the last days of Moses. Today’s reading deals with handing on the baton of leadership to Joshua.

Moses knows that his end is near. He tells the people that he is already 120 years old (probably not to be taken too literally) and no longer capable of being their leader. This is not a reference to any physical disability. The reason is that God has forbidden him (and Aaron) to lead the people into the Promised Land:

…the Lord has told me, ‘You shall not cross over this Jordan.’ (Num 20:12)

We read about this in last Thursday’s First Reading (Num 20:1-13).

The people need not fear because Yahweh will be with them as they conquer the land:

The Lord your God himself will cross over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them.

And he gives his encouragement to Joshua who will take his place as their leader:

Joshua also will cross over before you, as the Lord promised.

Yahweh will treat the resident peoples as he treated Sihon and Og the Amorite kings and their country—he wiped them out. He will put the resident peoples at the Israelites’ mercy and will deal with them exactly as laid down by the commandments he gave.

Moses passes on Yahweh’s message to the people:

Be strong and bold; have no fear or dread of them, because it is the Lord your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you.

The Lord’s exhortation is often given through his servants to the people of Israel. So also to Joshua, to Solomon and to Hezekiah’s military officers. By trusting in the Lord and obeying him, his followers will be victorious in spite of great obstacles.

Then Moses summoned Joshua in the presence of all the people and told him also to “be strong and bold”. He would have the privilege of leading the people into the land which Yahweh long ago had sworn to his ancestors he would give to his people. And he has no need to worry because Yahweh will show the way, will be together with his people and not let them down. Moses tells them:

Do not fear or be dismayed.

Reading this account, it is difficult sometimes not to feel that we have here, to some extent, a rationalisation of their entering someone else’s territory and taking it by force from its legitimate inhabitants, pagans though they may have been. The same questions arise in the establishment of the State of Israel in the last century and even more so in the establishment of Israel’s settlements beyond its internationally recognised borders.

The history of the Church also is not without examples of ‘God’s will’ being used to justify behaviour that later seems altogether unacceptable.

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