Incident In Jericho
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Contents
"Incident In Jericho" by David O. Bales
"No Matter What, Yahweh's Word" by David O. Bales
Incident In Jericho
by David O. Bales
Joshua 3:7-17
On July 11, 1927 14 year old Andrew was up a tree in Jericho. He thought this must be something like Lazarus did in order to see Jesus. He’d been there three hours. His arms were aching. He peered steadily to the east, watching the trail. All Andrew could do was watch and wait… and think. Along with the whole village he was excited when the earthquake struck and the news came that an entire cliff fell into the Jordan damning it—just as for Joshua. If his father hadn’t forbid him to leave the village, he’d be on the trail there himself. But lately Jews, Christians, and Muslims had been experiencing friction in Jericho, so Andrew wouldn’t see Jordan’s cut off waters. He’d accept the witness of Father John, who waved to him as he departed for the Jordan.
After Father John left, Andrew shinnied up the tree and pondered the situation in Jericho as well as Joshua’s crossing the Jordan on dry ground. His group of Christian boys had been studying with Father John; and he encouraged his students to reason about their faith. Andrew, he said, had the mind and temperament to serve God as a priest—if he had the faith. His mind now was swirling with Jordan’s cut off waters, because he thought about how, after crossing the Jordan, Joshua invaded the land and slaughtered everybody. How was that different than when armies later did the same thing? In Father John’s history class he’d learned it happened many times in Palestine.
Over the hill he finally spotted the top of Father John’s hat bouncing rhythmically from the road to the Jordan. He bounded down and dashed toward him jumping and yelling, “Was it really cut off? Was it really cut off?” Father John smiled from afar, waving and yelling back, “Yes, Andrew. Yes.”
When Andrew met him, Father John explained that the cliff wall had sloughed off and dammed the stream perfectly.
“A miracle, like Joshua,” Andrew said.
“Yes,” Father John said, as he continued to walk to the village. In July’s heat he was dripping with sweat and caked with dust.
Andrew drew in beside him, jumped once more and said, “Miracle!” then he stretched his legs to match Father John’s steps, “I’ve been thinking,” he said.
“That’s what you’re supposed to do,” Father John gave a tired smile.
“The miracle’s so great I can hardly stand it; but…” Andrew paused, “Joshua slaughtered innocent people and the Bible says God told him to do it.”
“Yes?” he tipped up the word in a question.
“Really?”
“Yes,” Father John said, “that’s really what the Bible says. But the Bible is the Word of God and the Word of Man. We have to remember it’s genuinely human, and thus in the Bible a lot of what humans want is wrapped around what God wants. The Bible’s as human and divine as Jesus was human and divine. So many heresies, you remember, tried to make Jesus only divine. Took hundreds of years for the church to get it right. People try to do the same with the Bible.”
Andrew shook his head, “You mean the Bible’s wrong?”
“No, I mean we get to, we must, ask questions of the Bible. What’s the eternal message bound up with the people and time it was written? Like Psalm 137 about blessing those who smash enemies’ babies on the rocks, or David’s daily slaughtering every living being in First Samuel 27. That’s clearly not what God wants. One difference that Christians and Jews have from Muslims is that we get to question and even argue with the Bible. Muslims have to believe their Koran dropped to them word for word. We believe God came here into people’s lives, just as in Jesus, really here in people like us, that’s why I say the Bible is the Word of Man as well as the Word of God.”
“What about Joshua and the Jordan being cut off?”
“We sure know today that it’s possible, don’t we?” He smiled to Andrew. “Thing is, we can’t prove it. That’s what faith’s about. God gives us enough from around us, so that the Holy Spirit inside us helps us believe. But it always takes faith.”
They were approaching the village and others were coming to meet Father John to hear his report. Andrew rushed to ask another question before Father John was surrounded for the rest of the day telling and retelling what he’d seen. “Then what can we believe in the Bible?”
Father John stopped and looked down at him, “We believe it all, that through it all God speaks to us; but we believe that some things are much more important than others. That’s what Jesus was about. He’s the center of our faith and of our Bible. He helps us realize what’s most important and how to live. His resurrection, by the way, is so much more important than the cutting off of Jordan’s waters that the Jordan’s flow doesn’t even rank.” He looked up to receive the people running to him and added to Andrew, “You won’t understand everything, Andrew. But get used to trusting Jesus who once before in Jericho looked up a tree to choose a servant.”
Preaching Point: The center of the Bible’s faith is not the slaughters or just the miracles but the heart of God seen in Jesus Christ.
* * *
No Matter What, Yahweh's Word
by David O. Bales
Micah 3:5-12
Even in the dawn’s slight glow from the east Micah recognized Shelem running up the steep path that led from Jerusalem. He ran the way a camel would run if a camel were a man—arms flailing and feet flapping like paddles. Micah could tell Shelem was yelling to him. His noise and gestures summoned him to wait and so he did, taking the moment to gaze upon Jerusalem. It looked the same this morning as when Micah first came from Moresheth years ago. Jerusalem is glorious, nearly overwhelming to a village boy—Yahweh’s capital city, the faithless, sinful city.
Shelem came where Micah usually prayed—on the road leading west toward Moresheth. He scampered up the last few steps. “Samaria’s fallen,” he gasped as he threw his arms in a circle. “Completely destroyed.”
“I know,” Micah said. “I heard late last night.” Micah’s prophetic imagination saw the ruined city, Assyrian soldiers murdering those who fled and enslaving those who didn’t. The news the night before was like a boulder flattening him. Stone-faced he said, “Jerusalem will be next.”
Shelem was bent, breathing in great heaves; but, he stood in a start and reeled backwards as though Micah had struck him in the face. “You going to keep saying that” he forced through ragged breathing, “even as Samaria’s bleeding remnant wanders into the gates? Moans and wailing. Little ones weeping.” He stood up straighter and spoke as though he’d rehearsed his request: “The city’s in panic. They need you to speak a prophet’s comforting, strengthening message.”
Micah pictured Samaria’s destruction, cruelty unleashed and savagery reaping the city like a harvest. With his prophetic empathy he was nauseated. Yet he spoke with a steady voice, “I have nothing to say except what Yahweh spoke. Jerusalem as well as Samaria is corrupt from the top down. Not just the businesses and royalty, but the priests and prophets. They trick people out of their land and homes and rattle coins for a good decision in court. That’s what people think prophets are for now: Offer him a couple pieces of silver, let him close him eyes, lean back and out comes a fortune telling word from Yahweh: “Peace, prosperity. Now pay me.”
Shelem shook his head, “we need hope. Thousands of Assyrians will come clipping off village by village, just as they did up north, and finally they’ll lay siege here and no one has withstood them. Refugees pour in like drowned gnats poured off wine. Terrible to see and smells bad too. Come to the north gate and meet them with Yahweh’s word.”
In his prophet’s imagination, Micah gazed upon it all—the suffering, the needy, the hopeless. He perceived the pain and fear, shrieking women and children, trembling old people helped by younger, and all filthy, some collapsing.
He said, “Amos and Hosea told Samaria the same things I tell Judah. Yahweh wants justice: fair balances and mercy for the poor. The accumulation of luxuries shouldn’t be people’s number one goal.”
“Think about it again,” Shelem pleaded. “Consider that the temple precincts are filled like an overflowing basket every Sabbath and festival. No space left for another person. These people are religious and they do listen to the prophets. That Isaiah. He bothers them some, but he says nothing will hurt Jerusalem. It exists under Yahweh’s special protection. If we just trust him. People like Isaiah. He’s homegrown. You’re always going to be hampered as an out-of-towner. But come back. Ease up some. You can help in this tragedy. Maybe then people will take your message seriously.”
He looked over Shelem to Jerusalem. He said, “As for me, I am filled with power, with the spirit of Yahweh, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. That’s who I am and what I’m here for. That’s what Yahweh says.”
“All right,” Shelem said, “you can stay here and bring nothing but trouble to yourself and everyone else. You could moderate your message, which you won’t do. You can head for Moresheth and criticize Jerusalem there and it won’t bother people so much. Think about it. I know what I’ve got to do for Yahweh. I’ve got to bring succor to the wounded. A couple prophets, a handful of priests, and palace officials are gathering blankets and arranging food and shelter. I’m going to pitch in.”
Micah looked at Jerusalem again and said to Shelem. “Thank you, friend. I’ll think about it.”
Shelem started away. Micah watched him awkwardly pick his way down the trail. He was the best friend Micah had. Maybe he was Jerusalem’s best friend also. Micah stood and gazed long at Jerusalem. No matter how long he gazed, he still beheld a pile of stones in a heap of brambles.
Preaching Point: A true prophet must maintain the message received from Yahweh even if it is vastly unpopular and contradicts other prophets.
*****************************************
StoryShare, November 5, 2017, issue.
Copyright 2017 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
"Incident In Jericho" by David O. Bales
"No Matter What, Yahweh's Word" by David O. Bales
Incident In Jericho
by David O. Bales
Joshua 3:7-17
On July 11, 1927 14 year old Andrew was up a tree in Jericho. He thought this must be something like Lazarus did in order to see Jesus. He’d been there three hours. His arms were aching. He peered steadily to the east, watching the trail. All Andrew could do was watch and wait… and think. Along with the whole village he was excited when the earthquake struck and the news came that an entire cliff fell into the Jordan damning it—just as for Joshua. If his father hadn’t forbid him to leave the village, he’d be on the trail there himself. But lately Jews, Christians, and Muslims had been experiencing friction in Jericho, so Andrew wouldn’t see Jordan’s cut off waters. He’d accept the witness of Father John, who waved to him as he departed for the Jordan.
After Father John left, Andrew shinnied up the tree and pondered the situation in Jericho as well as Joshua’s crossing the Jordan on dry ground. His group of Christian boys had been studying with Father John; and he encouraged his students to reason about their faith. Andrew, he said, had the mind and temperament to serve God as a priest—if he had the faith. His mind now was swirling with Jordan’s cut off waters, because he thought about how, after crossing the Jordan, Joshua invaded the land and slaughtered everybody. How was that different than when armies later did the same thing? In Father John’s history class he’d learned it happened many times in Palestine.
Over the hill he finally spotted the top of Father John’s hat bouncing rhythmically from the road to the Jordan. He bounded down and dashed toward him jumping and yelling, “Was it really cut off? Was it really cut off?” Father John smiled from afar, waving and yelling back, “Yes, Andrew. Yes.”
When Andrew met him, Father John explained that the cliff wall had sloughed off and dammed the stream perfectly.
“A miracle, like Joshua,” Andrew said.
“Yes,” Father John said, as he continued to walk to the village. In July’s heat he was dripping with sweat and caked with dust.
Andrew drew in beside him, jumped once more and said, “Miracle!” then he stretched his legs to match Father John’s steps, “I’ve been thinking,” he said.
“That’s what you’re supposed to do,” Father John gave a tired smile.
“The miracle’s so great I can hardly stand it; but…” Andrew paused, “Joshua slaughtered innocent people and the Bible says God told him to do it.”
“Yes?” he tipped up the word in a question.
“Really?”
“Yes,” Father John said, “that’s really what the Bible says. But the Bible is the Word of God and the Word of Man. We have to remember it’s genuinely human, and thus in the Bible a lot of what humans want is wrapped around what God wants. The Bible’s as human and divine as Jesus was human and divine. So many heresies, you remember, tried to make Jesus only divine. Took hundreds of years for the church to get it right. People try to do the same with the Bible.”
Andrew shook his head, “You mean the Bible’s wrong?”
“No, I mean we get to, we must, ask questions of the Bible. What’s the eternal message bound up with the people and time it was written? Like Psalm 137 about blessing those who smash enemies’ babies on the rocks, or David’s daily slaughtering every living being in First Samuel 27. That’s clearly not what God wants. One difference that Christians and Jews have from Muslims is that we get to question and even argue with the Bible. Muslims have to believe their Koran dropped to them word for word. We believe God came here into people’s lives, just as in Jesus, really here in people like us, that’s why I say the Bible is the Word of Man as well as the Word of God.”
“What about Joshua and the Jordan being cut off?”
“We sure know today that it’s possible, don’t we?” He smiled to Andrew. “Thing is, we can’t prove it. That’s what faith’s about. God gives us enough from around us, so that the Holy Spirit inside us helps us believe. But it always takes faith.”
They were approaching the village and others were coming to meet Father John to hear his report. Andrew rushed to ask another question before Father John was surrounded for the rest of the day telling and retelling what he’d seen. “Then what can we believe in the Bible?”
Father John stopped and looked down at him, “We believe it all, that through it all God speaks to us; but we believe that some things are much more important than others. That’s what Jesus was about. He’s the center of our faith and of our Bible. He helps us realize what’s most important and how to live. His resurrection, by the way, is so much more important than the cutting off of Jordan’s waters that the Jordan’s flow doesn’t even rank.” He looked up to receive the people running to him and added to Andrew, “You won’t understand everything, Andrew. But get used to trusting Jesus who once before in Jericho looked up a tree to choose a servant.”
Preaching Point: The center of the Bible’s faith is not the slaughters or just the miracles but the heart of God seen in Jesus Christ.
* * *
No Matter What, Yahweh's Word
by David O. Bales
Micah 3:5-12
Even in the dawn’s slight glow from the east Micah recognized Shelem running up the steep path that led from Jerusalem. He ran the way a camel would run if a camel were a man—arms flailing and feet flapping like paddles. Micah could tell Shelem was yelling to him. His noise and gestures summoned him to wait and so he did, taking the moment to gaze upon Jerusalem. It looked the same this morning as when Micah first came from Moresheth years ago. Jerusalem is glorious, nearly overwhelming to a village boy—Yahweh’s capital city, the faithless, sinful city.
Shelem came where Micah usually prayed—on the road leading west toward Moresheth. He scampered up the last few steps. “Samaria’s fallen,” he gasped as he threw his arms in a circle. “Completely destroyed.”
“I know,” Micah said. “I heard late last night.” Micah’s prophetic imagination saw the ruined city, Assyrian soldiers murdering those who fled and enslaving those who didn’t. The news the night before was like a boulder flattening him. Stone-faced he said, “Jerusalem will be next.”
Shelem was bent, breathing in great heaves; but, he stood in a start and reeled backwards as though Micah had struck him in the face. “You going to keep saying that” he forced through ragged breathing, “even as Samaria’s bleeding remnant wanders into the gates? Moans and wailing. Little ones weeping.” He stood up straighter and spoke as though he’d rehearsed his request: “The city’s in panic. They need you to speak a prophet’s comforting, strengthening message.”
Micah pictured Samaria’s destruction, cruelty unleashed and savagery reaping the city like a harvest. With his prophetic empathy he was nauseated. Yet he spoke with a steady voice, “I have nothing to say except what Yahweh spoke. Jerusalem as well as Samaria is corrupt from the top down. Not just the businesses and royalty, but the priests and prophets. They trick people out of their land and homes and rattle coins for a good decision in court. That’s what people think prophets are for now: Offer him a couple pieces of silver, let him close him eyes, lean back and out comes a fortune telling word from Yahweh: “Peace, prosperity. Now pay me.”
Shelem shook his head, “we need hope. Thousands of Assyrians will come clipping off village by village, just as they did up north, and finally they’ll lay siege here and no one has withstood them. Refugees pour in like drowned gnats poured off wine. Terrible to see and smells bad too. Come to the north gate and meet them with Yahweh’s word.”
In his prophet’s imagination, Micah gazed upon it all—the suffering, the needy, the hopeless. He perceived the pain and fear, shrieking women and children, trembling old people helped by younger, and all filthy, some collapsing.
He said, “Amos and Hosea told Samaria the same things I tell Judah. Yahweh wants justice: fair balances and mercy for the poor. The accumulation of luxuries shouldn’t be people’s number one goal.”
“Think about it again,” Shelem pleaded. “Consider that the temple precincts are filled like an overflowing basket every Sabbath and festival. No space left for another person. These people are religious and they do listen to the prophets. That Isaiah. He bothers them some, but he says nothing will hurt Jerusalem. It exists under Yahweh’s special protection. If we just trust him. People like Isaiah. He’s homegrown. You’re always going to be hampered as an out-of-towner. But come back. Ease up some. You can help in this tragedy. Maybe then people will take your message seriously.”
He looked over Shelem to Jerusalem. He said, “As for me, I am filled with power, with the spirit of Yahweh, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. That’s who I am and what I’m here for. That’s what Yahweh says.”
“All right,” Shelem said, “you can stay here and bring nothing but trouble to yourself and everyone else. You could moderate your message, which you won’t do. You can head for Moresheth and criticize Jerusalem there and it won’t bother people so much. Think about it. I know what I’ve got to do for Yahweh. I’ve got to bring succor to the wounded. A couple prophets, a handful of priests, and palace officials are gathering blankets and arranging food and shelter. I’m going to pitch in.”
Micah looked at Jerusalem again and said to Shelem. “Thank you, friend. I’ll think about it.”
Shelem started away. Micah watched him awkwardly pick his way down the trail. He was the best friend Micah had. Maybe he was Jerusalem’s best friend also. Micah stood and gazed long at Jerusalem. No matter how long he gazed, he still beheld a pile of stones in a heap of brambles.
Preaching Point: A true prophet must maintain the message received from Yahweh even if it is vastly unpopular and contradicts other prophets.
*****************************************
StoryShare, November 5, 2017, issue.
Copyright 2017 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
