Friday, August 14, 2015

The Journey to the Promised Land



In today’s first reading, Jos 24: 1-13, Joshua gathers all of the tribes of Israel and  reviews for them all that the Lord has done on their behalf, tracing God’s presence in their lives all the way back to Abraham’s father Terah. He shows them how God stopped the Egyptians in their pursuit of them, delivered them from nations far more powerful than they,and thwarted a curse against them.  “It was not your sword or your bow”; it was not your military might, Joshua reminds them.  “I [the Lord,  Yahweh] gave you a land which you had not tilled and cities which you had not built, to dwell in; you have eaten of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.”

The same is true for us.  As with the Israelites, we are on our way to the Promised Land. As our inheritance as adopted children of God, God has given us a new Jerusalem, a city we did not build, vineyards we did not plant. On our journey here in the wilderness of this earth, God goes before us, leveling “cities,” overcoming powers that  lure us into worshiping false gods:  narcissism, atheistic materialism, consumerism, hedonism,  wealth for its own sake,  the glorification of the body as something to be worshiped, absolute freedom to do whatever we so choose even to assuming that it is okay to violate the rights of the unborn, of the poor and oppressed, of women and children, of immigrants, of persons viewed as minorities, of the earth itself and all that lives on it. 

If you and I gathered our families around us, going back several generations, what would the list of   blessings look like, I ask myself.  What false gods are we following? From what powerful “nations ”-- snares of the devil--has/ is God  rescuing us?  

The miracles God worked for the Israelites God will work for us in the 21st century. I believe that! What is your belief? I pray for the grace that you and I have the courage and the wisdom  to cooperate with the Lord in bringing about the salvation of the world in some small way by our efforts,to avoid evil and  lead people to Jesus at the foot of the cross.

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