Wednesday, Ordinary 31, Proper 26 Nov 5

Joshua’s Victory Over the Amorites

Joshua’s Victory Over the Amorites by Nicolas Poussin wikiart gallery 1624 public domain CCL

Meditation

Wednesday, Ordinary 31, Proper 26 told the remarkable story of the day the sun stood still. Joshua led the Children of Israel. The Amorites presented a larger deterrent and they couldn’t be vanquished rapidly. Joshua asked for God’s help—just as many have wished for a few more hours to the day. The sun stood still and the Israelites were able to defeat the Amorites with the extension of daylight.

The story may have been hard to believe for some. The teachers of the Law came to Jesus in the New Testament lesson, asking why they did not follow the traditions of the Jewish leaders in the past. Didn’t he trust the old ways? Why didn’t they wash their hands like the rules said?

Jesus pointed out that they didn’t really follow the law they claimed they religiously followed. Thus the letter of the law versus the spirit of the law was distinguished. The Pharisees would claim they honored their parents, but they had found a loophole. By committing something to God’s use, they could withhold it from their parent’s using it, and instead use it for themselves. They bypassed the spirit of the law, hypocrites that they were. If the churches add all sorts of ‘rules’ to follow but don’t honor the basic truth of the law of God which is to love God and others as ourselves, then we are falling into the same loophole.