Monday, Ordinary 31, Proper 26, Nov 3

Crossing Jordan

The Ark Crossing the Jordan Juan Montero de Rojas, 1619 public domain CCL

Meditation

Monday, Ordinary 31, Proper 26’s theme was about mementoes. The Psalmist cited all the ways that God would bless and the list of people and things that demonstrated the blessing of God.

The Old Testament lesson in Joshua, though lengthy, celebrated the crossing by having a representative from each tribe gather one stone in the River Jordan and build a tower of stones—a memorial—to the place where the priests had stood in the middle of the Jordan River. Each tribe had a memento stone to represent the historic miraculous event. After all, they were crossing the Jordan in the rainy season, when the Jordan would flood (as would all the rivers) and yet when the priests stepped into the River the water receded and allowed them all to pass on dry ground.

Of course, 40,000 soldiers went first to prepare the way, lest anyone take potshots at them.

When Joshua wrote the book, the stones were still evidently in the River, to be seen by passers-by. They left a marker so they could be reminded of the miracle of grace they witnessed that day.