|
|
|
|
Joshua 6: 1-5,
20-21 November 15, 2009
JOSHUA AND THE WALLS OF JERICHO: This morning we continue our exploration of some of the old, old bible stories of our faith with the story of Joshua and the Battle of Jericho, a story made famous by that old African-American spiritual: Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, And the walls come a tumblin’ down.. Grammatically, this song leaves a lot to be desired, as it starts off in the past tense and then moves rather quickly to the present tense, and in a few minutes I’ll share with why I rather appreciate that grammatical error, but first of all the story itself. This story is part of the long Exodus narrative. You will remember that the people of Israel had been slaves in Egypt and after liberating them from captivity, Moses then led them on a long 40 year journey through the desert. Being too old to make the last part of journey, Moses passed the leadership on to a young man by the name of Joshua. If Moses had been all about liberation, Joshua might be thought of as being one of the world’s very first “action heroes”, with the book of Joshua being but one bloody battle after another. For those of you concerned about all the violence on television – and that is for sure a legitimate concern – but sometimes I think there ought to be parental filters on the bible as well, and our story for this morning is a case in point. The story of Joshua, and “Jesus”, by the way, is the anglicized transliteration of the word “Joshua” or “Yeshua”. And so with the name of Joshua, as you can imagine, no doubt there were some that hoped that Jesus would prove to be the new action hero, the new Rambo, the new Superman, the one who would liberate the people of Israel from the oppressive Roman occupation, and no doubt there were some who were sorely disappointed when Jesus’ leadership clearly went in a different direction. But let’s get back to Joshua – this “mighty man of valor.” The people of Israel had just crossed over the Jordan River, very near the Dead Sea, and they sincerely believed that God was on their side as, one by one, they took on the indigenous tribes that occupied the land on the west side of the Jordan River, and one of the first cities they came to was this ancient city of Jericho. This Tree of Life mural is an artistic rendering that comes from an ancient mural on the floor of Hisham’s Palace in Jericho, and as no doubt you have noticed, it has served as a central symbol for our Tree of Life programs. Like so many of those ancient cities, Jericho was surrounded by walls, huge adobe or mud walls, battlements, ramparts probably 25 or 30 feet high. The people of Jericho, the indigenous tribe, had no doubt looked across the Jordan River, and they had seen how the 12 tribes of Israel were right on the verge of crossing over, and so the people of Jericho, closed all the gates in their city to defend themselves as best as they could. So, how was Joshua going to conquer this city? This was long before the Trojan Horse strategy that would be invented by the Greeks and long before the use of catapults and long, long before the use of the drones or the missiles that our armies might use today, and so how does an army get over a 25 foot wall? Joshua had an ingenious plan, and this is what would be immortalized in that old African American Spiritual. He lined up all the mighty men of valor, and he had them march around and around the city, and as they marched there would be 7 trumpeters who would blow their trumpets continuously. Around and around the city they marched; like a marching band they marched with absolute precision, and the trumpeters – being the ancestors of Rafael Mendez, Wynton Marsalis, and Doc Severenson -- played magnificently on their trumpets, and whenever they played, the people of Israel, all 12 tribes of Israelites, in perfect unison would shout at the top of their lungs. Now, I’ve heard some speculation that it was perhaps the syncopated rhythmic, reverberation of their music, the steady beat of the marching band that caused fissures in the wall that finally caused it to crumble. I don’t know if that is possible, but it might make for a worthy engineering experiment. How much or how many sound waves does it take to bring down a 25 foot adobe wall that is probably 3 foot thick? Can a trumpet bring down a wall? That was in a day, long before the wonders of concrete and reinforcement rods, and so, I suppose, it may have been possible. I don’t know. But rather than science I would prefer to think of this as metaphor Like so many of the other stories we have explored, this one also should be thought as being not so much an historical event but more of a story, a very good story in some ways, but a horrendous story in yet another way, for what happens next can only be described as genocide, and not only genocide but also a genocide seemingly justified by God. On the field of battle, Joshua was the lieutenant, but the real “commander in chief” was God Almighty, at least according to this story. With God ostensibly being “on their side”, the people of Israel massacred everyone in the city, the bible says, “men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and asses with the edge of their sword.” Only, they were told, by their commander-in-chief, that in their plunder they could take some things but not others. In others words, it was alright for them to slaughter innocent children, but there was a divine injunction against taking any of the weaponry or the religious symbols of their enemy, for “god” does have some principles, after all! Again, this story may tell you something about the antiquated and primitive theology of the author of this book, but it would be a real mistake to think that it tells us anything at all about the nature of God, or at least not the God that we know and love in the prophets of Israel and in the person of Jesus. Now, some might call me a heretic for not taking this story as being the literal truth, and you can do so if you please, but allow me to share with you the liberties that I would take with this story. I would prefer to turn this story inside-out and to think of Joshua and his marching band not on the outside but rather on the inside of the wall, not trying to get in, but rather trying to get out, and thus I would make this story not one of conquest but one of liberation. And this, I would suggest, is why this story was so powerful for the slaves who sang that old African-American spiritual. “Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, and the walls come a tumblin’ down.” It was a song of hope that someday the shackles would finally come off. It was a song and a prayer that someday the “walls” of poverty and captivity would come down. And this is how I would prefer to think of this story, a yearning for freedom, not the arrogance of conquest. Furthermore, after the “wall comes a tumblin’ down” I would simply delete the rest of the story; in my estimation, it’s not fit for human consumption; it’s an embarrassment to all that is good and decent in all of our religions. Indeed it is blasphemy to think that God would sanction the slaughter or the massacre, the genocide of someone else. But, I have to say, I don’t want to lose this story altogether, because I do rather like the idea of trumpets and marching bands and the unison voice of the human spirit and their capacity to bring down the walls that so divide the human family. This last week we celebrated the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and many of us can remember the wonderful jubilation that accompanied that momentous occasion, how German families who had been separated for years were able to reunite, and I remember so well the joyous, triumphant music from the choral conclusion of Beethoven’s 9th symphony. I have here a small piece of the Berlin wall that was given to me by some young people from Germany that came to our community shortly after the Berlin Wall came down, and I look at it from time to time to remember what is possible. As the New England poet, Robert Frost said: Something there is that doesn’t love a wall And needless to say, with all of our Tree of Life activities this last week in which we have focused on the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, the commemoration of the fall of the Berlin wall 20 years ago has led me to be hopeful that someday the dividing wall between Israelis and Palestinians might also be brought down. Dunia Kassis, the youngest member of all of our Israeli and Palestinian visitors, at 12 years of age, lives in the small town of Beit Sahour. She and her family live in a simple but beautiful apartment that was built by the Greek Orthodox Church, and I remember visiting her home a few years ago, and looking out their kitchen window, you could see the beautiful olive trees in the valley below. But sadly, a couple of years ago, the State of Israel built a huge 28 foot concrete wall just a few feet from their kitchen window, and now, the Israeli government has decided that the apartment building where Dunia lives is too close to the wall, and so they have scheduled the apartment building for demolition. In our Tree of Life journeys, I have had magnificent dinners served by Dunia’s mother, Areeg, and now every time I go over there I look out their kitchen window, and I yearn and I pray for the day when that wall can come down. Sadly, Dunia’s family has shared with me how they keep a tent in their house, just in case, just in case their home is demolished. Dunia is even now down in Philadelphia telling her story with the others, and then on Tuesday of this week she will fly back home. She and the others have had a fabulous experience here, not only being given the opportunity to share their stories, but also the sheer joy of being on the far side of that wall. They shared with me how much they enjoyed walking along the beach in Cape Cod. While they were in New York City, they loved being able to visit the Statue of Liberty, and I can only imagine what their feelings must have been as they read those extraordinarily beautiful words: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses Yearning to breathe free… I lift my lamp beside the golden door. How I wish there were a “golden door” through they could come and go from their home in Beit Sahour. After seeing the Statue of Liberty, they were able to see the Broadway show, entitled “Memphis,” thanks to the generosity of one of our members who is the producer of that show, and they shared with me how despite the language barrier, they loved every single minute of it. But on Tuesday of this week, they will go back home; they will go back to being on the wrong side of that wall, where they and all of their neighbors are in captivity. This for me is where the story of Joshua and the Walls of Jericho comes into focus. I think it was William James who spoke of how what the world needs is the “moral equivalent of war.” I think the best way for us to commemorate the fall of the Berlin wall is for the Church of Jesus Christ, the Church of Joshua, the Church of Yeshua to strengthen it’s resolve to tear down all the walls that so divide our human family, and I can think of no better place to begin than to say, “Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama, tear down the wall behind Dunia’s home!” In our scripture lesson from St. Paul’s letter to the Church of Corinth, it says, “If the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?” Imagine what would have happened back at the time of Joshua, if all the trumpeters had been struck with a terminal case of timidity. The Church of Joshua, the Church of Yeshua ben Joseph, the Church of Jesus has been so painfully silent on this issue, but I ask you to ponder what would happen if churches of all denominations were to march around and around that wall that imprisons Dunia and her family. I’m told that a choir from Belgium commemorated the fall of the Berlin wall by going over to the Holy Land to offer a concert at the base of that wall. Imagine what would happen if church choirs of all denominations and all nationalities went over there, and in perfect or even imperfect synchronicity they sang that old African-American spiritual, don’t you think that would help to cause that wall to “come a tumblin’ down? I don’t know if a sound wave can bring down a wall, but I know one thing for certain, there’s no stopping the church of Joshua, the church of Jesus Christ if it speaks with clarity and conviction. As I said at the beginning of this sermon, I rather like how there is a shift in that spiritual from the past tense to the present tense. Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, And the walls come a tumblin’ down. As we remember how the walls of Jericho came down, and as we remember how the Berlin Wall, seemingly so permanent, also came down, so we can live in hope that all the other walls that divide us can also come down, and when I say good bye to Dunia on Tuesday of this week, I think I will give her this piece of the Berlin Wall, and I will tell her about how much joy there was when that wall was brought down, and I will share with her how it seemed as if the whole world was singing, Beethoven’s Hymn to Joy from the 9th symphony, and I will share with her my hope and my dream that we will sing that glorious music once again right outside her home with a beautiful view of the olive trees in the valley below. Amen.
David W. Good Old Lyme, Connecticut
|
|
|
