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Donate| November 2, 2008 Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time Proper 26 All Saint's Sunday Commentary by Bruce G. Epperly |
See also: [2005] |
Joshua 3:7-17
Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37
I Thessalonians 2:9-13
Matthew 23:1-12
The reading from Joshua sets the stage for today’s lectionary readings. In a passage reminiscent of the miracle of the crossing the Red Sea, Joshua leads the people across the Jordan River. While this passage hints at an unprovoked invasion into a foreign land and the displacement of its native peoples, the more important theme in this and the other lectionary passages involves the nature and practice of spiritual leadership. Joshua has received Moses’ mantle of leadership, and now he must actively guide his people to the “promised land.” He must earn the authority that he’s received from others - living, dead, and divine.
Whether lay, pastoral, or secular, leadership is a spiritual task, grounded in the ability of leaders to be inspirational, visionary, and effective. In this passage, Joshua passes on all counts. Although political opponents may mock charismatic presidential candidates as “messianic” miracle workers who will part the sea and bring us to the “promised land,” both nations and congregations need substantial persons who can also be “movement” leaders rather than merely institutional custodians. God’s own movements in our lives call us to move ahead toward uncharted horizons in our personal and corporate lives. God is in the details, but also in the far horizons.
Joshua is one such movement leader. Joshua’s power is not accidental; it emerges from the interplay of God’s commission and Joshua’s faithful and imaginative leadership. When others see the task ahead as impossible, Joshua sees the people as sufficient for any challenge that lies ahead. Joshua knows that the people never travel alone, but are accompanied by the God of adventure and possibility. The people must work hard and face obstacles, but they must also trust their abilities and God’s presence in crossing into a new land.
Joshua’s leadership is relational in nature. He recognizes that he cannot guide the people’s journey unless they catch the vision as well. Accordingly, he invites them to see what he sees, and in the process, God’s vision inspires the whole community to accomplish more than it could have previously imagined.
In today’s passage, the people finally cross the Jordan River. Led the by Ark of the Covenant, the people safely ford the river. In the spirit of Celtic thought, the Ark represents a “thin place” revealing God’s call forward to new lands and new adventures.
The Ark is a talisman, an energetic vehicle, and transitional object that reminds the people that God who delivered them from captivity would lead them to prosperity.
An imaginative pastor might ask the congregants to reflect upon their own spiritual “talismans” and “transitional objects.” At first glance, such talk about objects and icons sounds more Catholic than Reformed, but the God who is present in all things inspires our use of finite things that represent the infinite for us. The pastor might ask congregants the following questions: As you look at your life, what object symbolizes God’s presence and nurtures your sense divine possibility? What art work inspires you to embark on the adventures God is imagining for you?
Such objects point to a holiness/wholeness in which we live, move, and have our being. In my family, my wife, adult son, mother-in-law, and I wear Celtic crosses as sign that we are always joined by God’s adventurous and protective love. These crosses deepened our sense of God’s healing presence during our son’s unexpected diagnosis and treatment for a rare cancer almost a year ago and my ninety-one year old mother-in-law’s recent bout with uterine cancer.
Joshua’s leadership is inspired by his commitment to practicing the presence of God in his role as leader. Attentive to God’s visionary stirrings in his life, Joshua is a spirit person who inspires trust among the people. His leadership is inspired by God’s nearness, reflected in his invitation to the people to “draw near and hear the words of the Lord your God.” Tuning our hearts to God’s presence through prayer, contemplation, and worship enables us to experience God’s visions—and I mean “visions”—amid our visions. God does not, as Joshua’s invitation notes, speak just one word to us; God speaks many words, appropriate to our constantly changing time and place.
The reading from Thessalonians asserts that leadership is a matter of character. Paul and his companions describe their conduct as “pure, upright, and blameless.” More than that, their leadership is affirmative. Rather than berating the congregation, Paul and his companions are encouraging—giving heart—and calling them to live a life “worthy of God.”
This passage challenges the pastor to reflect on what it means to be “worthy of God, who calls you into God’s kingdom and glory.” This is not “works righteousness” by which we earn our salvation by our conduct of life. Rather, it is our response to God’s graceful call to wholeness and justice. God is ceaselessly working in our lives, calling us to be God’s companions in healing the world. Our response to God’s call involves our “worthiness” —the gift of our lives and our ethical commitments to God and our fellow creatures. We do not have to earn God’s love, but we are called to become like the God we follow.
This passage begs us to ask the revealing questions: If our lives make a difference to God, what kind of world do you want to give God? Do you want to give God a world of beauty or a world of ugliness?
The key to character or spiritual formation, for Paul, is found in his counsel from Philippians 4:4-9. Here Paul advises the community to “rejoice,” be “gentle” toward all, to “pray” constantly about all things, and to be thankful in all things. Rather than living by fear or anxiety, Paul calls them to embrace God’s spacious present and open future by focusing on “whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable.” We are transformed when we “think on these things,” grounding our lives in all that God is doing and will do in our lives.
The issue of spiritual character is center stage in the Gospel reading. Jesus challenges the character of certain religious leaders of his time: “do whatever they [these religious leaders] teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach.” Leadership is a matter of integrity in which our inner life and external behavior are in synch. Healthy theology involves the interplay of vision and practice, of right belief and right action. Character matters, whether in political, administrative, or spiritual leadership. Without orthopraxis, orthodoxy is of little value.
Jesus calls his followers to humble leadership. In the spirit of Philippians 2:5-11, Christian leadership involves sacrifice and service. Spiritual leadership seeks the well-being of others, first and foremost, as a reflection of the leader’s solidarity with his or her community. Such leadership recognizes that divine grace and inspiration are ubiquitous within the world and in the congregation. The leader leads by recognizing and awakening a sense of divine intimacy and possibility in others.
Ultimately, leadership is grounded in God’s ever-emerging and ever-present grace. Here Psalm 107 serves to be the ribbon that ties all three passages together: “O give thanks to the Lord; for God is good; for God’s steadfast love endures forever.” As leaders, we share the grace we have received, sharing it in our own unique ways and in our particular context. Trusting God’s bountiful care for us and for our communities, we discover the whole world opens up for us. We can expect great things from ourselves and great things from God, who calls us to cross our own Jordan Rivers and traverse our own promised lands.
Bruce Epperly is professor of practical theology and director of continuing education at Lancaster Theological Seminary and co-pastor of Disciples United Community Church in Lancaster, PA. He is the author of fifteen books, including Holy Adventure: Forty-one Days of Audacious Living (Upper Room), his recently-released response to the Purpose Driven Life.
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