Thursday, August 17, 2023
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
River of Jordan
Why is it, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back?
I will miss reading the stories of Moses. I wouldn’t have missed 40 years in the desert, though, and I think I’d be restless to get across the Jordan River into the land of Canaan.
The only ones left to cross were the children of the original Hebrews who escaped from Egypt. Perhaps they remembered the crossing of the Red Sea. They were older now.
Those middle-age men and women might have walked the edges of the river for days, waiting for word from Joshua. They might NOT have known Moses was dying, or already dead. How did they spend their spare time (and all their time was spare)? Peter, Paul and Mary might be listening to at least one of them:
I traveled the banks of the River of Jordan
To find where it flows to the sea.
I looked in the eyes of the cold and the hungry
And I saw I was looking at me.
I wanted to know if life had a purpose
And what it all means in the end.
In the silence I listened to voices inside me
And they told me again and again.
The is only one river. There is only one sea.
And it flows through you, and it flows through me.
They need to wait just one more day. Joshua would be coming down, now, from the mountain. His face might be shining, as was Moses’ face, because he was hearing from the Lord.
Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know I am with you, as I was with Moses.
Moses told us this would happen. We will listen to Joshua, who is not a lot older than we are. He is our kinsman, but he is Chosen. We are gathered together now, and he will tell us what to do.
The ark of the covenant of the Lord of the whole earth will precede you into the Jordan. When the soles of the feet of the priests carrying the ark touch the water of the Jordan, it will cease to flow. The water flowing will halt in a solid wall.
 And so it was.
The sea parted once more. The Jordan flows into the Dead Sea, but not now, not for as long as it takes for the Israelites to cross over. There were no chariots behind, but imagine what those warriors in Jericho were thinking when they watched this multi-day miracle unfold!
It was harvest season, and the waters flowed high and strong. The waters backed up all the way to the town of Adam, 20 miles to the north. But the waters traveling toward the Salt Sea disappeared entirely. And thus, we crossed over the river, opposite Jericho.
Benjamin West, “Crossing the River of Jordan with the Ark of the Covenant” 1800, Art Gallery of New South Wales
As Jesus told his disciples of God’s infinite forgiveness, not just seventy times seven, but always and forever, he might have been thinking of this remarkable gift from God to his people. The gift of the Promised Land, and now of the Jordan crossing, the beginning of revelation to Joshua the general, and to the men and women of Israel, his soldiers. God’s faithfulness to his people was his part of their covenant and he kept his promises, even when the people failed to fulfill their part.
How long before the Israelites would be able, or even inclined, to pass their blessing on to “all the peoples of the earth?” Jesus surely was getting on to that part of the story in his parable.
You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?
It did not go well for the wicked servant. He refused to move on to remember that God’s promises are “for all the people of the earth.” In Solomon’s great prayer as he dedicated the first Temple, he pleaded with God for all of us.
Hear from heaven, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you.
I imagine the men and women walking along the Jordan, waiting to cross. The waves seemed to be singing. I imagine they could hear the rest of the song, blowing through them in the wind:
There is only one people. We are one and the same.
We are all one spirit. We are all one name.
We are the father, mother, daughter and son.
From the dawn of creation, we are one.
We are one.
Every blade of grass on the mountain
Every drop in the sea
Every cry of a newborn baby
Every prayer to be free
Every hope at the end of a rainbow
Every song ever sung
Is a part of the family of woman and man
And that means everyone.
We are only one river. We are only one sea.
And it flows through you, and it flows through me.
We are only one people. We are one and the same.
We are all one spirit. We are all one name.
We are the father, mother, daughter and son
From the dawn of creation, we are one.
We are one.
Jesus kept on keeping on. He preached his message and let it rise or fall. Those with ears to hear. He said it over and over.
When Jesus finished these words, he left Galilee and went to the district of Judea across the Jordan.
(Joshua 3, Psalm 114, Psalm 119, Matthew 18)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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