All Sheep and Donkeys?--July 18, 2010

I. Readings
Psalms 19, 150, 81, 113
Joshua 6:15-27
Acts 22:30-23:11
Mark 2:1-12

II. Selections
Psalm 19:1
The heavens are telling the glory of God;
      and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.

Joshua 6:24-25a
Then [the warriors of Israel] devoted to destruction by the edge of the sword all in the city [of Jericho], both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys. Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house, and bring the woman out of it and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.”

Acts 23:9
Then a great clamor arose, and certain scribes of the Pharisees’ group stood up and contended, “We find nothing wrong with this man [Paul]. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”

Mark 2:12
And [the paralytic] stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

III. Meditation

O God, we sympathize with the dissenting scribes;
at times it is hard to discern what you are telling us.

Your message written in the heavens and firmament
may be plain for some to see but is not so clear to us.

We can believe that Joshua was speaking your will
after the fall of Jericho when he instructed the spies
to keep their oath and save Rahab with her family;

but it seems impossible to accept that you told him
to kill all the other men and women, young and old,
together with all their oxen and sheep and donkeys.

But then even the people who witnessed the raising
of the paralytic were not all permanently persuaded
that they had heard your word. Teach us to discern.