What kind of images do the words “Promised Land” mean to you? I didn’t see the TV show by that name very often, but it seemed to me, with my limited exposure, that this was a traveling family, always ready to pick up and move somewhere new, always optimistic about what was around the next corner, always finding something worthwhile everywhere they went. I kind of got a pioneer feeling from it, as though these people were somehow echoing that great Western movement of our ancestors - although strictly speaking that’s not accurate, because your ancestors stayed put - once they got here. Can’t get a whole lot more eastern than we are here in South Jersey.
But even here, on the east coast of the United States, most of our ancestors did pull up stakes and strike out for a new land, hoping for something better, looking for a future for themselves or their children. Some of them had friends or relatives waiting for them when they arrived; many others had nothing at all but a vague description of anything from ferocious savages to cities of gold. In those days of perilous migrations it was easy to think in Biblical terms about the seemingly unlimited possibilities that lay ahead, of the land flowing with milk and honey and the providential hand of the One who had given it.
Now, though, when people hear the words “Promised Land” - especially in a religious context - they mostly think in terms of metaphor, of the journey through death into the eternal realms of God. Think of all the hymns about crossing over the river Jordan. . . . We’ve been burnt, rather, by the failed promises of the Progressive Movement at the beginning of this century, the idea that just ahead lay utopia, an earthly millennium where death and tears, poverty and injustice would all be done away with. But we can get more out of Joshua’s story than that.
Let’s look back to the time of Joshua. In those days, the Promised Land was very real, a place in which the Israelites expected to live, to build houses and plant crops and raise families. It was a place they knew of from Joshua himself, and his sidekick Caleb, when they were young men sent ahead to spy out the land. It was a place the tribes had been hearing about for forty years, all the time they had been wandering about in the wilderness, waiting for God to say the word. It was all they had, that promise... Their home in Egypt hadn’t been much, although from the way the Israelites complained during their wanderings you would have thought they had left the Garden of Eden. Once they had made their decision, though, leaving behind them in Egypt a slaughtered Pharaoh and a devastated economy, it wasn’t really possible to turn back. Just think what kind of reception they would have gotten. . . .
So rather a lot had been invested in this adventure. Probably some of them were still shaking their heads, not believing the time had really come at last; others might have found they enjoyed the nomadic life; none of the younger generation had a clue of what farming was all about, and even their elders had learned their agriculture in a far different climate than this would be. It was going to be totally unlike anything they’d ever experienced before... were they really ready?
But it would be their home. God had promised. And it would be THEIRS. No more kowtowing to foreign kings. At home at last. The home which God promised back in the days of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob... The abundant land of which Moses spoke as he led his people out of Egypt.
But there was a catch. It was not only a rich land, a fertile and inviting land, but it also was a n inhabited land. Other people already occupied it. The cities and towns that God had promised to give to the Israelites were filled with warriors and (some said) even giants. Most of them were not exactly looking forward to handing over their territory and possessions to this rag-tag bunch of wanderers who were massing on their Eastern border.
No, this wasn’t going to be a shoo-in.
Still, God had promised.
So, there they were, the twelve tribes, priests, old men, armed men, women, and children, all milling about on the East bank, fresh from the ritual cleansing Joshua had commanded, probably buzzing with curiosity over what would happen next.
Those long-ago Israelites aren’t much different from us, you know. All of us long for that kind of land: the kind of place - the kind of life - where our enemies are overcome by the power of God, where our needs are met with unheard of abundance, where the fear and uncertainty of the wilderness in which we wander is replaced by the joy and the celebration of life lived in a place as secure and abundant as Eden itself.
Our Promised Land is, of course, the abundant life promised by Christ to all his followers. The Israelites’ Promised Land was - and is - a real place, located in our space and our time. And God’s promises to us, are of just as real a place, just as rich and secure a life. And just as he did with the children of Israel, he guides us through the wilderness towards it, leading us to the very edge of the place, and he shows us the way to enter. The third chapter of the book of Joshua shows us the final stage of the people's wandering, the stage of entry into that promised land. In their crossing through the Jordan and into the land of promise there are details which transfer quite remarkably clearly into instructions for our own entry into the land - the state of being - that God has promised to us in Christ Jesus.
First you have to understand about the River Jordan. It’s the largest river in the region. There were no bridges across it; the Kings’ highway from Egypt to the Euphrates, from the land of the Pharaohs to Assyria and Babylon never crossed the Jordan, but instead ran along its east bank. It’s normally a murky river, slow moving and muddy; even so it can usually be crossed pretty easily at a number of places - that is, if you don't mind stepping into a river whose bottom you can't see, if you don't mind getting your feet wet, and so on...
Even when you have a bridge, river crossings often represent a big event in life. Rivers are often boundaries between one political jurisdiction and another, because they mark natural defenses. Rivers are symbols both of opportunities and of obstacles. They are sources of life, of connection with other places and peoples, and at the same time they can be dangerous, even unpassable at some seasons. Rivers are boundaries that have to be approached with respect.
On that day, the river Jordan surely represented both a roadblock and a milestone for the people of Israel. It is one thing to put your feet in a gentle stream, even if muddy, and quite another to step into roaring flood waters. Which, according to verse 15, is what the Jordan was like the day the people crossed over it. “...the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest.” But that’s not all. Not only was the river in flood, but according to verse 4, the people aren’t familiar with the place. They haven’t been there before and they don’t know what it will be like. They don’t know if the bottom is sandy or muddy or filled with rocks that will turn under their feet or quicksand that will pull them under.
This is what Joshua and the leaders of the people tell the people that they are to do. They are to enter the promised land by following the priests, who carry the ark of the Covenant - the sign and symbol of God's presence with them - into the river. Joshua assures them that the river will part for them to make their passage through it possible.
I think there are two very significant lessons about this particular step of the process.
The first lesson is that one has to step into the roaring waters before they are parted, rather than waiting for them to first be parted. This is an extremely important point: only when the soles of the feet of those bearing the ark touched the water would the waters part. Not before.
And the second lesson is that the priests had to go first. They took the first step of faith, and then stood in the middle of the river holding up the ark where everyone could see them, until the whole host of Israelites had crossed the river Jordan, had crossed over the boundary between wilderness and Promised Land.
Verses 15-17 give us the conclusion of the matter:
"As soon as the feet of the priests touched the water, the river stopped flowing, and the water started piling up at the town of Adam near Zarethan. No water flowed toward the Dead sea, and the priests stood in the middle of the dry riverbed near Jericho while everyone else crossed over."
In most everyone’s faith journey, there come times when it looks as though you are backed up against a barrier that looks as menacing and unpassable as a river at flood stage. The promised land, if you can even see it at all, is on the other side of the raging river.
As followers of Christ, as a people whom have been promised a new land, a new life, we are called to step out in faith even before circumstances seem to be ready, in order that we may enter the land and experience that new life. We are called to cross the river, to enter the turbulent and muddy flood waters without any clue at all about what lies under our feet or just ahead, knowing only that on the other side are the sure promises of God.
And - unlike the Israelites - we don’t have priests to go ahead of us. Because WE ARE the priests. Yes, I’m your pastor. But I’m no more a priest than each one of you is. But each one of us has been entrusted with the sacred gifts of God - the living and written Word - in order that we may lead people into the fulfillment of God’s promises just as Joshua did so long ago.
That’s what made Jesus so mad at the religious leaders of his day, the Pharisees and the priests. Because they had been entrusted with the sacred things, the signs and symbols of God’s presence with the people, and they had betrayed their trust. Instead of using the gifts they had to serve the people, to take risks on their behalf and shepherd them into life, they used them as passports to privilege.
In Matthew 23 Jesus accuses them:
“They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi.” [Mt 23:4-7]
The priests of Joshua’s day were called to perform their duties in the full sight of all the people - but it was not to get their praise and admiration. It was to serve as a beacon to the wavering, a sign to the fearful, of the presence and promise of the living God. And so are we to be visible, holding up the Light of the World as a sign in a frightening and confusing world. Think of us as crossing guards, telling children where it is safe to cross.
The task of the people of God is to walk by faith, not by sight. And it can be a frightening proposition.... But we - like the people of Israel - have God with us. And as we step forth in the name of God, sure of his faithfulness and provision, as we lift up in our hearts and on our lips the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, if we trust in God's living presence even though the circumstances do not appear to favor us, the waters will part. They will.
And our example will give inspiration and courage to those who follow us. Hebrews 12 talks about the cloud of witnesses, the great heroes of the faith who precede us, who are written about in Scripture. They witness to us about the faithfulness of God, and we are encouraged and inspired by their example. But sometimes we don’t realize that witnesses also observe our behavior.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith...”
So many people are milling about on the wrong side of the river, not knowing the way to cross, not even knowing the richness of the promised land that lies on the other side. It is only as we stand firm and faithful in the middle of the turbulence and turmoil, lifting up Jesus Christ, that those around us can begin to believe in the reality of his Promised Land, and find in themselves the desire to enter it.
