Choose This Day

Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25

Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves before God.

And Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Long ago your ancestors--Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor--lived beyond the Euphrates and served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan and made his offspring many.

"Now therefore revere the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.

Now if you are unwilling to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

Then the people answered, "Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods; for it is the LORD our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight. He protected us along all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed;

and the LORD drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God."

But Joshua said to the people, "You cannot serve the LORD, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins.

If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good."

And the people said to Joshua, "No, we will serve the LORD!"

Then Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD, to serve him." And they said, "We are witnesses."

He said, "Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel."

The people said to Joshua, "The LORD our God we will serve, and him we will obey."

So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made statutes and ordinances for them at Shechem.

Matthew 25:1-13

"Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept.

But at midnight there was a shout, 'Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the wise replied, 'No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.'

And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, 'Lord, lord, open to us.' But he replied, 'Truly I tell you, I do not know you.'

Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

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I don’t know about you, but I feel kind of bad for kids graduating from high school and trying to choose the right college these days. It seems like there are so many more choices than when I was in their shoes, back in the mid 70s.

I sat with both my daughter and my son as they looked at schools all over Michigan and across the country. We pored over those lists of the top schools for the various degree programs they thought they were interested in at the time.

We agonized over decisions about community college first, then university, and so on, and so on.

It was really, really tough trying to decide if they were making the “right” choice with so many variables and so many options.

I went to high school in Oak Park, Michigan. At the time it was rated something like third in the state for academic excellence. Their high school curriculum was rigorous and was seriously focused on college prep. The unspoken understanding there, as you became an upperclassman and began thinking about applying to colleges during your junior year, was this:

if you were smart enough to get in, you went to the University of Michigan.

And if you were rejected by them, then you went to Michigan State.

(yes, I know…)

Those were the two choices for almost all of us, and that was the basis of the choice.  Unless, of course you just preferred a party school – then you applied to MSU.

Now, I know that is not the case anymore, and I have tremendous respect for the academic programs at State as well as Michigan. But my point is, there were two choices, and you either went to one or the other.

Either/or decision. End of discussion.

Joshua is placing an either/or decision in front of the people of Israel as well.

It’s a similar choice to the one that Moses had defined to them as he reached the end of his life and the end of his journey, at the edge of the Promised Land.

In Deuteronomy, chapter 30, in some of the very last words Moses spoke to the Israelites, he gave them this choice: “…I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the LORD swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” And he turned over the reins to Joshua, and then he died.

So Joshua took the people of Israel into the Promised Land, and conquered it through many battles. And now, here in the last chapter of the book of Joshua, he is also saying his last words to these chosen people before he dies.

And like Moses, he feels compelled to place the same either/or choice in front of them: “Now therefore revere the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.  Now if you are unwilling to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

And he is not content with a simple affirmative response. When the people say, “We will serve the Lord, for he is our God. He brought us up from slavery, out of Egypt, protected us all along the way. Far be it from us to serve any other gods,”

Joshua pushes them further, harder.  He says to them, “You cannot serve the LORD, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good.” And the people said to Joshua, “No, we will serve the LORD!”

By challenging them on their choice, he makes them strengthen their commitment. And when he is sufficiently satisfied that they understand the choice they are making – “Is that your final answer?” – only then does he establish the covenant with God on their behalf, and he sets down a large stone as a witness to their covenant. And then he dies.

Choosing God over other gods, according to Moses and Joshua, is truly an either/or decision. It cannot be a both/and. Moses describes it as “either serve and obey God or not.” Joshua defines it as “serve the Lord your God, or serve other gods.” Both make it clear that you can’t do both. Joshua issues a clear warning about trying to straddle the line – God is a jealous god. If you forsake him and pursue other gods, if you turn away, unpleasant consequences will happen to you – of that you can be sure.”

Jesus made this clear as well, when he said, you cannot serve both God and mammon. You will either love one and hate the other, or hate one and love the other.

Either / or.

Choose this day who you will serve.

And we know it is not a one-day, one-time choice, don’t we? We are bombarded every hour of every day with opportunities to turn away from God and to pursue other gods. So from our waking moments, all through every day, a day at a time, we choose God – or not – again and again and again, through all the choices and decisions we make, all the priorities we place at the top of our lists.

It’s what was intended when we all used to wear those WWJD bracelets, wasn’t it? What would Jesus Do? Or more specifically, the question probably is, what would Jesus want us to do?

What choice do we make?

The Gospel lesson speaks to us about those everyday choices we make, the ones that mirror the one-time, big-time choice of God or other gods. It’s all about how we practice this choice, even when it doesn’t seem to make a difference.

There are ten bridesmaids, waiting for the bridegroom, so that they can go out to meet him with their lights blazing, and be part of the parade that traditionally brings him to the household for the wedding. But the bridegroom is late. And they all fall asleep. All of them fall asleep!And when he shows up, and they wake up, half of them still have oil for their lamps, and half of them have lamps that don’t have enough oil.  The ones with an abundance of oil choose to refuse to share. The ones with a scarcity of oil choose to leave in search of more, rather than staying to celebrate anyway.  And when they do finally get back, the bridegroom and the other bridesmaids have closed the door and locked them out.

There is no scarcity of bad choices being made here.

·      not being prepared with enough oil

·      unwilling to share the oil there is

·      shutting out those who made a mistake

·      choosing to be late to the party in the first place!

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The need for grace, for forgiveness, is obvious from all these missteps. But in the midst of this all, the learning that Jesus calls out for us is simply this –

Keep awake. And remember, they all fell asleep.

Keep awake, be ready to make good choices, because you will have to choose, over and over and over.  It seems like so many choices, but according to Moses, and Joshua, and Jesus, it is really only one choice, an either/or choice, made over and over and over – do you choose God, or do you turn away to pursue other gods?

Keep awake, because you will need to be able to rely on your faith at times of crisis, let your light shine for others and for yourself and so you had better be practicing your faith  even when it’s not needed. Practicing it for when you really do need to rely on it, and to share it.

Keep awake, and keep practicing making good choices in everything you do, trusting in God’s grace and mercy when we fall short.

In everything, the choice is before you and me and everyone – do you choose this day to serve the Lord your God, with everything you have, with everything you are, with every choice you will make, or do you turn away from God to serve other gods?