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Passion, Resurrection, Meet John... and Joshua and Archaeology...not so much...
Let's start with Joshua... I love the scenes as the Children of Israel cross over the Jordan...with the Levites holding the ark in the middle of the river, the waters piling up in a great heap way (way) upstream... The conquest stories, not so much... the Warrior God stuff can be hard to take from the luxury of our 21st century life, with all it's freedom of religion and lack of living in an occupied country... It helps to imagine what it would be like living in that lovely piece of land in the fertile crescent, land that was desired by other nations, and on the warpath--literally--between warring superpowers. Think an Ancient Middle-Eastern Alsace-Lorraine. Then I'd probably want a Warrior God to do battle on my behalf, and how. You?
If it is any consolation--and it may not be-- archaeology suggests that neither the battle of Jericho nor of Ai took place as described, when described. Radiocarbon dating indicates that Jericho was uninhabited at the time indicated in Joshua, (see this article for details). As for Ai, which means "ruin," there are many theories, including that this story is an "etiological story," ie, explaining the origins of something--like a pile of ruins (why would any community name their city "Ruin" before it ever became, well, a ruin?).
We spent the last few days in Luke reading those passages we will hear again in church this weekend, and next. The first time I read Luke's Passion as a priest in a Palm Sunday liturgy I bawled like a baby... in the pulpit... it is such a wrenching story. The resurrection narratives are just as powerful, and some of my favorites.
Did you notice, however, that we never hear the details about how the Risen Lord "appeared to Simon"? Given Peter's three denials, it was probably a wrenching meeting, if abounding in grace. Feels like Luke wanted to give Peter some privacy, to be able to keep that reconciliation his own.
And now we meet John! If Luke was a historian (and physician, and iconographer) then John is a poet, and how. It's a bit startling going from Luke to John-- but in a good way. Reminds us that each gospel was told as a story for a particular community, and was wrapped up in this collection we call The Bible much, much later in its life. It is pretty cool, however, that we hear of the Passion and Resurrection of our Lord, and what follows immediately in our reading is this good news of the Logos, the Word, that this one who died and rose for us (and broke bread and opened our eyes with us) was with God and was God and was in the beginning with God and through him all things were made. Phew.
John's telling of this story is very different--including the order in which events unfold, the absence of some stories included in all three of the synoptic gospels, and the new stories found only in John. I'll be interested in your take on this gospel as it unfolds.
David Moseley offered a great series on John a year or so ago, and I encourage you to check out the podcasts on SermonPlayer...
David's unpacking what was happening in the early church community at the time will make an enriched hearing the Passion According to John on Good Friday. There are aspects of John's Gospel that sound very anti-semitic to our ears, and knowing more about the context, well, puts all that in context...
Thank you for being on this journey, and see you in church!
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