It All Comes Back Around
Aug 17: Thursday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
A friend of mine introduced me to a podcast called The Lord of Spirits, specifically their episode “A Land of Giants.”1
Today’s reading doesn’t pertain to giants specifically, but because I had just finished the episode, it still sprang to mind—
There are giants in the Bible. Many Christians have tried to explain them away, ignore them, or treat them as mere metaphors. But the Orthodox Church takes giants seriously. Join Fr. Stephen De Young and Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick as they venture into the ancient Land of Giants and discuss why the Book of Joshua is probably not what you thought it was.
Throughout the book of Joshua (most of which we skip in the daily lectionary), the Israelites go on a campaign to conquer the promised land. As father De Young and Damick explain, “giants” weren’t a specific race, but rather people that practiced human sacrifice, which God finds abhorrent.
The book of Joshua, I think, can get kind of a bad rap in the modern world. The rule for engaging a giant clan is different than the rule for engaging in combat with sort of an ordinary pagan group that’s somewhere else there in Canaan. There’s a conquest going on, but it’s not just: Okay, God has decided to give you this land; go ahead and just wipe out everybody. It’s way more complex than that.
It’s a fascinating listen, and I highly recommend it.
Reading 1
Jos 3:7-10a, 11, 13-17
The LORD said to Joshua, "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. Now command the priests carrying the ark of the covenant to come to a halt in the Jordan when you reach the edge of the waters."
So Joshua said to the children of Israel, "Come here and listen to the words of the LORD, your God. This is how you will know that there is a living God in your midst, who at your approach will dispossess the Canaanites. 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 of the LORD, the Lord of the whole earth, touch the water of the Jordan, it will cease to flow; for the water flowing down from upstream will halt in a solid bank."
The people struck their tents to cross the Jordan, with the priests carrying the ark of the covenant ahead of them. No sooner had these priestly bearers of the ark waded into the waters at the edge of the Jordan, which overflows all its banks during the entire season of the harvest, than the waters flowing from upstream halted, backing up in a solid mass for a very great distance indeed, from Adam, a city in the direction of Zarethan; while those flowing downstream toward the Salt Sea of the Arabah disappeared entirely. Thus the people crossed over opposite Jericho. While all Israel crossed over on dry ground, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD remained motionless on dry ground in the bed of the Jordan until the whole nation had completed the passage.
At this point the Israelites haven’t run into the giants yet.2
What’s happening here is a kind of reenactment of the beginning of the Exodus, when they crossed the Red Sea. But this is 40 years later. Almost no one who crossed with Moses wound up crossing the Jordan with Joshua. So God is reminding them of how they got here.
And we all need that reminder, don’t we? Maybe not as dramatic as crossing dry land that was a river moments ago, but still. We witness the miracle of transubstantiation every week,3 to remind us of Christ’s miracle—“When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim your Death, O Lord, until you come again.”4
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 114:1-2, 3-4, 5-6
R. Alleluia!
When Israel came forth from Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of alien tongue,
Judah became his sanctuary,
Israel his domain.
R. Alleluia!
The sea beheld and fled;
Jordan turned back.
The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like the lambs of the flock.
R. Alleluia!
Why is it, O sea, that you flee?
O Jordan, that you turn back?
You mountains, that you skip like rams?
You hills, like the lambs of the flock?
R. Alleluia!
This psalm celebrates the many miracles that led the Israelites from Egypt to the promised land.
Interestingly, pairs of cosmic elements (sea and rivers, mountains and hills) are sometimes mentioned in creation accounts. Personified here as warriors, the pairs flee in fear before God. These miracles are reminders of God’s power over nature itself.
Alleluia
Ps 119:135
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Let your countenance shine upon your servant
and teach me your statutes.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
This whole Psalm is about praising God for his laws and instructions to live by. Each of the eight verses within each stanza contains a different word for “instruction.” Which is a fun little bit of poetry, but also makes it really difficult to translate well into English.
Gospel
Mt 18:21–19:1
Peter approached Jesus and asked him, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?"
Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt. At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.'
Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan. When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, 'Pay back what you owe.'
Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' But he refused. Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison until he paid back the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair.
His master summoned him and said to him, '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?' Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart."
When Jesus finished these words, he left Galilee and went to the district of Judea across the Jordan.
First things last, I noticed the final verse of this passage is from a different chapter than the rest. This, I suspect, is one of those times the Lectionary is really reaching for a connection between the First Reading and the Gospel—the Israelites crossing the Jordan is a momentous event in Jewish history, whereas here, Jesus crosses the Jordan to get to the other side.
Anyway, the real point here is the parable of the Unforgiving Servant. This is one of those stories where we can see ourselves as any of the characters, isn’t it? On a good day, we’ll forgive others out of the kindness of our hearts. When we’re having a rough time, we’ll ask forgiveness from others.
But our worst day? That’s when we’re the Unforgiving Servant. We gratefully accept grace and mercy from God Himself, yet don’t pay that forward to our fellow man.
God will forgive our sins when we go to confession, more than 77 times, if necessary. Literally the least we can do is follow his example when it comes to our brothers and sisters.
It’s, like, three hours long, so buckle up. But the journey is worth it!
Although their spies saw them in Numbers, as we read last week.
At least!
The congregation’s response to The Mystery of Faith comes from 1 Cor. 11:26.