Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
We are surrounded by choices. We can go into the supermarket and buy cans of crushed pineapple—or tidbits, chunks, or slices, in heavy syrup or its own juices, and in at least two different brands. Plus we can go to the produce department and buy a whole pineapple or a fresh pineapple already sliced. We like having lots of choices. I also prefer restaurants that offer lots of options.
But invariably, when I go to my favorite restaurants, I always order the same thing. At Mexican restaurants, I look over the menu and I consider enchiladas and chimichangas and taco salads—and then I order a chicken burrito with no beans. (No beans in the burrito, no beans on my plate, no beans anywhere near my food.) I like choices, so why do I always choose the same thing? Or if I’m going to choose the same thing, why do I even care about choices?
I guess it’s because having choices gives me a sense of control. I get a say-so. I am not at the mercy of someone who doesn’t know—or doesn’t care—that I hate beans. I like choices.
Most of the choices we make every day are pretty easy. After consulting the weather, my wardrobe choices for the day are typically made by considering what’s clean, doesn’t need to be ironed, and I haven’t worn in the past week. Most of the time our everyday choices seem pretty simple.
In our scripture lesson for today, the choice Joshua gives to the Israelites is not an everyday choice, but it does seem like an easy one. Choose this day whom you will serve. Let’s see. God brought them and their ancestors out of slavery, protected them from pharaoh’s army, fed them in the wilderness, made a covenant with them to be their God, was faithful in spite of their whining and idolatry, and helped them conquer the people who already lived in the land they called promised. Hmmm…should we choose to serve this God or go looking for another one? As far as I can tell, that’s a “Duh! question.”
The Israelites seem to think so, too. They respond, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods.”
Easy, right? But Joshua says it isn’t. He warns the people of what could happen if they are not faithful. The people respond, “No, we will serve the Lord!” Again Joshua pushes. “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord.” In other words, you are all witnesses to what one another has proclaimed. So there’s no going back on your word. Be sure, now. And the people agree. “We are witnesses.”
Reading this, I wondered if we make wedding vows too easy. Usually I say something like, “Do you take this woman or this man to be your lawfully wedded wife/husband,” and the person responds “I do.” And I take them at their word. Maybe instead I should say, “Think about this, now. Your spouse is not always going to look this good. You will have to put up with his Patriots obsession and his crazy screaming friends. And you will have to hold her hair while she vomits during her first trimester. Are you sure you want to take this woman or this man?” And they will say, “No, really, I mean it. I do!”
And then maybe I should say, “The day will come when your needs are not being met. The children will come first or work will come first and you will come last. You will feel unwanted, undesirable and good only for what you can do, not who you are. Then somebody will come along who finds you attractive and strokes your ego and who makes you feel more alive than you remember ever feeling. But if you give in to temptation, you will pay a heavy price because the vows you take this moment assure that you will suffer guilt and self-recrimination. You can prevent that now by walking away. Do you still want to say ‘I do?’”
And they would say “yes” because they are crazy in love and can’t imagine such a scenario for themselves!
I’m not making a statement about marriage here, or about divorce. Most people do not get divorced on a whim; it is a carefully considered decision. So if you are divorced, please don’t hear any judgment. I’m talking about the fact that we make promises—to others, to ourselves, and to God—when we don’t really know what we’re getting into.
At this point in their story the Israelites don’t truly understand what it means to serve God. Oh, sure, they had already made a covenant with Yahweh—several in fact, the most prominent being the Sinai Covenant, when the Ten Commandments were given. Bu they still don’t know what it will be like to serve God in real life. They only know the wilderness, when they were desperate for food and water and Yahweh provided manna and water from a rock.
Now life is about to change as they settle into the Promised Land. The Promised Land is “filled with seduction and danger for Israel. Because it is a land of extravagant abundance, it may seduce Israel into amnesia about its true character and mandate as the people of YHWH. Israel may be tempted to embrace the alternative gods that occupy the good land. The text revolves around the ironic awareness that the good land is a seductive land in which crucial choices must be made. . . . What this God requires is a life-commitment that will impinge upon every dimension of public life . . . social, political, and economic. . . . With YHWH it is ‘all or nothing.’”
This makes that seemingly simple invitation a bit more difficult, now doesn’t it? “Choose this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” It’s not just a cross-stitch pattern or an appropriate saying for a sofa pillow. Your answer will form a life-altering covenant. It will affect how you live your life. It will affect how you spend your money. It will affect how you view other people. It will affect how you view yourself, in all your successes and your failures. It will affect who you vote for, where you shop, and what companies you invest in. Those simple words — “We will serve the Lord” — affect every area of your life.
The other gods of this world offer some pretty powerful temptations. In Joshua’s time, the other gods of the region were primarily agricultural gods. That may not sound like much to us now, but back then, food was everything. The gods promised bountiful food for those who worshipped them—much more than was needed, which meant not only food, but wealth and independence. There were no requirements that you share with others. The agricultural gods allowed you to focus on your own wants, not worry about anyone else’s needs.
Does that temptation sound familiar? Sound like any other gods you know? When we allow our addiction to consumption to enslave others in poverty, we have made possessions our god. When we allow our need to get ahead to determine whether we help other people, we have made success our god. And when we allow our demand for independence to override our interdependence, we have made self-reliance our god.
Joshua is right in asking the people if they are sure. He knows the alternatives. He knows what the other gods offer. But he also knows—and so do we—that the false gods are just that . . . false. They will not satisfy our souls. They will not better our minds. They will not bring life to our living or meaning to our life.
Choose this day, Joshua says. Yes, you’ve chosen before. Choose again.
I spoke earlier about marriage and divorce. There are some cultures in which marriages are not intended or expected to be forever. A few years ago lawmakers in Mexico City considered granting temporary marriage licenses that would simply expire in two years unless the couple chose to continue them. They did not pass such a law, but it certainly raises some questions. Jackie and I joke that when we got married, we didn’t promise forever. Forever is a lot of pressure. Instead we promised 50 years. So when I am 95 and Jackie is 93, we can reevaluate!
What would happen if, every year, we had to reevaluate our commitments? How would our relationships be different if, on every anniversary, we had to say “I do” again. Or not.
How would our country be different if, on every 4th of July, we had to declare, again, as a nation, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men [all humans] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
And what if, every Sunday, we were asked to affirm our baptismal vows, or to choose again to be confirmed, with the question: “Do you promise, by the grace of God, to be Christ’s disciple, to follow in the ways of Jesus, to resist oppression and evil, to show love and justice, and to witness to the work and word of Jesus Christ as best you are able?” Every week, would you answer, “I do, with the help of God?” Or would there be weeks when you looked at your calendar and said, “Oh, I’m sorry, can’t do it this week! How about nextweek?”
How would it change us if we had to choose every day, if we had to name our allegiance every day?
Choose you this day whom you will serve. Not this lifetime. Not this year. This day. Choose. Choose again. Every day. Choose. And then live accordingly.
Every day we are faced with choices. I hope my answer will be: “I will, with the help of God.”