A Call to Faith

 Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18, the First Reading appointed for the 13th Sunday after Pentecost in the Year of Mark, is a piece of Joshua's final discourse.  Immediately after this speech, the death of Joshua is recorded, and the history of Israel turns to the era of the judges.  In this portion of the speech, Joshua exhorts the people to remain faithful to God, indeed to serve God faithfully and completely all their days.  It will be the preacher's task to issue this exhortation.

(The following questions are not meant to be exhaustive, but are designed to answer questions regarding the function of the Word in the text.  This is a fundamental concern of Law and Gospel preachers.  For more on this method or on Law and Gospel preaching in general, see my brief guide, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted, available from wipfandstock.com and amazon.)

1.  How does the Word function in the text?  As stated above, the Word functions here as an exhortation, but an exhortation to what? To faith.  To worshipping the true God.  This is a call to faith, complete with a brief review of God's mighty acts (Gospel).

2.  How is the Word not functioning in the text?  This portion of Joshua's speech does not contain a word of Law, a word which lifts up the people's need for God's saving power.  That comes in verses not included here.  The people proclaim their faithfulness to God, and this text ends there.

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  We are those being addressed.  Whom shall we serve?  The God of mighty acts, our Deliverer from slavery (to sin), or the false gods that proclaim much and do little?

4.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?   The call to obedience is not the same as the call to faith.  A call to obedience is the Word functioning to exhort us to live in a certain way in response to God's saving works.  A good example of a call to obedience is the Second Reading appointed for this Sunday:  Ephesians 6:10-20.

5.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  The couplets are clear:  non-faith/faith; false gods/True God.

6.  Exegetical work:  The setting for this discourse is noteworthy.  Joshua summons the leaders, whether they be sacred or secular.  Those leaders present themselves before God.  The implication is that they stand at the ready to serve God.  Then Joshua addresses the people, not the leaders, as though he wants the leaders to overhear his words, and see the people's response.  We have no report of the leaders speaking; it is the people who are addressed and the people who respond.  Later in the story, Joshua makes a covenant with the people, again exhorting them to do all that they say they will do.  He seems to lay a choice before them, but is it really?  The Reformers are quick to point out that it is not a choice in the common sense of the word.  An example is John Calvin's analysis:  "For the real object of Joshua was, as we shall see, to renew and confirm the covenant that has already been made with God. Not without cause, therefore, does he give them freedom of choice, that they may not afterward pretend to have been under compulsion, when they bound themselves by their own consent." (Reformation Commentary on Scripture, OT, vol. IV, p. 195).  

7.  Consider the insights of the pioneers of the New Homiletic?  David Buttrick was the one who always reminded us of the capacity of the listener to attend to a sermon.  He advised to be aware how many moves are made in the plot of the sermon. Too many and we lose our listeners.

Blessings on your proclamation!