Old Testament: Joshua 11 & 12
Poetry: Psalm 50
New Testament: 1 Corinthians 5
As is frequent with God’s word, we see connections, themes, and promises fulfilled which transcend centuries, and today’s readings are an example of this. From our Old Testament reading of Joshua we see a thorough purging and annihilation of pagan people who were not followers of God in the land God wanted inhabited by his chosen people. Terms like “captured”, “struck every person”, “no survivor”, and “utterly destroyed” used more than once paint a pretty clear picture of what Joshua and the Israelites were busy doing. But, why? That is also repeated throughout, and while it could be summed up as “God said so”, it seems more beautifully stated in Joshua 11:15,
“Just as the Lord had commanded His servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did; he left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses.” New American Standard Bible (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 2020), Jos 11:15.
Over a thousand years later, our New Testament reading in 1 Corinthians written to the church in Corinth also references instructions on purging out the evil. And just like the pagan people and cultures surrounding and within the promised land in the time of Joshua, Corinth was certainly a place full of evil. A city known for immorality (not immortality as I just accidentally typed!), for all varieties of sexual sins and deviance, statues and idols of lovely false gods like Aphrodite and none other than a thousand prostitutes kept busy at the temple. One could imagine as new converts came out of this culture to Christianity, and for the existing church functioning within that society, there were some things that needed cleaned up. And then there were some things that just straight up needed called out, purged, and done away with. Finding ourselves progressed another couple thousand years from there, I think we can relate.
Tomorrow, the Jewish people and those celebrating Passover will be starting their remembrances and celebrations. I really like that the Jewish holidays have Biblical and spiritual meanings, and Passover is directly mentioned in our New Testament reading today. One instruction the Hebrews were given for the Passover was to remove the yeast/leaven from their homes on the first day. Today, there are all sorts of traditions on how to do this for Passover including varieties of special cutlery and cleaning to remove every speck of potential leaven from cookware to corners of homes and cabinets. Even the kids are apparently often helpful at finding those hard to reach remnants. As Christians according to 1 Corinthians 5, we know Jesus is our Passover lamb, which brought about a huge culture change, and one I am incredibly thankful for because I absolutely do not want to be doing anything with the blood of lambs or goats! But, while Jesus’s sacrificial life and death is a tremendous gift and blessing that reconciles us with God, scripture also tells us we can’t just be thankful for Jesus and leave whatever filth we have in our lives, homes, and churches. Leaven is often correlated to sin in scripture, and today’s reading is very clear. Leaven is not good in this case. It will creep into every corner of the loaf. It contaminates. If we tolerate evil, we will contaminate ourselves and the body of Christ if we are a member of it. If we ignore it and don’t even look for the small hidden pieces of leaven in our lives, the leaven is very efficient at growing, attracting bugs, and all the rest.
We are forgiven and cleansed through our Messiah who took the place of the Old Testament sacrifices. We also know we are human beings living in another Corinth, and it is easy to be deceived when society is screaming “that’s not leaven, that’s just fine”. May we all prayerfully consider the internal, spiritual leaven within ourselves along with any other things we might be cleaning up this spring. While smudges on windows, crumbs under the stove, and dead leaves in landscaping simply do not matter in the big picture, the spiritual stuff is a life and death matter. I love these verses in Psalm 19: 12-14 which talk about intently looking for the hidden pieces of leaven in our hearts.
But who can discern their own errors?
Forgive my hidden faults.
Keep your servant also from willful sins;
may they not rule over me.
Then I will be blameless,
innocent of great transgression.
May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
-Jennifer Hall
Questions:
1. What similarities do you see between the culture in Joshua’s day, the city of Corinth, and today?
2. Have you ever seen someone’s sin in the body of Christ negatively impact others in the church family?
3. What challenges do you and the church face in identifying sin and right/pure actions from a Biblical worldview in today’s society?
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