A Passover Festival to Remember—Lectionary (RCL) Reflection for Lent 4C (Joshua 5:9-12)

 

Joshua 5:9-12 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

⁹ The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” And so that place is called Gilgal to this day.

¹⁰ While the Israelites were camped in Gilgal, they kept the Passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. ¹¹ On the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and roasted grain. ¹² The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.

                ****************

                We continue our Lenten journey with a word from the book of Joshua about a Passover celebration. Passover provides the foundations of an important event in the Lenten journey, the Last Supper, which takes place on Maundy Thursday. As with our Jewish neighbors, the Passover/Lord’s Supper invites us to remember past events that serve as foundations for our faith traditions.

                The Book of Joshua is a problematic text. It speaks of conquest and colonization. To read from this book at a time when the modern state of Israel is at war with its Palestinian neighbors, with thousands of Palestinians in Gaze having died and many more displaced, this book becomes even more problematic. We also read from this book at a time when the President of the United States speaks of conquering Greenland, the Panama Canal, and even annexing our Canadian neighbor. Oh, and he wants to take over Gaza and make it a resort. Then there is the Russian aggression in Ukraine, which also involves invasion and conquest.

                The reading from Joshua 5 doesn’t speak directly to conquest. Instead, it speaks of the first celebration of the Passover after the Hebrew people crossed the Jordan and took possession of Canaan. The first Passover was celebrated on the eve of Israel’s departure from Egypt, with the command to observe the Passover as a perpetual ordinance (Exod. 12:17). Now that they had reached their destination, the people could begin observing the festival. The first Passover was a meal of liberation, while this new one was a meal of thanksgiving for God’s act of liberation. This new observance followed the act of circumcision of this new generation of Israelites, those who had been born during the journey to the Promised Land (Josh. 5:1-8).

                After this new generation of Israelite males had been circumcised and healed from their surgery, marking them as heirs of the promise made to Abraham, it was time to celebrate the Passover. But, before we get to the Passover celebration, we hear a word from God to Joshua. God says to Joshua “Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” No longer would the stain of slavery in Egypt hang over Israel. One might also add into this, the stain of disobedience that took place during the journey. The people who crossed the river were of a different generation from the one that fled Egypt. That is why the circumcision ceremony takes place. It serves as a point of cleansing of the people. Now they could become the great nation God had promised to Abraham’s descendants (Gen.12). The narrator tells us that from that day, this place where they camped would be known as Gilgal (Hill of the Foreskins).

                So, now the people are camped out at Gilgal. They have had the opportunity to plant crops and settle in. The long journey from Egypt to the Promised Land has reached its culmination. At least, they crossed the river and entered the Promised Land. Taking full possession of the Land was still to come. The following chapter speaks of the destruction of Jericho, with other cities and regions still to come. In other words, this is only the beginning of the process of possessing the Land. Nevertheless, it was time to stop and remember from whence they came.

The story we read in Joshua reminds us that migrations have important consequences for the people who already inhabit the land. It’s one of the reasons why anti-immigrant sentiment arises with some regularity. There is fear of being displaced. So, when Israel entered Canaan, they displaced the people already living there. When Europeans “discovered” the American supercontinent and began migrating to the Americas, they displaced the existing population. European Americans would like to forget or downplay that story, as they seek to tell their “patriotic history,” but there are people who do remember and who continue to tell the story. That is one of the reasons many White Americans back the current administration’s anti-DEI policy. It is an attempt to erase the stories of the many diverse people, including the indigenous peoples, who have inhabited this land.

                So, the people kept the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month so they could remember how they had been delivered from slavery in Egypt. On the day following they ate the produce of the Land, eating the crops they had planted on the plain of Jericho. That day they ate unleavened cakes and parched grain. To demonstrate that the journey to the Promised Land had come to an end, the manna that had sustained them on their long journey in Sinai ceased to appear. Now, they would eat the produce of the Land they inhabited.  

                I will note here that lectionary readings, at least those prescribed by the Revised Common Lectionary, are rare. There are four in all and two precede this reading. There is a good reason for this. The stories that follow are often violent and the picture conquest and colonization, images we would rather not deal with. But it is important that from time to time we take stock of these stories and ask how they may have influenced past colonial efforts. So, perhaps a passage like this can provide an opportunity to discuss the implications of migration and colonialism. What seems like good news for the Israelites ends up not being good news for the existing inhabitants. Thus, we are reminded that Scripture, though Sacred and normative for our faith journey, requires careful discernment so that we might hear a word from God from its pages.

                As we engage with this reading from Joshua, perhaps we can put ourselves in the place of immigrants seeking refuge and safety. The people of Israel, having left Egypt, were in essence homeless. They couldn’t stay in Sinai. It did not offer them the resources needed to sustain themselves. They couldn’t go back to Egypt. They could only move forward. Thus, we hear reminders in the Hebrew Scriptures that the people of Israel should remember from whence they came, such that they should treat foreigners/immigrants with the same respect. So, we hear this word from Exodus 22: “You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt” (Exod. 22:21). We also hear this word from Exodus 23: “You shall not oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt” (Exod. 23:9).

What is true of these ancient Israelites is true of so many people today, especially people who get caught between warring factions or face economic hardship. The reason so many Europeans migrated to the Americas was the same reason more recent immigrants have come from places like Central and South America as well as Asia and Africa. They too want to share in the bounty of this Land of Promise. When people arrive in the Land of Promise and begin to put down roots they will want to celebrate. So, we also must remember from whence we came, even as we remember others who have come from elsewhere.

As we come to the Lord’s Table to share in the promise of God’s bounty, we can sing:

All who hunger gather gladly; holy manna is our bread.

Come from wilderness and wand’ring. Here, in truth, we will be fed.

You that yearn for days of fullness, all around us is our food.

Taste and see the grace eternal. Taste and see that God is good.

                                —Sylvia Dunstan, 1990 (Words copyright: GIA Publications 1991