God's Initiative and Our Accomplishments

Homily for Friday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time

We have jumped from chapter three of the Book of Joshua to the last and twenty-fourth chapter of that book. Today we hear the beginning of is Joshua’s farewell discourse. In that discourse, he stands before the people of Israel and recounts the history of their ancestors, beginning with Terah, the father of Abram. The discourse will continue tomorrow. However, today this reading reminds us of one of the fundamental truths of all who call themselves God’s children; namely, everything that we accomplish in this life is God’s doing.

Coming from Joshua’s mouth, that truth is perhaps more powerfully uttered than from anyone else who has previously spoken in the Hebrew Scriptures. Joshua was their military leader who had led their many battle campaigns. One of those campaigns has been immortalized in song; namely, the collapse of the walls of Jericho. Joshua was a great military leader. However, he knows better than most that it was God’s power acting through him that crushed his opponents in battle.

Modern readers of the Hebrew Scriptures usually express a distaste for all of the warfare that seems to be so prominent in the history books. War is ugly. The wars of the Hebrew Scriptures are no exception. What is important for us to remember is that the sacred writers of these books were making the point that the Israelites were given a land which they had not tilled and cities which they had not built. Israel’s sacred history is an account of God’s initiative and continued kindness, always exceeding what the people deserved.

It is natural for us to feel pride in our accomplishments. Parents glow with pride when their children graduate with honors. We find satisfaction in a job well done. We enjoy the accolades that others give us when we succeed. None of that is bad or wrong. However, it is important to remember that the only reason that we have been able to accomplish anything at all has to be attributed to the gifts with which God has endowed us. “It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere. to give you thanks, God, most holy.”

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator