The Bus Stop, Joshua 24, 11/12/23
The Bus Stop
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
Rev. Dr. Rhonda Blevins
November 12, 2023
Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel, and they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Long ago your ancestors—Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor—lived beyond the Euphrates and served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan and made his offspring many.
“Now, therefore, revere the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt and serve the Lord. Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living, but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight. He protected us along all the way that we went and among all the peoples through whom we passed, and the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.” But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.” And the people said to Joshua, “No, we will serve the Lord!” Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.” The people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and him we will obey.” So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day and made statutes and ordinances for them at Shechem.
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A man is walking in an endless rain in a gray, monotonous twilight town that is ever expanding but mostly empty. He is in hell, searching for the bus stop and the bus bound for heaven.
When he finds the bus stop, he observes it to be a bleak and desolate place with a sense of emptiness and abandonment, but it’s different than the monotonous city blocks he has been walking. As he joins the line for the bus, he witnesses a couple ending a disagreement by leaving the line. Other skirmishes break out as people jostle for position. Some portray obvious disgust at the lack of class displayed by others in line. The man notices someone cheating to get a place further up in the line. A fistfight breaks out. Indecision and reluctance hang like a cloud over the place as people seem to want to cling to their old habits and attachments. Fear of the unknown and comfort with the familiar keep some from staying in line, so they leave.
At the bus stop, there’s a pervading certainty that there will not be room for all these people on the bus. However, when the man finally boards the bus, solid and majestic, he discovers there’s plenty of space. To his surprise, the bus could have accommodated every weary soul who initially had been waiting in line.
This is the scene in a book entitled The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. This allegory— about a bus that runs from hell to heaven and that people can choose at any time to board the bus—represents Lewis’s revolutionary idea that the gates of hell are locked only from the inside. To quote the author, “If we insist on keeping Hell (or even earth) we shall not see Heaven: if we accept Heaven we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and most intimate souvenirs of Hell.”
What do you think of this allegory? That every day, a bus runs from hell to heaven, and every day, we have a choice whether or not we will board the bus bound for heaven?
I think about this C.S. Lewis allegory a lot—this metaphor about the “bus that runs from hell to heaven” and our ability to choose whether we will get on the bus. So it is no surprise that the metaphor came to me once again upon reading the words from Joshua 24:15: “Choose this day whom you will serve.” Joshua pushes the people to make a choice: “Will you get on the Lord’s bus, or will you serve other gods?”
If you were here last week, we met this new leader over Israel, Joshua. Joshua led the people in the crossing over the Jordan river, in a similar fashion to when Moses led the people to cross the Red Sea. And over the next few chapters, we read about the Israelites claiming the land by conquering the tribes established there: Jericho and Ai and other cities as well as multiple kings in Canaan. Then Joshua divides the land among the twelve tribes of Israel, and they find relative peace in the land.
All of this happens across many years, and now Joshua is an old man. He knows his time on earth is coming to an end. So he summons all the leaders of the people of Israel together at Shechem. Joshua reminds them of all that God has done for them since the time of Abraham. Joshua urges them to put away other gods and serve the Lord only.
Let me pause here and remind you that the transition from the ubiquitous polytheism to monotheism wasn’t accomplished in a day or a decade or a century or even a millennium. Even though Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments that began with “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” how do you think the Israelites were doing with that one? Not great!
So Joshua reminds the leaders of the tribes of Israel one last time before he passes on to glory:
Now, therefore, revere the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt and serve the Lord.
It sounds like that First Commandment was giving them some trouble, doesn’t it? They just couldn’t part with their little gods. Joshua continues:
Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living, but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.
“Choose this day whom you will serve,” Joshua implores. The leaders of the tribes of Israel reply (my paraphrase), “Yes, of course we will serve the Lord!” Then Joshua uses some reverse psychology on them (my paraphrase), “Nah, you can’t serve the Lord. You’re gonna forget and worship other gods and then the Lord won’t forgive you and . . .”
His reverse psychology worked perfectly! They doubled-down on their reply (my paraphrase), “Oh, yes we can, and we will!”
Joshua (my paraphrase): “Mmmmm kay. Then put away the foreign gods, fools!”
So according to the scriptures, the Israelites chose the Lord. They made their decision that day at Shechem.
Now, hold that thought while I pose a riddle to you. Ready?
· Question: There are three frogs on a log. One of the frogs makes a decision to jump in. How many frogs are left on the log?
· Answer: There are still three frogs on the log. The one frog only made a decision—he took no action!
There’s a space between deciding and doing—between choosing and acting. Choosing and making decisions is a big step, but it is only half the battle.
I can choose to get back to my high school weight of 112 pounds—but unless I take action toward that decision (like never ever eating another carb for as long as I live), then my choice is for naught.
A young student might choose to be valedictorian—but unless she gets busy studying every single day, then her choice is for naught.
An employee might choose to retire at the age of 45—but unless he gets busy earning and saving, then he’ll likely be getting up and going to work into work into his fifties and sixties.
There’s a space between deciding and doing—between choosing and acting. Choosing and making decisions is a big step, but it is only half the battle.
My friend, Rev. David Brown, is a pastor and church consultant. In fact, our “For Such a Time As This” team recently used grant funds to hire David as a consultant to help us do some work around clarifying our mission, vision and core values. You’ll have a chance to meet in in the weeks and months ahead. David likes to use the “Sailboat Exercise” to help groups make progress toward achieving their goals. The exercise goes something like this.
· You are in a sailboat in the middle of the water (perhaps with others if you’re working together on a goal).
· There’s an island in the distance. (Maybe it's “One Tree Island” or “Beer Can Island”—our local favorites!) The island is where you want to be—it represents your goal or your vision.
· Maybe there are some rocks between you and the island—the risks you’ll encounter as you work toward your vision.
· There’s an anchor, representing everything slowing you down and impeding progress.
· Then there’s the wind—everything working in your favor to help you make progress toward your goal.
You can be in the sailboat, and you can decide to go to the island. But that choice means nothing if you don’t weigh anchor, if you don’t’ hoist the sails, if you don’t take the helm. You’ve got to put feet to your choices, otherwise, you’ll be “dead in the water.”
Back to the people of Israel, choosing to serve the Lord and the Lord only. We don’t read in this pericope what happens. But here’s a spoiler alert: Joshua dies, and the people are faithful, and then they’re not, and then they’re faithful, and then they’re not, and then they’re faithful, and then they’re not . . .
Sound like anyone else you know? Maybe, the person you see in the mirror every day?
There’s a space between deciding and doing—between choosing and acting. Choosing and making decisions is a big step, but it is only half the battle.
Now I invite you to think about your own life for a moment.
What’s the “island” out there you’re aiming for? I encourage you not to think about this the same way the rest of the world might think about this . . . more money or power or beauty or toys or whatever. Nothing wrong with any of those things. But think about God’s dream for your life . . . is there some God-given aspiration that you have not yet achieved?
Maybe you don’t have a quick or easy answer to this question. If so, a simple prayer might help: “O God, my God, is there anything more you ask of me?” I invite you to say this prayer aloud after me: “O God, my God, is there anything more you ask of me?” Maybe you have your answer. Or maybe you need to sit with this prayer for a while.
Then, once you have your answer: Choose this day whom you will serve.
That’s half the battle. Then:
· Weigh anchor—eliminate (to the best of your ability) that which impedes your progress.
· Hoist your sails—leverage all the goodness and grace around you that spurs you on towards God’s dream for your life.
And if there’s someone listening to me today who thinks you’re too old or too sick or too whatever to be of any use to God—that God has no more dreams left for you—I say to that “Rubbish!” You’re still here, aren’t you? So long as you have breath, God has a dream for your life.
Every day (in the imagination of C.S. Lewis) there’s a bus that runs between hell and heaven. And when we get on the bus bound for heaven, and we make the same choice again tomorrow, and the day after that and the day after that . . . pretty soon, hell will lose its grip on us. The anchors holding us back will break away. We’ll feel the winds of God’s grace in our sails. Pretty soon, we’ll be living the dream God has for us.
So “Choose this day whom you will serve.” That’s half the battle. “Choose this day whom you will serve.” Then? Get busy serving.