Joshua 3:7-17

Joshua is the successor to Moses. I have read some comparisons to Deuteronomy that show similar authorship. Other scholars date the work earlier. I need to study this one some more.

In terms of the Biblical timeline, we go from wandering in the wilderness to conquering Canaan. The name "Jesus" is indistinguishable from "Joshua" in Greek, so to some Christians, this book carries prophecy of the New Covenant. In the previous chapter, spies for Joshua are aided by a prostitute, Rahab. Some take this as foreshadowing of Jesus spending time with prostitutes and lepers.

There are connections in this passage, but I'm not sure it offers much else. The Lectionary does not spend much time on Joshua.

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13

We're given the middle of a longer speech from Paul this week. It might be helpful to read the full context that started last week and continues through at least verse 20. It's a short bit, so I'll just touch on "you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God's word...", an interesting nod to the fact that there are two ways of accepting the "word", according to Paul. You need to read or hear and understand the words themselves, but there is some other deeper way of accepting it, and that's the "real" way.

Matthew 23:1-12

You might need a dictionary for this one. A phylactery is something that carried texts, to remind them of the law. This is a very clear passage that sums up some of the lessons of the complicated parables we've been going through recently with Matthew. Basically, the Pharisees have the power, so you have to deal with that. They have the law, but they wear it like a badge, they don't live it. Don't follow their lead, look to God. What they "say" and the scriptures they cite are good, their interpretations are the problem.

The "heavy burdens" are the teachings of meal regulations, Sabbath limitations, and others that restrict the works of mercy and justice. And in the rest of the verse, they aren't only saying to do these things; they are excluding the works themselves, in other words, missing the whole point.

These same arguments continue today. You may notice a little Bob Dylan in those last two verses. Within the Christian community, we still have elites in mega-churches with private jets telling the poor what to do, but not doing much about the causes of poverty. The Bible rarely tells us exactly what parts of the Torah the Pharisees were getting wrong and we don't know enough about that time to say what economic programs could have helped them, the people Jesus was preaching to. We are having enough trouble trying to figure out those programs for our own economic troubles today. From this passage and what I see today, I think it's pretty clear that carrying around scriptures isn't the solution.