Week 17
Joshua 13-24 and Romans 1-9
In the first part of this week’s reading we see the individual tribes of Israel receive their allocated inheritance of land. The previous inhabitants have been driven out and the Israelites seem to be just on the verge of their happily ever after.
It worries me a bit that things seem to be calming down. Last time I checked, this is no Disney movie, and we aren’t getting ready to cue the happy music and roll the credits so I’m anxiously holding my breath to see what comes next for the Israelites following Joshua’s death.
I do find it fascinating the amount of time we spent reading about Moses. Moses was constantly having to talk to God and ask for forgiveness on behalf of his hard headed people but Joshua doesn’t seem to have this problem. He’s just stepping into Moses shoes and bringing the people into the Promised Land, assigning everyone their places, and they are cooperating- seems a little fishy to me.
But none the less- let’s jump to Romans and see what Stortz has in store for us back in the New Testament.
Can I first of all remind you- I studied to be an accountant, not a theologian so it is 100% possible that I miss the mark on this stuff. What I think is happening here is that Paul is writing a letter to the Romans. We start of by getting a 10,000 ft view introduction to Paul- which of course we don’t need because we’ve been paying attention as we’re reading the Bible cover to cover over the past 16+ weeks 😉 Basically Paul wants to visit Rome but remember Paul has had a rough go- he was stoned, beaten, jailed, and yet he isn’t stopping and even WANTS to keep going. It’s like he’s saying “bring it!”
I appreciate the way this passage is written- it feels personal, like he is just writing a letter to a friend, giving an account of this major, literal life-altering “story” He’s saying the Jews are under the Mosaic Law, the Gentiles are technically not- but really at the end of the day that part doesn’t really matter- what matters is that we believe and follow God with our whole hearts. We aren’t to judge because we each have our own sinful vices to deal with and overcome but at the end of the day we are mere humans and really can’t overcome these vices without the forgiveness and love of our Heavenly Father. Circumcised or not, Jew or Gentile, doesn’t matter- what matters is our faith and obedience.
Now that’s a message I can get behind- doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from, or what you’ve done, let’s focus on where you’re going and who you’re following to get there because our own works aren’t going to “work!”
What about y’all? What were your take always here? Did I completely miss the mark and you are reading this in a different light? I would love to hear your thoughts!