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Have
you ever been tricked into doing something?
Have you ever been the victim of scam?
We would all like to think that we are smart enough not
to be scammed. The truth is, you and I are just as
vulnerable as the next person.
Recently the TV news show "Dateline" aired a
story on how America is being scammed. This episode
pictured people being stopped outside a bank by a fake
bank investigator. After showing phony identification
each person was told, that bank authorities suspected one
of the bank tellers of laundering counterfeit 20 dollar
bills. Each individual was then asked to withdraw 5, 20
dollar bills and give those bills to the bank
investigator upon exiting the bank. They were also told
that their individual account will be credited, by an
electronic transfer, of the $100.
Some people immediately cooperated, others, who were a
bit more skeptical, needed a little more coercing, but
not a single person refused to help. When each of these
individuals were told that they were scammed, they
couldn't believe it. They all thought they were above
being scammed.
Our scripture reading tells us about how the Israelites
are scammed by the Gibeonites.
The reason for the scam, is that the Gibeonites are
scared. They had good reason to be scared. Since crossing
over the Jordan River, into the land of Canaan, the
Israelites had destroyed the magnificently fortified
cities of Jericho and the city of Ai. The Gibenoites
figured they were next. In hopes to prevent this from
happening, they came up with a plan to trick Israel into
a treaty with them.
When they came to Joshua he asked them,
"Who are you?
And where do you come from?"
They pretended that they had traveled long and far
because they had heard about the powerful God, and they
desired to be their servants. As proof, they offered
Joshua, moldy bread, which they said was warm from the
ovens when they left home, and worn out shoes, which
suggested that they had traveled far.
Joshua, along with the leaders, partook of the provisions
and ultimately their cunning story. This resulted in the
Israelites making a treaty with them and swearing an oath
to them.
There was only problem, God had specifically instructed
Israel to make no treaties with the inhabitants of
Canaan. As vs. 14 points out,
"they
did not ask directions from the Lord."
While on the surface, you and I may say, what harm was
done? What's wrong with two nations making a peace treaty
with each other. Yet, ultimately what Israel did was
compromise their obedience to God by ignoring God's
instructions.
When was the last time you compromised your obedience to
God?
When was the last time you ignored God's instructions?
Chances are it has been sooner than you or I think.
Breaking the 10 commandments is NOT the only way we
ignore God's instructions or compromise our obedience to
God.
We would like to think that we are different than the
original Palm Sunday crowd: who shouted Hosanna and waved
palm branches; who enthusiastically welcomed Jesus, but
abandoned him by week's end; who stood silently as the
crowd shouted
"crucify
him."
We would like to think if we were there, we would have
cried out to save Jesus instead of crucify Him. We would
like to think that we would not have fallen victim to the
scam of the religious leaders to get the crowd to shout
Barrabas name instead of Jesus.
But the truth is, too often we do the same thing today.
We are called to be the salt of the earth, to make a
positive effect on the world. Yet, when we blend in with
the world, we compromise our obedience.
We are called to the light of the world, to be a
reflection of the light of Christ to the world. Yet we
hide our lights by being quiet when we should speak; by
going along with the crowd; by ignoring the needs of
others; by failing to share our faith with others.
Society continues to scam us, causing us to choose
contemporary values over Christian values. We have become
victims of the cunning schemes of advertising, merchants,
manufacturers and industry that tell us happiness comes
from wealth, possessions, pleasure and various other
temporary things.
Like the Israelites we make every day decisions by
emotions and feelings and NOT by faith. Like the
Israelites, "(We) do not ask directions from the
Lord."
I am sure the name Adrian Thomas, means nothing to you.
You probably don't even now where Meyersdale, PA is. It
is in this town that the Thomas family has run the Thomas
Drug Store for over 100 years. During that time his
family sold tobacco products in the front of the store
and health products in the rear. Tired of losing friends
to cancer and heart disease he loaded up $2,000 worth of
tobacco products into boxes. He took them out into his
parking lot and using his state license to sell tobacco
set fire to the pile of boxes.
We proclaim with our mouths the importance of doing
right, but are we willing to put our lives where are
mouths are?
We remember how the Israelites were scammed with moldy
bread, worn out shoes.
We remember the scam of the religious leaders that turned
cries of Hosanna into cries of crucify.
We remember the joyful welcoming of Christ, that turned
to rejection.
We remember the waving Palm branches, that turned into
wavering hearts and faith.
And I wonder are we any different. Have we fallen victim
to societies scam? It has been said, "People are
alike in their promises. It is only in their deeds that
they differ." How do you differ from the Israelites,
from the first Palm Sunday crowd? Does your life daily
reflect your claim, that you love the Lord your God, with
all your heart, soul, mind and strength?
AMEN
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