Joshua 5:13-6:5, 20

“Would you march around the city?”

            The man who had led us through the wilderness for the last 40 years was dead. Moses had brought us to the threshold of the Promised Land. That threshold was the Jordan River. But God had permitted our leader, Moses, to go no further; Moses was not permitted to enter the Promised Land – though God did allow him to view the Promised Land from the top of Mount Nebo before he buried him there. The question for us back at camp was, “Now what?” Right? Who’s going to lead us now? Who’s going to lead us into the Promised Land? Are we even going to enter the Promised Land? And what about this river in front of us – at flood stage nonetheless. How are we ever going to cross that?

You can’t blame us for asking those questions. Thankfully God had the answers to those questions. Joshua, son of Nun, would take the baton from Moses. He would lead us, God’s people, into the Promised Land. And those waters of the Jordan? In true Red Sea fashion, God parted those flood stage waters that were in front of us so that the entire nation could cross over on dry ground . . . only to see another obstacle . . . the city of Jericho – an impressive, impenetrable fortress on the top of hill, with its hatches battened down and its fighting men at the ready. Now what, right? How are we – a group of nomadic shepherds, untrained for battle, unequipped for battle – going to storm that hill and take that city? God had the answer to that question as well. He had a battle plan, a simple battle plan. March around the city.

Yep, that was it. That was the plan. March around the city. Oh, there would be some priests and some trumpets, there would be the Ark of the Covenant, there would be some eerie silence and, on the seventh day, we would do it seven times – followed by more trumpets and them some wild shouting – but that was it. That was the plan. March around the city. Seems pretty silly doesn’t it. Think about it. Would you? Would you march around the city? Would you say, “Make sense to me. Of course. Perfect plan. Why wouldn’t we march around the city?” Well, something so silly had a purpose. This morning God wants us all to see and appreciate that purpose.

When the Lord first put that baton of leadership into Joshua’s hand, he told him to be strong and courageous. He told him, “Do not be terrified. Do not be discouraged.” The Lord told Joshua that he would be with him wherever he went. Those words had to be running through Joshua’s mind as he looked up at the city of Jericho, perfectly situated, strategically situated on the top of hill. Strong? Courageous? Terrified? Discouraged? I remember what I saw. The base of the hill on which the city sat was a 12 foot high retaining wall. On top of that retaining wall was another wall – a wall made of brick and mud. That wall had to be 6 feet wide at the base and at least 20 feet tall. Behind that wall was the slope of the hill that went up, that rose, to the base of another wall – again 20 (25?) feet high.

From the bottom of the hill to the top of the highest wall . . . it had to be over 50 feet. And even if we could get over the retaining wall and that first wall, we were sitting ducks on the grassy hill that rose between those two walls – sitting ducks for their trained fighting men and whatever bag of tricks they had for people who tried to storm their city. Strong? Courageous? Terrified? Discouraged? Oh, that’s right – the plan? March . . . around . . . the city? Seriously? Am I anything like you? When God has a plan, when God calls us to do something – even when that “something” isn’t silly or ridiculous – when God simply calls us to trust him – are you anything like me? Laugh it off a little? Uh, no thanks, God; I have my own plan. No thanks, God, I’ve got a better plan. No thanks, God, I’ve got this one; I’ve got this under control. I certainly had my doubts that God knew what he was doing – do you ever have doubts that God knows what he’s doing in your life? If you don’t doubt, do you question? “Now what?” Have you ever just stood your ground – refused to follow the plan; “I ain’t doin’ that, God”? Have you even turned to run the other way? Deserted? Strong? No. Courageous? No. Terrrified? Yes. Discouraged? Yes.

God had a purpose. This silly plan had a purpose. Marching around the city had a purpose. That purpose was for our sake. That purpose was for the sake of those living inside those walls – and everyone else living in our Promised Land. That purpose was even for God’s own sake. What did we need to know? What did we need to be assured of? Moses was gone. Joshua was in charge. The Promised Land was in front of us but it was inhabited by people who were bigger, faster and stronger than we. What did we need to know? As God was with Moses he was with Joshua. As God was with us in the wilderness he would be with us in the Promised Land. This land was his gift to us. The miraculous manner in which he gave that city to us makes that perfectly clear. The seventh day, the seventh trip around the city, the seven priests blasting their seven trumpets, the shouts of the people . . . and the walls came tumbling down . . . we could all go straight up and straight into the city. God’s gift to us. We knew that God was among us and that he had given us this victory. And the people in and around the city of Jericho and throughout the Promised Land knew that the Almighty God was with us.

Reminds me of another silly plan that served a purpose – God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. Weak and foolish things like a stable, a manger, human flesh, Bethlehem of Ephratha though it was small among the clans of Judah, a carpenter’s son, a man rejected in his home town, a man hated by the religious leaders of his day, a Roman governor without a backbone, Roman soldiers with whips and a barbaric mentality, an ancient method of torture and punishment – crucifixion, hey, even death itself. All God’s plan, his plan of salvation. Weak. Foolish. Silly. He had asked his eternal Son to humble himself, set aside his glory, take on human flesh, suffer many things at the hands of sinful men and die.

God the Father asked his Son not to walk around the city of Jericho for a week but he did give him a battle plan. That battle plan was to storm another hill, a hill outside Jerusalem, a hill called Golgotha. God called him not to walk around that hill but rather through it – and, in the middle of that hill, at it’s summit, was not simply a cross, but hell itself. There, on the blood-stained battlefield of the cross, Jesus laid down his life for the sins of the world. There, on the blood-stained battlefield of the cross, Jesus brought down not the walls of Jericho but the walls of sin that separated us from God. Isaiah reminds us that our iniquities separated us from God and that our sins hid his face from us. But Paul tells us in Ephesians that in Christ Jesus we who were once far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

See the victory. Yes, that battle cost Jesus his life but it bought us eternal life . . . because even death Jesus swallowed up in victory. The walls of death’s tomb could not contain him. His victory over death brought those walls tumbling down for you and me. A silly plan – more silly than marching around the city. A weak and foolish plan. But it is a plan that has a purpose. Yes, that purpose was to save us from sin – which Christ did so completely and so fully. But it is also a plan that makes it perfectly clear that the victory over sin and death is God’s gift to us. We played no role. It did not depend on our effort or our strength or our wisdom – it did not rest on us one tiny bit – but on God and on God alone. To him be the glory!

Would you march around the city? What’s your Jericho? How is God asking you to place your trust in him? What cross is he asking you to bear? What trial is he calling you to endure? Is the city you are to march around filled with hurt or pain or tragedy? Are the walls built out of the blocks of fear and the mortar of doubt? Is he asking anything more of you than to simply place your trust in him? – To trust that he has both a plan and a purpose? Is he not simply giving you opportunity after opportunity to call upon in him in prayer, to lean on him for strength, to be carried by him when you are weak, to be assured of his love and care, to be strengthened by his Word and Sacrament, to step out and not back, to answer and not to question? Trust in God is never misplaced. I saw that at the Jordan River. I saw that in Joshua. I saw that when those walls came tumbling down. You have seen that in Jesus Christ. You have seen that on Calvary’s hill. You have seen that in the empty tomb. Trust in God is never misplaced. Dear Christian, march around whatever city God calls you to – and do so with confidence. Amen.