DELIVERING THE TALENT OF FAITH The task of the successful shepherd concentrates on delivering the talent of faith, vivid and practical throughout his ministry; for the generations to follow and receive from him the spirit of straightforward faith, translated in a vivid flaring worship, and a practical behavior in the Lord ... And here, Joshua, at the end of his life, is calling all the elders, heads, judges, and officers of Israel, to deliver to them his farewell commandments, that conformed with his faith, worship, and practical behavior; hence had their activity... Indeed the message of the Church is to keep the talent of faith, to deliver it along the generations, a vivid thought, a spiritual worship, and a behavior in the Lord. 1- Reminding them of what God has done to them 1- 5 2- Reminding them of God’s commandments 6 - 8 3- Reviving the spirit of hope 9 - 11 4- Warning them against spiritual relapse 12- 16 1- Reminding them of what God has done to them: “You have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all the nations because of you, for the Lord your God is He who has fought for you. See, I have divided to you by lot these nations that remain to be an inheritance for your tribes, from the Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, as far as the Great Sea westward.” (Joshua 23: 3, 4) It is wonderful, for a shepherd to forget all about himself, even at the last moments of his life. Joshua does not remind them of his honest care, his bearing of their troubles, nor his watching over them; but concentrates their eyes on God who performed miracles for their sake; fought for them, and cared for giving them the inheritance. When the shepherd’s heart flares for the salvation of his flock, and yearns to see them greater than himself, as far as eternal glory is concerned, he does not speak of himself, but of God’s salvation work, in order to make every heart aflame with the love of God, and to set forth with every soul toward the heavenliness, longing to gain its portion in the everlasting inheritance. 2- Reminding them of God’s commandments: 230 The first words of God to Joshua, as he received the spiritual leadership were: “Be strong and of good courage ... Only be strong and very courageous ... Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage” (Joshua 1: 6, 7, 9). These divine words remained echoing in Joshua’s ears, uttering them by his tongue, keeping them in his mind, and embracing them in his heart, being his divine treasure. And now, in the moments of his departure of this world, he finds nothing more valuable than to deliver the talent he received as it is, to present it with his tongue, as he did during his life; saying: “Only be strong and very courageous that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left.”(Joshua 1: 7) The essence of the tradition or the holy delivery, is to present to the future generation, the word of God with no deviation, as we received and lived it, and as the previous generation have received and vividly lived. Here, Joshua presents what he received from Moses -- the Book of the law, in order to revive in them the spirit of hope and strength: “Be very courageous”. Here, we want to confirm that the tradition we receive and deliver, are not something new beside the Bible; but it is in essence, the Holy Bible, proclaimed in the Book we received, in the life of worship that we practice, in our practical behavior, and in our dealings with others. 3- Reviving the spirit of hope: The Church tradition or the holy delivery does not stop at just delivering the Holy Book isolated from Church life, that testifies to the Bible; but it is fitting to present it as a Book inspired by the Spirit; vivid and active; proclaimed in the life of the Church, especially in its spirit filled with hope. That is what we feel in the farewell words of Joshua the son of Nun; setting in his listeners the spirit, that he experienced and practiced; saying: “For the Lord has driven out from before you great and strong nations: but as for you, no one has been able to stand against you to this day. One man of you shall chase a thousand, for the Lord your God is He who fights for you, as He has promised you. Therefore take diligent heed to yourselves that you love the Lord your God.” (Joshua 23: 9 -- 11) He is reviving in them the spirit of hope through the experience they lived, in that the Lord God has driven out from before them great 231 and strong nations ... It is good for man to remember his persistent weaknesses, in order to walk by the spirit of humility; Yet at the same time, he should not forget God’s works with him; having driven out from before him great and strong sins, that had the upper hand on him for a long time! Let us thank Him for His goodness to us, and beseech Him to consummate it. Concerning this, father Isaac the Syrian says: [No gift with no increase except that with no thanksgiving]. That is why many people do wrong when they confess their trespasses and weaknesses, without also acknowledging God’s works with them! St. Augustine confirms that it is fitting for us to confess on two angles: Thanking God for his goodness, and accusing ourselves of our weaknesses; saying: [We confess to God in our praise for Him, or in our accusation of ourselves; Both are a good confession, both in rebuking ourselves, we who are not without sin, and in praise for God, who is without sin] 1. St. Ambrose says: [Beware not to oppose His commandments, so as not to fall in what the rebellious Jews fell; to whom He said: “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; We mourned for you, and you did not weep” (Luke 7: 32) 2. Therefore, let us listen to the joyful flute of the Lord, and dance spiritually, praising Him for the abundance of His goodness; He who drove out nations from our inner hearts; and let us also listen to His mourning on our sins, and weep, so that He may have compassion on us, to drive out every remnant of them within our souls! Having presented to us an actual portrait of God’s work with us, to revive our hope, he confirmed: “But as for you, no one has been able to stand against you to this day” (Joshua 23: 9); as though he is recalling God’s promise to him at the beginning of his leadership: “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life” (Joshua 1: 5). That promise might have been to Joshua, but actually it was a promise to the whole people along the generations ... a divine promise that revives our hope in the Lord, who defends us, and would never let anyone have the authority to stand before us, unless it had been given him from above; according to the words of the Lord Christ to Pilate: “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above” (John 19: 11). What is the meaning of: “One man of you shall chase a thousand, for the Lord your God is He who fights for you, as He promised you”? If the figure 1000, as we previously said, refers to the . 1 الحب الرعوي ص 382 . 2 الحب الرعوي ص 365 232 heavenliness or the spirituals, it here refers to what is expressed by the apostle Paul as: “the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6: 12). If we, because of our weakness, compared to the possibilities of the devil, are counted as ‘one’ against ‘thousand’ yet, by the Lord on our side, we can drive that thousand away. That is the faith of the prophet Elijah, who said to his servant ’Gehazi’, when Aram sent horses and chariots and heavy forces to surround the city to captivate the prophet: “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with him” (2 Kings 6: 12). “And Elijah prayed and said: ‘Lord I pray, open his eyes that he may see’; then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elijah” (2 Kings 6: 17). I wish we do not fear the devil and all his hosts, as the Lord is fighting for us, to bring us to the perfection of his eternal glory. The devil is indeed horrible, because of his violent tricks, and the heaviness of sins by which he presses on man; yet he has no authority over us if we walk in the Lord, and carry in us His fiery Spirit; to have “the authority to trample over the scorpions, the serpents, and all the hosts of the enemy”. St. John Chrysostom speaks about the possibilities the believer has against the devil and his fearful tricks: [If the devil sees you attached to heaven and watchful, he would not dare even to stir in you], and [The pure life would close the mouth of the devil himself, and make him dumb] 1. The secret of our hope is the Lord our God, who commits us to pay Him back, love for His love: “Therefore, take diligent heed to yourselves, that you love the Lord your God” (Joshua 23: 11) 2. 4- Warning them against spiritual relapse: After talking to them of the positive aspects, namely, of God’s love, proclaimed through His persistent works for them, together with His divine commandments as their support and the secret of their hope, he started to talk to them of the negative aspect, namely, their commitment to beware against spiritual relapse, that can turn their spiritual conquest in the Lord into a horrible defeat, because of their connection to sins and transgressions, instead of connection to the Lord, the secret of their conquest; saying: “Or else, if indeed you go back and cling to the remnant of these nations-- these that remain among you -- and make marriages 1 In Philip. Hom. 4. . 2 الحب الأخوي: طبعة 1964 ، ص 84 233 with them, and go in to them and they to you, Know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations from before you. But they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land which the Lord your God has given you” (Joshua 23: 12, 13) When those nations with their violent defilements, were at their highest might, the people were feeling the need for God’s protection; and God fought for them; But as the remnants of those nations became weak forced laborers in their midst, danger began to threaten them, through making marriages with them, that could lead believers to deviate from worshipping God to paganism with all its defilement. Accordingly we say that, when sin fiercely attacks man, he resorts to God to give him authority over it; but when it humbly crawls to him, it enters through its pretense of weakness, into his heart; in which case man could be deceived, and could lose the precious possibilities of God for victory! We should fear sins that seem to us harmless and simple, as they are more capable of captivating the soul, than those that we think are big and dangerous! I wish, as we by the Lord, drive away the transgressions, would not leave remnants of them in the heart, to deceive us and draw our heart away from God, and to let us lose the secret of our life! As we accept sin, and enter with it into relationships as though marriage relationships, God Himself would deliver us to it to humiliate us; so that the lust of our heart would itself turn into the secret of our perishing; and would be to us a snare and a trap. While we think that we are gaining something, we would helplessly fall into captivity. And while we think that it offers us pleasure and enjoyment, it becomes as though scourges on our sides, or thorns in our eyes, that makes us lose our spiritual insight, and deprive us of beholding the inner divine light... It would not leave us before we perish from the good land which God has given us; namely, until we lose every goodness in our bodies, and all their energies and feelings! And in order to encourage them to strive, to hold fast to what they gained of good land, and of the destruction of defilement, he says to them: “Behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth” (Joshua 23: 14) As though he is saying to them that the days of life are short, and all of us are crossing over from this world ... That is the way of all the earth. Feeling foreign would support the soul in its strife, making it 234 aware of the ultimate end of every lust and every worldly pleasure; and leading it not to care for its worldly life, as much as for its salvation and the enjoyment of the eternal things. That is why St. John El-Dargy says: [We should not spend one day in a true worship, without considering it the last day of our whole life] 1.
Welcome