Daily Readings - Sat Aug 19 2017

First Reading - Joshua 24.14-29

¹⁴Now therefore, fear the Lord, and serve him with a perfect and very sincere heart. And take away the gods that your fathers served in Mesopotamia and in Egypt, and serve the Lord¹⁵But if it seems evil to you that you would serve the Lord, a choice is given to you. Choose today what pleases you, and whom you ought to serve above all else, either the gods that your fathers served in Mesopotamia, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.¹⁶And the people responded, and they said: "Far be it from us that we would forsake the Lord, and serve foreign gods¹⁷The Lord our God himself led us and our fathers away from the land of Egypt, from the house of servitude. And he accomplished immense signs in our sight, and he preserved us along the entire way by which we journeyed, and among all the people through whom we passed¹⁸And he cast out all the nations, the Amorite, the inhabitant of the land that we entered. And so, we will serve the Lord, for he is our God.¹⁹And Joshua said to the people: "You will not be able to serve the Lord. For he is a holy and powerful God, and he is jealous, and he will not ignore your wickedness and sins²⁰If you leave behind the Lord, and you serve foreign gods, he will turn himself, and he will afflict you, and he will overthrow you, after all the good that he has offered to you.²¹And the people said to Joshua, "By no means will it be as you are saying, but we will serve the Lord.²²And Joshua said to the people, "You yourselves are witnesses, that you have chosen the Lord so that you may serve him." And they answered, "We are witnesses.²³"Now therefore," he said, "take away strange gods from among yourselves, and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.²⁴And the people said to Joshua, "We will serve the Lord our God, and we will be obedient to his precepts.²⁵Therefore, on that day, Joshua struck a covenant, and he set before the people at Shechem the precepts and the judgments²⁶He also wrote all these things in the volume of the law of the Lord. And he took a very great stone, and he stationed it under the oak that was in the Sanctuary of the Lord²⁷And he said to all the people, "Lo, this stone shall be to you as a testimony, which has heard all the words of the Lord that he has spoken to you, lest perhaps, afterward, you might choose to deny it, and to lie to the Lord your God.²⁸And he dismissed the people, each one to their own possession²⁹And after these things, Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being one hundred and ten years old

Gospel - Matthew 19.13-15

Matthew

Chapter 19

¹³Then they brought to him little children, so that he would place his hands upon them and pray. But the disciples rebuked them¹⁴Yet truly, Jesus said to them: "Allow the little children to come to me, and do not choose to prohibit them. For the kingdom of heaven is among such as these.¹⁵And when he had imposed his hands upon them, he went away from there

Sermon

In today’s readings, we encounter two powerful moments of commitment and humility. In the first reading from Joshua, the Israelites stand before their leader, Joshua, and reaffirm their commitment to serve the Lord. Joshua challenges them to choose between the God of their ancestors and the gods of the surrounding cultures, warning them that serving the Lord is no trivial matter. The people, with conviction, declare their loyalty to the Lord, and Joshua seals this covenant with a stone of remembrance, a tangible symbol of their promise to follow God. In the Gospel, we find Jesus teaching a different kind of lesson about commitment. When children are brought to him, the disciples try to shoo them away, thinking them unworthy of Jesus’ attention. But Jesus rebukes the disciples, saying, “Let the children come to me… for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Here, Jesus emphasizes the qualities of humility, trust, and openness that children embody. He invites us to approach God not with the pride or self-reliance of adults but with the simplicity and dependence of a child. These readings remind us that following God requires both commitment and humility. Joshua’s call to choose the Lord is a call to fidelity and perseverance in our faith, even when the journey is difficult. Jesus’ welcome of the children, on the other hand, invites us to approach God with the same kind of trust and vulnerability that children naturally exhibit. Together, they teach us that living as disciples means making a deliberate choice to follow God while also embracing the humility and openness that allows us to receive God’s grace. As we reflect on these readings, let us ask ourselves: Where am I being called to renew my commitment to God? And how can I cultivate a childlike humility in my relationship with Him? May we, like the Israelites, choose to serve the Lord with sincerity, and may we, like the children, approach Him with trust and simplicity. In doing so, we will find the true freedom and joy of living in God’s kingdom.