Remembering: a good old fashioned shoulder carry... (CJ4)

     Joshua 4 always kind of makes me laugh.  Seriously, think about what is happening.  The nation of Israel just walked across the Jordan River on dry land - the nation, not just a few families, the NATION.  Those twelve tribes - plus cattle and belongings - made their way across the Jordan River, all the while there stood the designated priests holding the Ark of the Covenant to keep the waters in their place.   I can't help but chuckle as I think about these dignified, educated men just holding the Ark through the hours this endeavor encompassed. The scene I picture in my mind is as comical as it awe-inspiring.  
    Yet, the funniest thing is that God doesn't put them out of their misery quickly.  He has one last instruction for Joshua before the Ark is allowed to move. ¹ When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, ² "Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, ³ and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan from right where the priests stood and to carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight."
     So, Joshua follows the instructions given.  These stones aren't small either, Joshua tells each man to "take up a stone on his shoulder".  These weren't pebbles.  These were rocks that had some serious girth to them, otherwise they wouldn't be deemed worthy for the shoulder carry (the carry every man who has ever had to carry shingles up to a roof knows all too well).
     All the while the priests stood and held their positions.  I felt sorry for them when I first thought about their predicament.  Their arms were heavy laden for the Ark was no small box. And their hearts were humbled for the Ark was the tangible evidence to a finite people of the infinite God's presence. But as I started to dwell in their perspective I saw something I might not have seen before.  Joshua 3:15-16 says "as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, ¹⁶the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away..."
     These priests were not only agents whom God used in this moment, but they were also witnesses to the goodness of God. With each step each tribe took the priests saw the faces of wonder as each person walked by the Ark.  As each person passed by (from an instructed distance of reverence) and looked at the Ark, in the backdrop, they saw this great heap of water just waiting to be unleashed. The dumbfounded stares must have been priceless.  Maybe these expressions acted as a soothing balm to the aching arms of these faithful men.
     Anyway, after witnessing all this, these priests watch these men carry these stones of remembrance right from the spot where they stood so long with the Ark.  To carry these rocks from this place carried a significance few could deny.  But what made this moment so beautiful is that God deemed this the best remembrance.  
     You see, in this instant society to which we have grown accustomed, we today don't take the time to do the hard work of remembering.  We don't, well, I don't do the things that would be good to do to help me remember the moments where God's handiwork was undeniable in my life.  And when I don't, I forget.  More often than not I need to "shoulder carry" something (in a literal or symbolic way) that would bring a bit of recognition to this distracted mind.
     Joshua knew how important the memorial constructed from these stones would be. "²¹ He said to the Israelites, "In the future when your descendants ask their fathers, 'What do these stones mean?' ²² tell them, 'Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.' 23For the LORD your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The LORD your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. ²⁴ He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God."
     Yet, here is the thing I saw.  This moment may not have necessarily been orchestrated in this way just for people of Israel.  I think it was done so for the priests.  The role of these men of the cloth was to stir the mind of the people to remember God in the daily doldrums of their lives.  Yet, they were NOT to remind the people that God wanted to be part of their daily routines.  Actually, they were to remind their people that their lives were to fit into the story Yahweh was and is writing. In some ways I feel this moment was just as much for the priests of God as it was for the people of God.  The stones were taken from where their feet stood, not from a far where the people tread.
     I am not purporting that their should be a greater divide between the clergy and the congregation in this day and age.  On the contrary, I feel their should be a greater understanding that according to 1 Peter 2:9 we are part of a royal priesthood.  We live in an age that saints of old longed to see.  We, the children of God (defined by John 1:12), are in-dwelt by the Spirit of God.  There is no distance between the presence of God and us, the redeemed people of God.  His Spirit lives in us thus we know the intimacy of Immanuel - God with us!

     All this is to say, don't forget that we are called to stir remembrance in one another.  We are priests and we stand so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God. This is the end that is good for all, and brings glory to the Lord of all.  So, in those moments you are certain you "won't ever forget", ensure that reality by not being afraid to do something to stir your remembrance.  The work of remembering sometimes is nothing more than a good old fashioned shoulder carry...