These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.) – Numbers 13:16

Today’s Scripture Reading (October 29, 2018): Numbers 13

J. R. R. Tolkien, in his conclusion to the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, includes this dialogue between Frodo and Sam. “But I have been too deeply hurt, Sam. I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: someone has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them.” Salvation always requires sacrifice. It is a lesson that Frodo has to learn the hard way. He wanted to save the Shire, and there is no doubt from the very beginning of the tale that Frodo intended to save the Shire for himself. But that was impossible. Someone has to lose so that the others can win.

The comment is part of the Christian message that fills the Tolkien’s Trilogy, specifically that Jesus had to lose so that we can win. There is no way that we could do this for ourselves. We do not have the power to save ourselves. We deeply depend on a Savior who will come to save us. Salvation always requires sacrifice, and the message of Christianity is that Jesus sacrificed himself so that we would not have to pay the penalty of our sin.

Moses changed Hoshea’s name. And there was probably a good reason for the change. Hosea means “Salvation.” But Joshua, literally Ya-Hoshea, means that “Yahweh is Salvation.” It probably didn’t happen, but in my imagination can see the first meeting between Moses and Hoshea. Hoshea would walk up to the great leader of Israel, bow in respect, and say something like “Hi, I am Salvation.” In my imagination, Moses has a twinkle in his eye as he responds to this future leader. “No, none of us are Salvation. Ya-Hoshea - Only Yahweh is Salvation; only God can save.”

Frodo – and Tolkien – are right. To save something means that someone has to give them up and lose them. Someone loses something so that others can keep them. As we minister a God who is Salvation to the world who desperately needs to know him, it might be that this sense of loss is important. I am not convinced that Jesus wanted to die on a cross. It was a sacrifice. I am convinced that he knew his death was important to save the world. He died so that we could win. But in a sense, he also won with us, defeating the powers of evil forever. There are very likely some things, like traditions, biases, and music, that we might have to give up so that the world God loves can be saved. The reason why we don’t is often that we believe that we should not be made to sacrifice so much. And yet, this is not about us, the Christians. This is about a world that stands in need of God. How much is too much for me to ask you to sacrifice so that they might be saved; and so that all of us can ultimately win

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Numbers 14