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   One of the most pervasive features of our society is the abdication of responsibility. What was the last time you can recall someone charged with a crime who came into court, confessed his guilt, and asked for the appropriate punishment?

Even when the crime can be established beyond a shadow of a doubt, there are always extenuating circumstances, one version or another of the plea: the devil made me do it.

In Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment the redemption of Raskolnikov begins when he brings himself to confess: “It was I! It was I who killed the old pawnbroker woman and her sister Lizaveta with an axe and robbed them.”
The Old Testament assumes that we do possess moral responsibility, that life and death and the power to choose between them really do lie within our power (Deuteronomy 30:19).

Today’s first reading narrates a great convocation at Shechem, a city located near Joseph’s grave (Joshuah 24:32) and Jacob’s well (John 4:6), in the narrow pass between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. Shechem had been the scene of decisive political struggles long before Joshuah arrived, and it was also an important religious center, where the visitor can still see the foundation of an ancient temple called “Lord of the Covenant” (Judges 9:4).

It was here that Joshuah assembed the Israelite tribes and their leaders. He rehearsed Israel’s sacred history, especially the Exodus and the Conquest, and on the basis of this summary he challenged the people to decide either to serve the Lord in sincerity and faithfulness, or else to serve the tribal gods of their fathers (Joshuah 24:14-15).

With the warning ringing in their ears that the Lord is a jealous God who would not tolerate the worship of strange gods (vv. 19-20), the people affirmed their decision to serve the Lord (v. 21). The ceremony concluded with the making of a covenant, the giving of law, and the erection of a memorial stone beneath a sacred tree (vv. 25-26).

This was not the initiation of God’s covenant relationship with Israel, but rather a renewal ceremony, similar to the renewal of our baptismal vows, whenever we celebrate the baptism of a new member of our community. Joshuah delivers to Israel the prophetic message: today you must decide.

Our second lesson also narrates a convocation: “Jesus called to him the twelve, and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over the unclean spirits” (Mark 6:7). Mark gives us no account of the mission, presumably because he had no information about it. All we get is a brief summary: the twelve went out and preached repentance, cast out many demons, and anointed and healed the sick (vv. 12-13).

To fill in the gap between the sending out of the twelve and their return (v. 30) Mark tells the story of the martyrdom of John the Baptist (vv. 17-29). Here we find a classic instance of the evasion of responsibility, in this case by King Herod. Although we are told that Herod heard John gladly (v. 20), he nevertheless gives the order to have him beheaded (v. 27).

If the devil made him do it, it was the devil in the form of Herod’s vengeful wife Herodias (v. 19), who used her daughter (v. 22), to whom tradition has give the name Salome, to trick the king into making an oath (v. 23) which he was ashamed to break (v. 26).

Today’s themes of constancy and inconstancy underline the importance of resolute decision: “The Lord our God we will serve, and the Lord’s voice we will obey” (Joshuah 24:24). For if free will is an illusion and our every action is psychologically pre-determined, then life really is a waste of time and effort.

June 26, 2005

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