📖 Kozi ya Kina ya Yoshua — Sehemu ya 3: Kuvuka Yordani / Mawe ya Ukumbusho📖 Joshua Intensive — Unit 3: Crossing the Jordan / Memorial Stones

MwongozoOrientation

Yoshua sura ya tatu na ya nne zinakwenda pamoja. Sura ya tatu inatuambia jinsi Israeli walivyovuka Yordani. Sura ya nne inatuambia walichofanya ili kukumbuka kuvuka huko. Sura hizi mbili ni tendo moja katika maonyesho mawili — tendo la kuvuka, na tendo la kuweka ukumbusho. Kuvuka kulitokea mara moja. Ukumbusho ulikusudiwa kudumu kwa vizazi. Kuvuka kulikuwa muujiza katika wakati. Ukumbusho ulikuwa mahubiri katika jiwe, yaliyokusudiwa kuwahubiria watoto ambao walikuwa bado hawajazaliwa.Joshua chapters three and four belong together. Chapter three tells us how Israel crossed the Jordan. Chapter four tells us what they did to remember the crossing. The two chapters are a single act in two scenes — the act of crossing, and the act of memorializing. The crossing happened once. The memorial was meant to last for generations. The crossing was a miracle in time. The memorial was a sermon in stone, designed to preach to children not yet born.

Mto Yordani wakati wa mafuriko ungeweza kuwa na upana wa maili moja na kina cha futi mia na hamsini. Watu milioni mbili na nusu, pamoja na wanawake na watoto na mifugo na mahema na hema la kukutania, walikuwa karibu kuuvuka wakitembea mahali pakavu. Wamisri walikuwa wameiona Bahari ya Shamu ikifunguka kizazi kimoja kabla. Wakanaani walikuwa karibu kuiona Yordani ikifunguka katika ua wao wenyewe wa nyuma. Unawezaje kupigana na Mungu anayeweza kuusimamisha mto? Wafalme wa Kanaani waliposikia kilichotokea, maandiko yanatuambia mioyo yao iliyeyuka (5:1). Ushindi wa Kanaani ulipatikana, kwa maana halisi, siku ile Yordani iliposimama.The Jordan River at flood stage could be a mile wide and a hundred and fifty feet deep. Two and a half million people, with women and children and livestock and tents and tabernacle, were about to walk across it on dry ground. The Egyptians had seen the Red Sea opened a generation earlier. The Canaanites were about to see the Jordan opened in their own back yard. How do you fight against a God who can stop a river? When the kings of Canaan heard what had happened, the text tells us their hearts melted (5:1). The conquest of Canaan was won, in a real sense, the day the Jordan stood up.

I. Siku Tatu Ukingoni (Yoshua 3:1–6)I. Three Days at the Bank (Joshua 3:1–6)

Yoshua anahamisha kambi kutoka Shitimu hadi ukingoni kabisa mwa Yordani na kungoja pale siku tatu. Maandiko hayatoi sababu ya kuchelewa huko, lakini mfumo wake unashangaza. Israeli wanaambiwa wautazame mto. Wawatazame makuhani. Walitazame sanduku. Wangoje. Wakeshe wakitazama. Jitakaseni; kwa maana kesho BWANA atafanya mambo ya ajabu kati yenu (3:5). Wakati mwingine Mungu huwaleta watu wake mpaka ukingoni kabisa mwa lisilowezekana na kuwaambia wasimame na kutazama. Kungoja si kupoteza wakati. Kungoja ni sehemu ya maandalizi. Ni katika zile siku tatu ukingoni mwa mto ndipo imani inapokomaa na kuwa utii.Joshua moves the camp from Acacia Grove to the very edge of the Jordan and waits there three days. The text gives no reason for the delay, but the pattern is striking. Israel is told to look at the river. Look at the priests. Look at the ark. Wait. Watch. Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you (3:5). Sometimes God brings His people right to the edge of impossibility and asks them to stand and look. The waiting is not wasted time. The waiting is part of the preparation. It is in the three days at the riverbank that faith hardens into obedience.

Agizo la kwanza la Yoshua linashangaza. Makuhani, wakilichukua sanduku la agano, wanapaswa kutangulia mbele ya watu. "Hapo mtakapoliona sanduku la agano la BWANA, Mungu wenu, na makuhani Walawi wakilichukua, ndipo mtakapoondoka mahali penu, na kulifuata" (3:3). Mpangilio wa msafara ni wa kitheolojia. Sanduku — kiti cha enzi kinachoonekana cha Mungu asiyeonekana — linaongoza. Makuhani wanalibeba. Watu wanafuata. Huu si mpangilio wa kijeshi. Huu ni msafara wa ibada. Israeli hawaivamii Kanaani. Israeli wanaingia Kanaani wakitembea nyuma ya uwepo wa Mungu.Joshua's first instruction is striking. The priests, carrying the ark of the covenant, are to go ahead of the people. "When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it" (3:3). The order of march is theological. The ark — the visible throne of the unseen God — leads. The priests bear it. The people follow. This is not a military formation. This is a worship procession. Israel does not invade Canaan. Israel walks into Canaan behind the presence of God.

II. Miguu Kwanza, Kisha Muujiza (Yoshua 3:7–17)II. Feet First, Then the Miracle (Joshua 3:7–17)

Angalia kwa makini mfuatano katika Yoshua 3:13. "Kisha itakuwa, nyayo za miguu ya makuhani walichukuao sanduku la BWANA, Bwana wa dunia yote, zitakapotua katika maji ya Yordani, ndipo maji ya Yordani yatatindika." Muujiza hautokei kabla makuhani hawajaingia majini. Muujiza unatokea wakati makuhani wanapoingia. Muda wote makuhani wakiwa bado ukingoni, mto bado unafurika. Maji hayagawanyiki mpaka miguu ya wanadamu imelowa.Notice carefully the sequence in Joshua 3:13. "And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off." The miracle does not happen before the priests step in. The miracle happens when the priests step in. As long as the priests are still on the bank, the river is still flooding. The water does not part until human feet are wet.

Huu ndio mdundo wa imani ya kibiblia. Imani si kusimama ukingoni ukingoja muujiza. Imani ni kuingia majini na kuamini kwamba muujiza utaikuta miguu yako. Petro alitembea juu ya maji baada tu ya kutoka mashuani. Wale wenye ukoma waliponywa baada tu ya kuanza kutembea kwenda kwa kuhani. Mafuta ya yule mjane yaliongezeka baada tu ya kuanza kumimina. Yordani ilifunguka baada tu ya nyayo za makuhani kulowa.This is the rhythm of biblical faith. Faith is not standing on the bank waiting for the miracle. Faith is stepping into the water and trusting that the miracle will meet your feet. Peter walked on water only after he climbed out of the boat. The lepers were healed only after they started walking back to the priest. The widow's oil multiplied only after she started pouring. The Jordan opened only after the priests' soles were wet.

Makuhani wanaingia. Maji yanayotoka juu yanasimama kama chungu katika mji uitwao Adamu, maili nyingi upande wa kaskazini. Maji yanayoshuka kuelekea Bahari ya Chumvi yanakatika. Na wakati watu milioni mbili na nusu wanavuka mahali pakavu, makuhani wanasimama katikati ya mkondo wa mto wakiwa na sanduku mabegani mwao, bila kutikisika, mpaka Mwisraeli wa mwisho amefika ukingo wa magharibi (3:17). Taifa zima linapita mbele ya makuhani. Makuhani hawasogei mpaka watu wamevuka salama. Hiyo ni picha ya huduma ya kichungaji ambayo karne nyingi hazijaimaliza.The priests step in. The water from upstream stops in a heap at a town called Adam, miles to the north. The flow downstream toward the Dead Sea drains away. And while two and a half million people cross over on dry ground, the priests stand in the middle of the riverbed with the ark on their shoulders, motionless, until the last Israelite has reached the western bank (3:17). The whole nation walks past the priests. The priests do not move until the people are safely across. That is a picture of pastoral ministry that the centuries have not exhausted.

III. Mafungu Mawili ya Mawe (Yoshua 4:1–9)III. Two Sets of Stones (Joshua 4:1–9)

Kuvuka kunapokwisha, BWANA anampa Yoshua amri isiyo ya kawaida. Anamwambia achague watu kumi na wawili, mmoja kutoka kila kabila, na kila mtu achukue jiwe kutoka katika mkondo wa mto mahali makuhani waliposimama, na kulibeba hadi ukingo wa magharibi. Mawe haya kumi na mawili yanapaswa kusimamishwa huko Gilgali kama ukumbusho.When the crossing is finished, the Lord gives Joshua an unusual command. He tells him to choose twelve men, one from each tribe, and to have each man pick up a stone from the riverbed where the priests had stood, and carry it across to the western bank. These twelve stones are to be set up at Gilgal as a memorial.

Hilo ndilo fungu la mawe linalojulikana sana. Kuna fungu la pili lisilotambuliwa sana. Yoshua mwenyewe, maandiko yanatuambia, anasimamisha mawe mengine kumi na mawili katikati ya Yordani, katika mkondo mkavu wa mto, mahali miguu ya makuhani ilipokuwa imesimama (4:9). Kumbukumbu mbili, si moja. Moja ukingo wa magharibi, ambapo kila msafiri angeweza kuiona. Moja chini ya maji, ambapo ni Mungu peke yake angeweza kuiona.That is the well-known set of stones. There is a less-noticed second set. Joshua himself, the text tells us, sets up another twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the dry riverbed, where the priests' feet had stood (4:9). Two memorials, not one. One on the western bank, where every traveler could see it. One under the water, where only God could see it.

Fikiria mtu amesimama ukingoni mwa mto akimtazama Yoshua akifanya hivyo na kunung'unika, "Yoshua, unafanya nini? Ukishauachia mto urudi tena, hakuna mtu atakayeyaona mawe hayo kamwe. Tuvuke upesi tukiwa bado tunaweza. Maji yanapanda." Lakini Yoshua hayapangi mawe kwa ajili ya watu. Yoshua anayapanga mawe kwa ajili ya Mungu. Anaacha alama ambayo jicho la mwanadamu halitaisoma tena kamwe, lakini ambayo Mungu mwenyewe atajua iko pale. Baadhi ya kumbukumbu ni za hadharani. Baadhi ya kumbukumbu ni za faragha. Zote mbili ni muhimu. Baadhi ya ushuhuda wa thamani kubwa kuliko wote mbele za Mungu uko katika mambo ambayo Yeye peke yake hutuona tukiyafanya.Imagine someone standing at the riverbank watching Joshua do this and grumbling, "Joshua, what are you doing? Once you let the river go again, no one will ever see those stones. Let's get on across this thing while we can. The water is rising." But Joshua is not stacking stones for the people. Joshua is stacking stones for God. He is leaving a marker that no human eye will ever read again, but that God Himself will know is there. Some memorials are public. Some memorials are private. Both matter. Some of God's most precious witness is in the things He alone sees us do.

IV. Watoto Watauliza (Yoshua 4:6–7, 21–24)IV. The Children Will Ask (Joshua 4:6–7, 21–24)

Lengo kuu la mawe ya ukumbusho, maandiko yanatuambia mara mbili, ni swali la kizazi kijacho. "Ili kwamba jambo hili liwe ishara kati yenu, hapo watoto wenu watakapouliza siku zijazo, wakisema, Mawe haya maana yake ni nini kwenu? Ndipo mtakapowaambia..." (4:6–7). Na tena: "Hapo watoto wenu watakapowauliza baba zao siku zijazo, wakisema, Mawe haya maana yake ni nini? Ndipo mtakapowaarifu watoto wenu, mkisema, Israeli walivuka Yordani hii mahali pakavu..." (4:21–22).The whole point of the memorial stones, the text tells us twice, is the question of the next generation. "That this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, 'What do these stones mean to you?' Then you shall answer them..." (4:6–7). And again: "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What are these stones?' then you shall let your children know, saying, 'Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land...'" (4:21–22).

Mawe haya yamekusudiwa kuchochea swali. Kwa makusudi ni ya ajabu. Rundo la mawe makubwa kumi na mawili yaliyoburutwa kutoka mkondo wa mto si jambo la kawaida. Mtoto anayepita Gilgali miaka mia moja baadaye anayaona na kumwuliza baba yake, Mawe haya ni nini? Na baba ana wajibu, fursa, na furaha ya kusema, Mwanangu, ngoja nikueleze kile Mungu alichoifanyia familia yetu.The stones are designed to provoke the question. They are deliberately strange. A pile of twelve oversized boulders dragged out of a riverbed is unusual. A child walking past Gilgal a hundred years later sees them and asks his father, What are these stones? And the father has the obligation, the privilege, and the joy of saying, Son, let me tell you what God did for our family.

Huu ni mmojawapo wa wajibu mkuu wa kila nyumba ya Kikristo na kila kanisa la Kikristo. Ni lazima tuache mawe kwa ajili ya kizazi kijacho. Ni lazima tujenge ndani ya familia zetu na makanisa yetu aina ya shuhuda za kazi ya Mungu zisizoweza kukosewa, zisizoelezeka, zilizo za ajabu kwa makusudi, ambazo zitawachochea watoto kuuliza Mawe haya ni nini? Ikiwa imani yetu inafanana na maisha ya ulimwengu, watoto wetu hawatauliza swali hilo. Ikiwa ndoa zetu, ibada yetu, utoaji wetu, vipaumbele vyetu, namna yetu ya kukabili mateso — ikiwa yoyote kati ya hayo inasimama kama rundo la mawe yasiyoweza kukosewa, watoto watauliza, nasi tutakuwa tayari kujibu.This is one of the central duties of every Christian household and every Christian church. We must leave stones for the next generation. We must build into our families and our congregations the kind of unmistakable, unexplainable, deliberately strange witnesses to the work of God that will provoke the children to ask What are these stones? If our faith looks like the world's life, our children will not ask the question. If our marriages, our worship, our giving, our priorities, our way of handling suffering — if any of these stand up like a pile of unmistakable stones, the children will ask, and we will be ready to answer.

V. Mwana-Kondoo wa Kijerumani Juu ya PaaV. The German Lamb on the Roof

Katika mji mmoja wa zamani wa Ujerumani kuna kitu kinachomvutia kila msafiri anayepita. Juu kabisa ya paa lenye ncha la mojawapo ya nyumba za zamani, kimechongwa kwa marimari, kuna sanamu ya mwana-kondoo. Msafiri anamwuliza mkaaji wa mahali pale maana yake ni nini. Hadithi inasimuliwa. Mwenye nyumba wa kwanza alipokuwa akiijenga, alikuwa akifanya kazi juu kabisa ya paa, karibu na mahali hasa anaposimama sasa yule mwana-kondoo wa marimari. Aliteleza, akapoteza usawa, akaanguka. Alipaswa kupondwa vipande vipande ardhini chini. Lakini wakati huo huo hasa, mwana-kondoo wake kipenzi alikuwa amelala juu ya nyasi kijani chini ya ukingo wa paa. Mtu huyo alianguka kwa uzito wake wote juu ya mwana-kondoo. Mwana-kondoo alipondwa. Mtu huyo alisimama bila mkwaruzo. Hakuna mfupa uliovunjika. Hakuna chubuko. Mwana-kondoo alilala pale katika damu yake, chini ya mwili wa bwana wake.In an old German city there is a sight that catches every traveler who passes through. High up on the peaked roof of one of the old houses, carved in marble, is a statue of a lamb. The traveler asks the local resident what it means. The story comes out. When the original owner of the house was building it, he was working high up on the roof, near the very spot where the marble lamb now stands. He slipped, lost his balance, and fell. He should have been dashed to pieces on the ground below. But at that exact moment, his pet lamb happened to be lying on the green grass below the eaves. The man fell with all his weight onto the lamb. The lamb was crushed. The man stood up unscratched. Not a bone broken. Not a bruise. The lamb lay there in its blood, beneath the body of its master.

Mwenye nyumba alichonga yule mwana-kondoo wa marimari na kumwinua hadi mahali pa juu kabisa pa nyumba yake. Kila mara alipopita chini yake, alikumbuka. Kila mara mgeni alipomwuliza habari zake, alipata nafasi ya kusimulia hadithi. Mwana-kondoo juu ya paa alikuwa ukumbusho wake — ishara ya kudumu katika jiwe kwamba maisha yake yalihifadhiwa kwa kifo cha kiumbe kisicho na hatia kilichoanguka mahali pake.The owner carved the marble lamb and lifted it up onto the highest place of his house. Every time he passed under it, he remembered. Every time a stranger asked him about it, he had an opportunity to tell the story. The lamb on the roof was his memorial — a perpetual sign in stone that his life had been spared by the death of an innocent creature taking the fall in his place.

Kumbukumbu ni muhimu. Zinahifadhi hai kile ambacho haraka ya maisha ingetufanya tukisahau.Memorials matter. They keep alive what the rush of life would otherwise let us forget.

VI. Miaka Arobaini Kamili Hadi Siku Ile IleVI. Forty Years to the Day

Maandiko yanatoa jambo moja dogo katika sura ya nne ambalo ni rahisi kulipita. Kuvuka Yordani kunatokea mwezi wa kwanza, siku ya kumi ya mwezi wa kwanza (4:19). Hiyo ndiyo siku ile ile, miaka arobaini kabla, ambayo Israeli waliambiwa huko Misri wamtenge mwana-kondoo wa Pasaka (Kutoka 12:3). Wayahudi wanaingia katika Nchi ya Ahadi katika siku ile ile hasa ya kalenda waliyoanza safari. Kwa Mungu hakuna bahati tu. Kama vile Mungu alivyopanga Yesu, miaka elfu moja na mia tano baadaye, akae siku arobaini jangwani akifananisha ile miaka arobaini Israeli walioikaa huko, Mungu alipanga siku ambayo Israeli wangefika katika Nchi ya Ahadi mpaka kwenye kisanduku cha tarehe cha kalenda. Kile Mungu anachokusudia, Mungu hukipangia wakati. Kile Mungu anachokipangia wakati, Mungu hukitimiza katika siku iliyoamriwa.The text gives one detail in chapter four that is easy to miss. The crossing of the Jordan takes place in the first month, the tenth day of the first month (4:19). That is the same day, forty years earlier, that Israel had been told in Egypt to set apart the Passover lamb (Exodus 12:3). The Jews enter the Promised Land on the precise calendar day they had begun the journey. There are no coincidences with God. Just as God planned for Jesus, fifteen hundred years later, to spend forty days in the wilderness mirroring the forty years Israel had spent there, God planned the day Israel would arrive in the Promised Land down to the calendar square. What God intends, God times. What God times, God brings to pass on the appointed day.

VII. Mawe ya Ukumbusho ya Kikristo — Meza ya Bwana na UbatizoVII. Christian Memorial Stones — The Lord's Supper and Baptism

Yesu alipokusanyika na wanafunzi wake usiku ule kabla hajafa, aliwaachia ukumbusho. Hakuwaachia mnara wa mawe. Hakuagiza jengo lijengwe. Angeweza kuomba hekalu, piramidi, au kanisa kuu. Piramidi Kuu ya Giza inafunika ekari kumi na tatu kwenye msingi wake, ina matofali ya mawe milioni mbili na theluthi moja, kila moja likiwa na uzito wa kati ya tani mbili na kumi na tano, na iliwachukua watu laki moja miaka ishirini kuijenga. Yesu angeweza kuomba kitu kama hicho. Hakuomba.When Jesus gathered with His disciples on the night before He died, He left them a memorial. He did not leave them a stone monument. He did not commission a building. He could have asked for a temple, a pyramid, a basilica. The Great Pyramid at Giza covers thirteen acres of base, contains two and a third million blocks weighing between two and fifteen tons each, and took a hundred thousand men twenty years to build. Jesus could have asked for something like that. He did not.

Alichoomba ni mkate na kikombe. Kutaneni pamoja mara kwa mara. Kuleni chakula pamoja na mkate utakaowakumbusha mwili wangu uliovunjwa na kikombe kitakachowakumbusha damu yangu. Tazamaneni nyusoni, na pendaneni kama nilivyowapenda nilipokuwa pamoja na wanadamu. Mnapoukumbuka msalaba wangu, kumbukeni kwamba ninakuja kuwachukua. Na popote mtakapokutana hivyo, nitakutana nanyi. Minara ya mawe hubomoka. Piramidi hulika. Kanisa la Kuzaliwa huko Bethlehemu linakuwa kituo cha watalii. Lakini chakula hiki rahisi, kinachorudiwa kwa miaka elfu mbili katika kila bara na kila lugha, ni kipya na chenye kutia moyo leo kama kilivyokuwa usiku ule alipokitoa. Meza ya Bwana ni jiwe la ukumbusho la Mkristo katika Yordani — ukumbusho tunaousimamisha ili kukumbuka kuvuka ambako kumekwisha kutokea, kuvuka kwa Mwana wa Mungu kupitia mauti na kutokea upande wa pili.What He did ask for was bread and a cup. Frequently meet together. Eat a meal with the bread that will remind you of My broken body and the cup that will remind you of My blood. Look into the faces of one another, and love one another as I did when I was with men. While you remember My cross, remember that I am coming for you. And wherever you thus meet, I will meet with you. Stone monuments crumble. Pyramids erode. The Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem becomes a tourist stop. But this simple meal, repeated for two thousand years across every continent and language, is as fresh and as inspiring today as it was the night He gave it. The Lord's Supper is the Christian's memorial stone in the Jordan — a memorial we set up to remember a crossing that has already taken place, the crossing of the Son of God through death and out the other side.

Na kisha kuna ubatizo. Warumi 6 inatuambia kwamba tunapobatizwa, tunaunganishwa na kifo, kuzikwa, na ufufuo wa Yesu. Maji si wokovu. Maji ni alama. Tunashuka ndani ya maji na kupanda kutoka majini kama ukumbusho wa hadharani wa siku ile tulipovuka Yordani yetu wenyewe na kuingia katika Nchi yetu ya Ahadi. Miaka kadhaa baadaye, majaribu yanapokuja, maisha ya zamani yanapotuita, tunapojiuliza kama kweli tulikuwa mali ya Kristo, tunaweza kuitazama siku ile nyuma na kusema, Nilizikwa pamoja naye pale. Nilifufuliwa pamoja naye pale. Nimekwisha kuvuka.And then there is baptism. Romans 6 tells us that when we are baptized, we are joined to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. The water is not the salvation. The water is the marker. We go down into the water and we come up out of the water as a public memorial of the day we crossed our own Jordan and entered our own Promised Land. Years later, when temptation comes, when the old life calls, when we wonder whether we really belonged to Christ, we can look back on that day and say, I was buried with Him there. I was raised with Him there. I have already crossed.

Hii pia ndiyo sababu nina desturi, ninapomwongoza mtu kwa Kristo, ya kumwomba apige magoti kuomba. Angeweza kuomba akiwa ameketi kitini. Angeweza kuomba akitembea barabarani. Kupiga magoti hakumwokoi — Kristo ndiye anayemwokoa. Lakini kupiga magoti ni alama. Miaka kumi baadaye, shaka inapokuja, swali linapokuja, je, kweli nilimaanisha? — anaweza kuitazama nyuma siku ile alipopiga magoti kando ya kiti, na kupiga magoti kwenyewe ni jiwe katika mkondo wa mto ambalo anaweza kulirudia. Alama ni muhimu. Kumbukumbu hudumu.This is also why I have a habit, when I lead someone to Christ, of having them kneel down to pray. They could pray sitting in their chair. They could pray walking down the road. The kneeling does not save them — Christ does. But the kneeling is a marker. Ten years later, when the doubt comes, when the question comes, did I really mean it? — they can look back to the day they knelt by the chair, and the kneel itself is a stone in the riverbed they can return to. Markers matter. Memorials hold.

VIII. Kishungi cha NyweleVIII. The Lock of Hair

Mzee mmoja aliwahi kumpokea mgeni nyumbani kwake, na wakati wa mazungumzo alitoa kishungi cha nywele kutoka katika kisanduku kidogo. Mgeni akasema, "Nadhani hicho ni kipilipili cha nywele kutoka kichwani mwa mtoto fulani mpendwa aliyekwisha kwenda kuwa pamoja na Mungu zamani." Mzee akasema, "Hapana. Hiki ni kishungi cha nywele zangu mwenyewe, na sasa ni karibu miaka sabini tangu kilipokatwa kichwani mwangu."An old man once received a visitor in his home, and during the conversation he produced a lock of hair from a small box. The visitor said, "I imagine that is a curl from the head of some dear child long since gone to be with God." The old man said, "No. That is a lock of my own hair, and it is now almost seventy years since it was cut from my head."

Kisha mzee akasimulia hadithi. Alipokuwa mvulana mdogo wa miaka minne, alikuwa amesimama karibu na baba yake uani akimtazama akipasua kuni. Vibanzi vilipokuwa vikiruka, mvulana aliinama ili kuokota baadhi vilivyokuwa miguuni pake. Alipoinama, alianguka mbele, na kichwa chake chenye nywele za kipilipili kikatua juu ya gogo la kupasulia kuni wakati ule ule baba yake alipokuwa akishusha shoka. Ilikuwa imechelewa mno kulizuia pigo. Shoka likashuka. Mvulana akapiga kelele. Baba akaanguka chini kwa hofu kuu, akiwa na hakika kwamba amemuua mwanawe pekee. Wote wawili wakaketi pale wakitetemeka. Baba alipomchukua mvulana mikononi mwake hatimaye na kumkagua kutoka kichwani hadi miguuni, hapakuwa na kovu, wala tone la damu, wala jeraha. Kishungi cha nywele tu kilikuwa kimekatwa safi na makali ya shoka. Mvulana hakuguswa. Malaika wa BWANA alikuwa amesimama kati ya shoka na mtoto.Then the old man told the story. When he was a little boy of four, he was standing near his father in the yard watching him chop wood. As the splinters flew, the boy bent down to gather some at his feet. As he bent, he fell forward, and his curly head landed on the chopping log just as his father swung the axe. It was too late to stop the blow. The axe came down. The boy screamed. The father fell to the ground in terror, certain he had killed his only son. They both sat there shaking. When the father finally took the boy in his arms and searched him from head to foot, there was not a scar, not a drop of blood, not a wound. Only a lock of hair sliced off cleanly by the blade of the axe. The boy was untouched. The angel of the Lord had stood between the axe and the child.

Baba alikihifadhi kishungi kile cha nywele maisha yake yote yaliyosalia. Kikawa ukumbusho wake wa utunzaji wa Mungu. Alipokufa, alimkabidhi mwanawe. Mzee alikiinua mbele ya mgeni wake na kusema, "Nina ishara nyingi za upendo wa Baba yangu wa mbinguni katika miaka hii yote mirefu. Lakini kwa namna fulani hii ndiyo inayosema waziwazi zaidi moyoni mwangu. Ilikuwa ikisema moyoni mwa baba yangu. Sasa inasema moyoni mwangu."The father saved that lock of hair for the rest of his life. It became his memorial of God's care. When he died, he passed it to his son. The old man held it up to his visitor and said, "I have many tokens of my heavenly Father's love through these long years. But somehow this one speaks most plainly to my heart. It used to speak to my father's heart. It now speaks to mine."

Hilo ni jiwe la ukumbusho. Hayo ni mahubiri katika kisanduku kidogo. Hicho ndicho kitu ambacho kila mwamini anapaswa kuwa nacho mahali fulani — kikumbusho kinachoshikika cha wakati ule mkono wa Mungu ulipolizuia shoka. Sote tuna nyakati kama hizo tukizingatia. Usiku ule tuliopaswa kufa lakini hatukufa. Simu ile tuliyopaswa kupigiwa lakini hatukupigiwa. Jaribu lile tulilopaswa kuangukia lakini hatukuangukia. Kuanguka kiuchumi kulikopaswa kutuzika lakini hakukutuzika. Tafuta mawe yako. Yarundike huko Gilgali yako. Wasimulie watoto wako hadithi watakapouliza.That is a memorial stone. That is a sermon in a small box. That is the kind of thing every believer ought to have somewhere — a tangible reminder of a moment when God's hand stopped the axe. We all have such moments if we will pay attention. The night we should have died and did not. The phone call we should have gotten and did not. The temptation we should have fallen into and did not. The financial collapse that should have buried us and did not. Find your stones. Pile them up at your Gilgal. Tell the story to your children when they ask.

IX. Kibao Mahali PasipofaaIX. The Plaque in the Wrong Place

Kumbukumbu zinaweza pia kueleweka vibaya. Mchungaji mmoja aliwahi kuitembeza familia changa kuonyesha ukumbi wa ibada wa kanisa lake. Alionyesha vibao mbalimbali vya ukumbusho vilivyopangwa ukutani — dirisha la kuikumbuka familia moja, kinanda cha kuikumbuka familia nyingine, mimbari ya kuikumbuka familia ya tatu. Hatimaye alisimama mbele ya kibao kidogo kwenye ukuta wa nyuma na kusema, "Na kibao hiki kinaorodhesha majina ya wale waliokufa katika huduma." Mvulana mdogo alimtazama baba yake kwa macho yaliyokodolewa na kuuliza, "Bwana, ipi? Ibada ya asubuhi au ibada ya jioni?"Memorials can also be misunderstood. A pastor once gave a tour of his church auditorium to a young family. He pointed out the various memorial plaques that lined the walls — the window in memory of one family, the organ in memory of another, the pulpit in memory of a third. Finally he stopped at a small plaque on the back wall and said, "And this plaque lists the names of those who died in the service." A little boy looked up at his father with wide eyes and asked, "Mister, which one? The morning service or the evening service?"

Baadhi ya kumbukumbu zinahitaji kuelezwa. Hilo ndilo lengo kuu la jiwe. Jiwe linachochea swali, na jibu ni injili. Ikiwa maisha ya mwamini hayazai maswali yoyote, basi hakuna jibu linalohitajika kamwe. Ishi kwa namna ambayo watu watakuuliza habari za mawe.Some memorials need explaining. That is the whole point of a stone. The stone provokes the question, and the answer is the gospel. If a believer's life produces no questions, then no answer is ever called for. Live in such a way that people ask you about the stones.

HitimishoClosing

Sura inamalizika Israeli wakiwa wamepiga kambi huko Gilgali, mawe kumi na mawili yakisimama kama ushahidi, kumbukumbu ya makuhani katika mkondo wa mto ikiwa bado mbichi akilini mwa kila mtu, na kuta za Yeriko zikisimama umbali wa takriban maili mbili wakiziona waziwazi. Kuvuka kumekwisha. Ukumbusho umejengwa. Kizuizi kinachofuata tayari kinaonekana upeo wa macho. Lakini Israeli watapigana vita hivyo kutoka nafasi tofauti na ile waliyokuwa nayo mwanzoni mwa sura. Walikuwa ng'ambo ya mashariki. Sasa wako ng'ambo ya magharibi. Walikuwa watu wanaotangatanga. Sasa ni watu wa nchi. Kati ya hali hizo mbili linasimama rundo la mawe kumi na mawili, alama ya wakati ule Mungu alipofanya lisilowezekana nao wakapita mahali ambapo mto ulikuwa ukitiririka.The chapter ends with Israel camped at Gilgal, the twelve stones standing as a witness, the memory of the priests in the riverbed fresh in everyone's mind, and the walls of Jericho standing about two miles away in plain sight. The crossing is finished. The memorial is built. The next obstacle is already on the horizon. But Israel will fight that battle from a different position than they had at the start of the chapter. They have been on the eastern bank. Now they are on the western. They have been a wandering people. Now they are a people of the land. Between the two stands a pile of twelve stones, the marker of a moment when God did the impossible and they walked through the place where the river used to be.

Yeyote ulivyo, jenga kumbukumbu zako. Weka alama mahali pa ukombozi wa Mungu maishani mwako. Simulia hadithi. Zirithishe. Andaa mkate na kikombe. Pita katika maji ya ubatizo. Piga magoti kuomba. Hifadhi kishungi cha nywele. Mwinue mwana-kondoo wa marimari hadi mahali pa juu kabisa pa nyumba yako. Mungu aliyekuvusha mara moja hakufanya hivyo kwa ajili yako peke yako. Alifanya hivyo ili watoto, vizazi vitatu kuanzia sasa, waulize Mawe haya ni nini? na bado awepo mtu aliye hai anayejua jibu.Whoever you are, build your memorials. Mark the places of God's deliverance in your life. Tell the stories. Pass them down. Set up the bread and the cup. Walk through the waters of baptism. Kneel to pray. Save the lock of hair. Lift the marble lamb to the highest place on your house. The God who carried you across once did not do it for you alone. He did it so that the children, three generations from now, would ask What are these stones? and someone would still be alive who knew the answer.

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