The Possibility of Neither

At church today, Ahren used a passage in Joshua 5 that has a really interesting dialogue between Joshua and what most scholars think is actually Jesus appearing in the form/name of the Commander of the Army of God.

¹³ Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”  ¹⁴ “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.”

This is such a fascinating encounter for many reasons let alone the fact that Joshua seems to have had a face to face encounter with the Son of God.  That would be on my top three list I don't know about you.  Looking at the context for a moment, we see that Joshua is just about to lead his people into something he knows will be life changing but full of risk and uncertainty.  The stakes are higher than they've ever been.

Sound familiar?  Can anyone relate?  I know we've never likely led a nation to the promise land but in our context's we've likely been in many pressure-filled, fraught with risk situations right?

Joshua now confronted with this unknown presence reacts quite naturally.  Perceiving a threat possibly to his entire mission he asks, "Who's side are you on?  Are you with us or are you with our enemies?"   Have you done something like this?  When the stakes are high, it's easy for things to be boiled down in our perspective to friends and enemies.  Either you're with us or you're not (sound familiar)?  Either you're on the side of __________ (fill in the blank with the virtue or position of the moment) or your on the side of ____________ (fill in whatever the perceived opposite is).

Look at the response to Joshua's challenge.  Instead of answering directly by taking sides, the answer given back is, "neither" and the Commander of God's army turns the exchange in a completely new direction that raises Joshua's perspective above the level of either/or and brings it instead into a plane or perspective not yet considered...and one that is inspired by the divine.

Leaving the spiritual principles aside for now, this is a good life lesson for those who aspire or are called to leadership.  Rather than reducing the discussion to right or wrong, good or bad, or friend or enemy, we would be wise to strive to consider whether there's another way--a new level of perspective that would shed light new solutions.  Instead of demanding conformity, what about encouraging creativity or innovation instead of seeing them as a threat?  Is there a direction to your story that you haven't discovered yet because your perspective has been limited to a simple yes or no answer?  What's the possibility of "neither" in your life or in your mission?