Numbers 12-14; Psalm 44; Luke 2
So the Israelites were almost to the Promised Land. They’d been both faithful and crabby. God was actually very reasonable when they protested and yet had clear boundaries they frequently crossed and they were given major consequences. Moses knew, though, to go straight to God with any complaints and saw that God would not only be reasonable but would come up with solid solutions. He even gave Moses seventy elders to help him so it wasn’t all on his shoulders all the time. But Moses knew to ask God.
Miriam and Aaron must not have gotten the memo. Today we see them murmuring, “What about us? Doesn’t the Lord speak through us too?” And the Lord overhears them and says, “Well, no, not exactly like I do with Moses.” Basically, he told them to recognize Moses as this holy man with whom he speaks face to face. And the anger of the Lord was kindled. He punishes Miriam by making her leprous for a week. (Not sure why Aaron gets off scot free.)
When the people finally get to the edge of the Promised Land and the scouts that had been sent report back, again, most of them murmur and allow fear to overtake them. They didn’t trust God so they would now have to wander for forty years and not be able to enter the Promised Land at all. Seems really harsh. Makes us want to “run to the gospel” as one of my seminary professors used to say.
We cry with the psalmist, “Come on, Lord! Come on!”
And then the Messiah comes. Takes a few centuries, but the Messiah comes and the Promised Land is now available everywhere. I wonder how much we’ve learned since the days of the Israelites’ journeying. We too can be both faithful and yet crabby at times. Perhaps we can learn to go straight to God with our complaining instead of murmuring to one another. Perhaps we can then listen to our Lord as even the elders did in the temple. Perhaps. Thanks be to God we have a power so much greater than ourselves for guidance and direction, hope and light.
The Rev. Wendy Tobias
Associate Priest, St. Joseph's, Boynton Beach
So the Israelites were almost to the Promised Land. They’d been both faithful and crabby. God was actually very reasonable when they protested and yet had clear boundaries they frequently crossed and they were given major consequences. Moses knew, though, to go straight to God with any complaints and saw that God would not only be reasonable but would come up with solid solutions. He even gave Moses seventy elders to help him so it wasn’t all on his shoulders all the time. But Moses knew to ask God.
Miriam and Aaron must not have gotten the memo. Today we see them murmuring, “What about us? Doesn’t the Lord speak through us too?” And the Lord overhears them and says, “Well, no, not exactly like I do with Moses.” Basically, he told them to recognize Moses as this holy man with whom he speaks face to face. And the anger of the Lord was kindled. He punishes Miriam by making her leprous for a week. (Not sure why Aaron gets off scot free.)
When the people finally get to the edge of the Promised Land and the scouts that had been sent report back, again, most of them murmur and allow fear to overtake them. They didn’t trust God so they would now have to wander for forty years and not be able to enter the Promised Land at all. Seems really harsh. Makes us want to “run to the gospel” as one of my seminary professors used to say.
We cry with the psalmist, “Come on, Lord! Come on!”
And then the Messiah comes. Takes a few centuries, but the Messiah comes and the Promised Land is now available everywhere. I wonder how much we’ve learned since the days of the Israelites’ journeying. We too can be both faithful and yet crabby at times. Perhaps we can learn to go straight to God with our complaining instead of murmuring to one another. Perhaps we can then listen to our Lord as even the elders did in the temple. Perhaps. Thanks be to God we have a power so much greater than ourselves for guidance and direction, hope and light.
The Rev. Wendy Tobias
Associate Priest, St. Joseph's, Boynton Beach
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