If only we had meat to eat? We remember the fish….the cucumbers…the melons…
The Israelites sound like my kids on a road trip. We are hungry! Can we stop? I need to use the bathroom… When will we get there?
And Moses is frustrated…what am I to do with them? I know how he feels.
So God had Moses gather the people and 70 elders were appointed to prophesy, to help Moses in leading the people.
But…two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp." And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, "My lord Moses, stop them!"
They are not doing it properly. They are not where they should be. Stop them! But Moses doesn’t mind.
“Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and the Lord would put the Spirit upon them.
God pours out the Spirit and we cannot control the Spirit. God does not get involved in the us vs. them mentality that we too often have, of trying to control God’s will and Spirit.
John said to Jesus: “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.”
Jesus replied, “There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me . . . Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward…
Like those protecting Moses, some were trying to protect Jesus. But he also refuses to get into this us vs. them. Jesus will not control the Spirit, for God pours it forth for the good of the world. Too often, we all approach life through the optics: there’s us and there’s them. With us in control.
· We’re all right. They’re not.
· We’re justifiably concerned for our family’s livelihood. They’re in it for the money.
· We’re resting. They’re self-indulgent.
· We’re pragmatic. They’re manipulative.
· We’re teasing. They’re mean-spirited.
· We know the truth. They don’t understand; they’re ill-informed.
· We’re concerned for the common good. They’re out to grab whatever they can get.
Don’t ever question our good intentions, our values, our patriotism. But watch out for them.
· You can trust us — but be afraid of them.
· We welcome all — with our doors locked.
· We’re all created equal — but some of us are more equal than others.
· We are all children of God — but we’re God’s favorites.
· We’re the people of God — we pray for them.
This thinking was all on display on Thursday at the hearing. In admonishing John in today’s Gospel, Jesus is calling us to end the us- vs.-them perspective of the world; Jesus comes to build God’s kingdom, a community based on generosity, humility, respect and understanding for all, by all.
What stumbling blocks do you put in the way of others?
Jesus tells his disciples and us that we are not to put stumbling blocks in front of others and I think we do that when we live in that us vs them mentality. It is easy to push others away. Make them the other. See them as less then us.
As Christians we are to act in Jesus’ name, which means to reach out to all without condition, without prejudice, without judgment.
The monk & author, Thomas Merton put it this way: “As soon as you begin to take yourself seriously and imagine that your virtues are important because they are yours, you become the prisoner of your own vanity, and even your best works will blind and deceive you. And the more unreasonable importance you attach to yourself and your work, the more you will tend to build up your own idea of yourself by condemning other people. Sometimes virtuous people are also bitter and unhappy because they unconsciously believe that their happiness depends on their being more virtuous than others.”
And that is how our salt loses its saltiness as followers of Jesus.
Jesus said, “Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another…”
"It is not so much that salt ceases to be salt but it becomes contaminated by additions over time, dirt, stones, etc, so that it becomes useless. He links salt with peace. In the context salt is an image of integrity and wholeness, Being at peace with one another is about wholeness in community ." (William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia)
When our salt, our discipleship becomes contaminated…we lose our way & lose one another.
In our prayers, are we praying for those we disagree with? In our lives, are we working towards reconciliation? In our interactions, are we following Jesus and offering love to all? Where do we stumble? We all need a cup of water to drink, may we share it with everyone we meet. Amen.
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