Text: Numbers 12:1-15
Date: September 19, 2021
Event: The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year B
Numbers 12:1-15 (EHV)
Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman he had married (for he had married a Cushite woman). 2They said, “Has the Lord really spoken only through Moses? Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” The Lord heard this.
3(Now the man Moses was very humble, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)
4Right then the Lord spoke suddenly to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “You three come out to the Tent of Meeting!”
The three of them came out. 5The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance to the tent. He called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward. 6He said, “Now listen to my words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, will make myself known to him in a vision. In a dream I will speak with him. 7Not so, however, with my servant Moses. He is faithful in my whole household. 8With him I speak face to face, clearly, and not in riddles. He sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?” 9The Lord’s anger burned against them, and he left.
10The cloud went up from above the tent, and immediately Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. Aaron turned to Miriam and saw that she was leprous.
11Aaron said to Moses, “My lord, please do not hold this sin against us. We have acted foolishly. We have sinned. 12Please do not let her be like a stillborn infant that comes out of its mother’s womb with its flesh half-eaten away.”
13Moses cried out to the Lord, “God, please heal her, please!”
14The Lord said to Moses, “If her father had merely spit in her face, would she not be disgraced for seven days? Have her confined outside of the camp for seven days, and after that she can be brought back in.”
15Miriam was confined outside of the camp for seven days, and the people did not set out until Miriam was brought back in.
God’s Mercy Forgives Our Selfish Ambition
About a week and a half ago I received a phone call as I was driving to go pick up the kids from school. I didn’t recognize the number, but decided to take it. The voice informed me that the company calling was Visa/Mastercard (it’s always a great sign when someone claims to work for a company that is actually two separate and competing companies). Anyway, the computer eventually transferred me to a real person. They supposedly wanted to offer me some sort of COVID-related debt relief. So the person on the phone said, “And what accounts do you have?” That seemed like an odd question. They supposedly worked for the credit card; wouldn’t they already know what accounts I had?
We went back and forth a little bit on whose responsibility it was to confirm who had what, and finally I asked, “Ok, tell me what information you need.” He responded, “Your credit card number.” I laughed right out loud. Not the last 4 digits, not a billing zip code something. The whole number. I asked, “How often does this work? How often do you get people falling for this scam?” To which he responded with some rather unkind words until I eventually hung up.
But this served as an interesting thought experiment. Why would someone do this? Well, they want to steal or at least manipulate people into giving them money. And, in this case, they were targeting people who were hurting, who were in dire financial straights, to take advantage of them.
Selfishness is a core tenant of the sinful nature. Even if we don’t appear, publicly, to be very selfish, there’s a part of each of us that wants to serve ourselves more than anyone else. Our joy, peace, and desires are often more important to us than anyone else’s, including God’s. Sin is really just an expression of that selfishness. God says don’t do something, but I want to do it, and I value what I want more than what God wants, so I do that thing.
In our First Lesson this morning, we see an example of this selfishness in Miriam and Aaron. They weren’t exactly scamming anyone, but they were not content with the arrangement God had setup to lead the people of Israel. Miriam and Aaron were Moses’ siblings, but Moses was the one that God called at the burning bush. While at times God would address the people through Aaron, the first high priest, he did the vast majority of his communication with the people through Moses.
But jealousy and selfish ambition got the better of his siblings. After a bit of a racist tantrum thrown because of Moses’ wife, they come to the conclusion, “Has the Lord really spoken only through Moses? Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” In other words, “We deserve what Moses has because we’re just as important. And we didn’t even marry a foreigner! We should be exalted, not him!” And while they might have been having a gripe session among the two of them and not blasting Moses publicly before the people, we’re told in striking brevity that someone else was party to their conversation. The Lord heard this.
God’s address to Miriam and Aaron is very similar to Jesus’ rebuke to his disciples arguing about who of them was the greatest in our Gospel this morning. “If anyone wants to be first, he will be the last of all and the servant of all.” Miriam and Aaron’s selfish ambition was based on jealousy. It's not fair that Moses gets to have that position. We want it! Or we at least want equal billing!” But that was not what God had done.
How often and subtly does jealously and selfishness creep into our lives? How often do we look at someone else’s life and say, “I wish that were mine,” or perhaps more to the point, “That should be mine”? Maybe it’s smaller things, like the person who has a new car or a commute with less traffic or easier time with that one troublesome subject in school. Maybe it’s the bigger things, wishing you had an entire life-swap with the other person. Either way, it’s malcontent with what God has given and coveting what others have. It might even lead us to do something sinful to try to get what we haven’t been given, like the scammer on the phone.
But it is also important to realize what we do and don’t mean here. God is not saying that it is wrong to want to better yourself. God is not saying that it’s wrong to want to improve your skills, your job, your knowledge base, to otherwise better your life. That wasn’t Miriam and Aaron’s problem. Their problem was that they cut down Moses, seeking to build themselves up. Their problem was that they spoke against what God had done and made crystal-clear that he had done it.
God has given you abilities and vocations (like parent, child, spouse, single person, friend, employee, neighbor, citizen, etc.). Maybe those abilities and vocations don’t match exactly what you want. Maybe you’re seeking out better ways to use those abilities or new ways to reflect God’s love in your vocations. That is good. But grumbling against God or letting jealousy consume you is not the way to do it.
Instead, rejoice in what God has given. For places where you’re struggling or dissatisfied, pray for guidance. Talk with someone to help find a path that serves God rather than fighting against him.
But perhaps this has triggered feelings of guilt in our hearts for recent or long-past actions or thoughts. And that’s likely because I doubt that anyone here has never coveted anything. I doubt that anyone here has never let selfishness take hold, at least for a little while. And that can lead us into a downward spiral. That’s not how we’re supposed to live and yet we did it or are doing it anyway. Now what?
Look at how God deals with Miriam. It’s not clear why she suffers the skin condition and Aaron didn’t, but regardless, she is sent outside the camp. But she is not banished from the community. She is not shunned. She is not sent wandering into the wilderness by herself. No, she was outside the camp for seven days and then and after that she [could] be brought back in. There is chastisement for the selfish ambition, but God does not throw her or Aaron away. He does not forget about them. He specifically sets a time when she could be reinstated.
We should pay attention to the last verse of our reading, too. The people did not set out until Miriam was brought back in. Now at first glance this perhaps sounds like a community rallying around their sister and making sure she was ok. That is until we realize that it wasn’t the people who made the call when they were to break camp; it was God. He decided when they moved. And he made sure that the whole community stayed put until after Miriam was brought back in.
Is God going to treat you or me any differently? He does not seek to destroy us for bouts of selfishness; he offered himself to pay for them. Those selfish actions are gone because Jesus selflessly died on the cross to pay for them. Jesus’ self-sacrificing work for you frees you from your selfishness and the sin that comes from it. Jesus frees you from the punishment of hell that would have otherwise found you! The community doesn't move on; you and I are brought back into the fold. That was God’s mercy for Miriam, and it’s God’s mercy for us. We do not face the full punishment for our sins. That was God’s mercy for Aaron, and it’s God’s mercy for us. God’s mercy forgives our selfish ambition and all of our sins. Thanks be to God for that continual mercy! Amen.
