DAY 59

HELLO, ANYBODY HOME?

Numbers 17, 18 & 19 and Mark 6:30-56

You might be thinking that I am conveniently ignoring all the people that are dying! I really am not. I pointed out a few days ago how serious God is about all that He is doing. We read in Numbers 14:37 that the men who gave the bad report were struck down with a plague, then we get Korath and others opposing Moses and Aaron killed (16:39), and the people still grumbled leading to another 14,700 dying (16:49).

Do you want to kind of say to the people, “Hello, anyone home, have you noticed a pattern here, follow God through Moses?” It is with all this rebellion in the background that God once again, in a rather benign manner, establishes who is in charge with Aaron’s budding staff. Simultaneously we have the bud, the flower and the fruit. Symbolically we have life springing forth from a dead staff.

In Mark 6 there is a similar demonstration of the God’s power: he creates food from nothing, walks on water, calms a storm, and heals the sick! I almost want to say, “All in a day’s work for Jesus.”

The point of course is that Jesus is demonstrating His Supreme and Complete Authority over this, His Creation. Isn’t that what God has been doing in the Old Testament?

The challenge of course is that the rejection we read about in Numbers and the rejection Jesus experiences still takes place today. Interestingly for me, it is not people who have been “down on their luck” that seem to struggle with the idea of God, it is those who are doing at least “OK”. Now realize I have just been to Haiti, so “doing OK” is a relative term. Yet the homeless people who come into the Cathedral, the people who are struggling to make ends meet – they seem to be more open to being people of faith (I know that is a generalization, but in my little corner of Albany it seems true).

The people who have lots of questions, well they are a little bit like the leaders of Israel. “Why is Moses in charge?” “Who died and appointed Aaron?” “You want us to do what?” And yet Moses and Jesus intercede for the people who reject them. The number of times Moses begs God not to annihilate the people is amazing – even more is God hanging on a Cross saying “Father forgive them (us)).

So maybe me comment about “Hello, anybody home?” has as much to do with me, someone who claims to believe in God. Am I too comfortable in thinking I have the right answers? How am I doing interceding for those who reject Him?