Well, my friends, as we come to the end of this season of Lent, with all of its talk of fasting, and penitence, and its contemplation about our sinfulness and our striving to get better, and fix our eyes on the culmination and climax of it all with Jesus Christ taking all of our sins, and working out all righteousness for us on the cross, and dying death for all, through the day by day sequence of Holy Week, – we see here, not in the normal Daily Lectionary for Divine Service, but in the lectionary for daily prayer, in the Office of Readings, these lovely little texts, both for today and tomorrow from the Book of Numbers, in chapters 11 – and 13.
Numbers is, as a book itself, one that the church in this time desperately needs to hear more of, and more from. It pertains, yes in part to “numbers,” (particularly the numbers of Israel’s tribes and their allotments of the promised Land in Canaan), but more importantly, it details for us the narrative, the STORY of Israel’s continued wandering in the desert, of their sojourn – their journey in the wilderness of Sin, TOWARD that promise. And their struggles, their doubts, their fears, and their failures along the way. It is, as a book – if I might say it this way, it is a BOOK for a church in hard places. And so it is a book, if I might say it another way, it is BOOK for the church in this place.
The story is this
Israel was wandering in the desert, in the wilderness. They had been freed from Slavery in Egypt. But – as they continued on throughout that desert towards the land of promise, the fat things, and rich, sweet, honeyed things of Canaan, – they began to grumble. And cry. And complain. And MOAN – OHHHHHHHHHHHH they said. Remember when we were SLAVES, yeah oh yeah I do remember. Wasn’t it so greaT? Oh yeah it was awesome, they said. We had food there, yes food. All kinds of food. We had there meat, and leaks and onions, we had the fleshpots and the goat stews and the onions and the garlics and the spices and all the stuff and things we could ever want. We had clean accessible drinking water, showers and bath tubs. We had houses and apartments. Beds and blankets. We had cable TV AND netflix back in Egpyt. But here, oh here… What do we have? Nothing. And so they said, why have you broguht us out here O Lord? Have you brought us out here to kill us? Have you brought us here to starve us or bore us to death? This is no fun they said. No – no fun at all. We hate this they said. It was better to be back in Egpyt, it was better to be SLAVES, and have our stuff, than to be free, and wander in this desert with out any tasty snacks, without any comfoorts.
And maybe we laugh at that, and maybe we think that’s a little funny. And, well – it is. BUT – we do this too.
See, we too were freed from slavery. Maybe not from Egypt, no. But – from sin, and from death, and from the devil. Just as our Lord says in John 8 whoever commits sins is slave to sin. And as we used to confess LONG AGO (3 weeks ago) in our Green Book,s WE CONFESS THAT WE ARE IN BONDAGE TO SIN AND CANNOT FREE OURSELVES. And so it was and so it is. And yet as Jesus says, (again in John 8) that He has set us free from sin. And that we are free indeed, in Him, and through Him, so also we find ourselves on this journey, this – sojourn, if you will. Through this desert wilderness. And so we continue on THROUGH OUR LIVES toward the promise of God, the place of fat things and good things. – the promise of the resurrection, and recreation. But as we go through this Christian life, and this journey toward the good things of the resurrection, and the promises made to God’s faithful – we complain. And we say ah – this life of freedom in Christ it does not feel very free at all. I cant commit those sins I was doing in Egypt. I cant be having outbursts of anger on people, I cant flip off that guy thats driving too slow on the highway, I cant cheat on my taxes, I can’t drink too much or smoke certain things or watch certain things or do certain things or sleep with who I want to sleep with, or do whatever I want to do, AND I JUST DONT FEEL FREE. And so we feel as though we, entering into the life and the teachings and the ways of Christ, – HAVING GIVEN SOMETHING UP. Rather than gained something. And we who have been set free from sin, can, and do – get these satanic reminders in our mind of how good our slavery felt. And so we grumble. And so we complain, and so we LONG TO STOP our march through the desert toward God’s promise, and we contemplate instead, A JOURNEY BACK INTO SLAVERY. And we do so, because we want to be COMFORTABLE.
and this is what we see in the Beatitudes. God calls blessed what the world calls cursed. He makes promises to those who seem to be undergoing punishments. What seems to be suffering in this time and this moment, God promises is the road to rest and comfort. What we see as mourning, God promises to be the road to Joy. What we see as hungering, and fasting – God promises to be the road to satisfaction and fullness.
And so it is the DESERT – and the fast – that brings fullness.
Now, we can look at this another way also – we see Iin this – desert, God promises meat to His people IN THE WILDERNESS.
This is instructive for it, if you’ve ears to hear it.
The Lord asks you not to sin and He commands you instead to do good, to pray, to celebrate the Liturgy, and to serve your neighbor. While were IN THESE THINGS (I know) it can be easy to think that you’re not going to have much fun. And yet the Lord’s Promise is what. You will leave your sin behind, and you will serve your neighbor, and you will gather around my altar, and you will saturate your lives in prayer and return constantly to my Word, and receive from me at all times forgiveness and peace, and from this – you will be,.. what? Unfilled? Goodness no. His promise is what? It is meat in the wilderness.
And yet this is such an unbeleiveable thign to the israelites in their wandering. HOW – Lord, HOW will you produce for us meat in the wilderness where there is only dust and manna. Boredom and breadcrumbs. It’s impossible, they said. For the people are 600 thousand men on foot, plus women and children ON TOP OF THAT. And you say you’re going to give them meat to eat for an entire month? Thats – JUST – NOT – POSSIBLE. That WHOLE FLOCKS and HERDS and SPECIES of beats be slaughtered to feed these people? Shall the whole ocean be emptied of fish I’m not sure you could feed these people! Surely not. Yet the Lord said to them, – WHY NOT? Has my arm been shortened? Have I been crippled? Is God no longer God? Am I no longer creator and sustainer and provider? Do I no longer own all the cattle on all the hills? Am I now but just a man?
Well, and here is the thing for us.
We enter into this season of fasting, and prayer, and penitence, – well, and we enter into the whole Christian life of its prayer and liturgies and sanctity and service to others and its LACK OF SINS and we think – well that cant be much fun. Yet the Lord promises – that true joy, true peace, true contentment, true love, true happiness is not found in sins, or Egyptian food, or in the things that this world calls blessed, but these things are all found in Jesus Christ, these things are found around His altar, these things are found when we come to know His Word and delight in it with all our heart and seek Him in prayer and meditate on His love to us.
And this is the teaching that you already know, same idea, different text – blessed are you who mourn, blessed are you who are poor, blessed are you who look cursed. You know this one?
Here, have another – those who give up their lives for my sake will find it, but all who seek to save their life will lose it. And another – if any wish to come up after me must take up their cross and follow me. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple
Yet in these things, in the giving up the life, and in the taking up of the cross, and in the cost of discipleship – we find the greatest joy. and the greatest peace. and the greatest rest. and the greatest contentment.
