Bronze Serpent

Num 21:9-23         12/5/2017

On the journey around Edom, the Israelites complained against God and Moses. God sent serpents which struck at the people, killing many of the Israelites. The Israelites repented and asked Moses to intercede. At God’s direction, Moses made a bronze serpent and mounted it to a pole. Upon being bitten, anyone who looked at it was healed.

So what’s going on here? You get bit by a serpent and then look at a staff with a bronze serpent attached to it and you become healed? What’s the connection between looking and healing? How does that work?

Miracles. We say some “thing” can’t be explained in any other way, therefore it’s a miracle; as though it’s about the mechanism of causality that’s at issue.

But is that really the essence of the miraculous?

Isn’t the miraculous found in a moment of utter contingency (contingency: circumstances could be different from what they are) that is deliberately shaped by the divine will of God? And this, without regard to the way it happens?

Right – that’s harder to measure.

But when we say that the miraculous is miraculous because it can’t be causally explained, aren’t we behaving like convinced material-determinist who are hoping against hope that we’re wrong. John Crosby once said, “It’s the air we breathe.” He was right. It’s hard work to think in other terms.

Yet, I’m pretty sure the definition of a heuristic that causes mental bias is when a person unwittingly substitutes a complex question with a simpler question. So let’s see:

I can’t explain it, therefore it’s miraculous. OR

All things work together for good…

Hmmm; Bias Alert.

The kind of healing that takes place as a result of looking at a figure hung to a piece of wood is a healing that’s takes place within – first. It is a matter of faith.

And, when it’s all boiled down, faith for a Christian is treating God like a person – treating Jesus like the person He is. Believing that God is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. That is the healing. That is the miracle – as irreducible as it may be.

But at least now we know what to do. Look to the one who was lifted up in order to be saved.

“Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen”  Heb 11:1

Aaron Dies

Num 20:26-21:8         12/4/2017

Moses led Aaron and his son Eleazer to Mount Hor where God had revealed Aaron would die. In accordance with God’s instructions, Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazer, Aaron’s son – who by this ascended to the position of High Priest. The people mourned Aaron’s death for thirty days.

There is something contrary to our thinking about this. God reveals to Aaron through Moses that he will die on the top of Mount Hor. His death was forecast. So what did Aaron do? He climbed the mountain. He willingly entered into the death that God had described.

His power and his robes were stripped from him in view of the entire assembly. They were transferred to his son. With nothing left to him in this world, he laid down and died. He was steadfast in the end.

Aaron had learned obedience through the things he had suffered. And he had suffered much from many mistakes. But in the end, he walked up the mountain, allowed himself to be stripped and divested of everything, even his life. An act of utter faithfulness.

Jesus was born savior of the world. At some point in His growth and development as a human person, He realized that He had been called by the Father to climb a mountain where he would be stripped and divested of every human right in the midst of a great assembly of His brothers and sisters. He knew climbing the mountain meant death.

Though He was guilty of no wrongdoing, He was made perfect by the things that He suffered.

The one certainty in life is death. Francis called death his sister. And like the long list of the faithful who have proceeded down from Abraham – neither did he shy away from his moments of life and death.

To embrace life and death in the certainty that God is in every moment, and that every moment could be well lived – that is Givenness.

This is the real possibility of your life.

“Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and…he was made perfect” Heb 5:8-9

Edom Refuses

Num 20:14-25         12/3/2017

The Israelites were on the border with Edom at Kadesh. They wished to pass through Edom on a major trade route and requested permission. However, the king of Edom refused permission and threatened military conflict if Israel attempted to pass through.

What’s the problem with passing through?

Edom is Esau.

Esau – as in the twin brother of Jacob (Israel). Moses appealed as a descendant of Israel to the king of Edom, as a descendant of Esau.

Brothers. Twin Brothers. A relationship remembered differently. Four hundred years before, Jacob violated Esau and refused his authority.

“Trust us – we won’t damage your fields and we won’t drink your water.”

It sounds different when stuck in your cultural memory is a voice saying, “Sell me your birth rite for this bowl of pottage”.

Grudge.

Memory is long when the wound is deep.

Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.  Matt 5:23-24

Meribah

Num 20:3-13         12/2/2017

The assembly settled at Kadesh but there was no water. The people complained to Moses and Aaron. God directed them to command the rock to give water with Aaron’s rod in hand. However, enraged by the rebellious Israelites, they struck the rock with the rod instead. God rebuked Moses and Aaron and subsequently denied them the right to lead the Israelites into the promised land.

Temper tantrum.

We’re all entitled to an occasional emotional outburst. If I impose my frustration-fueled emotion on those around me, then they will know better than to frustrate me again in the future.

I think that’s the logic of rage. Or maybe it’s better understood as a strategy.

An unconscious strategy.

A strategy from our infancy. The utterly infantile.

Moses and Aaron raged against the people. Saul raged against David. The Pharisees raged against Jesus and Stephen – and killed them. The Romans raged against the Jews and destroyed the Second Temple.

Irony. What did the strategy get them? Moses was left out of the promised land. Saul lost his crown. The Pharisees lost their power and Christian discipleship flowered. The Romans exited history and Israel remains to this day.

I have no right to rage. It is never right to rage. It always injures others when I rage. It’s sin and like most sin – it is a long term losing strategy.

We, each of us, own our inner infant. To grow up, we must own our inner infant.

“A mild answer turns back wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” Psalm 15:1

Uncleanness and Healing

Red Heifer

Num 19:5-15         11/30/2017

God instructed Moses to make a special sacrifice outside the camp. The sacrificed animal was required to be a very special “Red Heifer” that had no blemishes or deformities and that had never done any work. The sacrifice was entirely consumed by fire and the ashes were collected. The ashes were subsequently used in a purification rite.

Everything hinges on the “Red Heifer”.

They say there have only been ten or so red heifers sacrifices in the entire history of Israel. The ashes from just one of these sacrificial rites lasts for generations.

Even as I write this, all over the world there are farmers, Jewish and friends of the Jewish, who are actively trying to breed the perfect red heifer so that this ritual cleansing can be reinstituted.

The Jewish priestly line is ready. They know the who, what, when and where.

But the standard of near perfection for this cow is incredibly high. So despite all the effort to breed one, no red heifer has been found suitable. In the age of high technology, supercomputing and space travel, it’s strangely hard to believe that no one can produce an acceptable red cow.

In any case, this cow and the purification rite it supports, is important. It is generally agreed that, even if there were some way to overcome the political turmoil of middle eastern politics, the construction of a new temple in Jerusalem could not begin without the availability of ashes for the rite of purification. Those who wish to see a new Jewish temple in Israel must produce a red heifer to see their dreams fulfilled.

So, the anticipation of a suitable red heifer is itself almost messianic.

It’s curious how much political force and human history can hinge on the life of one medium sized animal.

Today I’ll make a thousand decisions. I wonder: Will the quality of the rest of my life will hinge on at least one of them?

I’d better find a savior.

“I tell you, on the day of judgment people will render an account for every careless word they speak” Matt 12:36

Tithes of Tithes

Num 18:25-19:4         11/29/2017

Although the Levites received the tithes of the Israelites as their pay, they were also required to tithe a tenth of their income. This “tithe of the tithe” went to the priests as their income.

The Priests had this exalted position. They did the important work of temple sacrifice. Yet they received as their income the tithe of the Levites, who received their income from the tithe of the Israelites.

So…the priests got paid last.

In ancient Israel, the priests performed the work that kept the community tied together. They mediated the relationship between God and the tribes. Without this, the tribes would divide, fall apart, and the people would lose their identity as a part of the Chosen People.

Jesus once told a parable about a man who hired workers to work in his field. He hired some at the beginning of the day and some later in the morning, and some at noon, and some late in the afternoon. At the end of the day he paid them all the same wage – causing those who had worked longest to complain.

That’s still how it is. Scientists have shown that if you give two well fed chimps a different reward for performing the same task while they are together – one will refuse what they perceive to be the less valuable reward.

Envy is in the animals – it doesn’t come to us from the highest human capacity. It is not part of the spirit.

The reward of building up the Authentic Community is my participation in the Authentic Community. But if I think it’s something else, I’ll consider the most important possibility of my life to be of little consequence.

“‘Are you envious because I am generous?’ Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.” Matt 20:15-16

Tithes to Levites

Num 18:16-24         11/28/2017

In speaking to Aaron the High Priest, God assigned the tithe to the Levites because they were not to inherit land. Instead, the tithe was theirs as compensation for their work at the tent of meeting.

Interdependence is the heart of a successful community. When every individual is strong, when every person is creating value, when everyone is fully engaged; the community is strong. Naturally robust and resilient; everyone is mutually invested in the success of the other.

The tithe is at the heart of Israel as an interdependent community.

God made this promise to the Levites: He would provide for them. He intended to provide for them through the tithe that the rest of the Israelites brought in from their fields and their enterprises.

It’s almost as though the people who were tithing were the means by which God would fulfill His promise to the priests and Levites. If the people were unfaithful, then the priests and the Levites would starve. This moment of interdependence is absolute.

Interdependence done in truth is interpersonal faithfulness. It is the commitment that each person makes to see others in the community as persons – to be just and perhaps even more than just; to cherish.

For the Israelites, to pay the tithe is to cherish the person of God, and to invest in those to whom He has made promises.

There is but one Authentic Community.

This has not changed.

“You shall not muzzle the ox when it is threshing” 1 Tim 5:18

Aaron’s Portion

Num 18:7-15         11/27/2017

God described to Aaron what his portion of the sacrifices and offerings would be.

First partaker.

It is written that the farmer is the first partaker of the crops. There is a certain obvious and necessary justice in this way of things.

Not that a farmer should fight for the right. It’s never been about rights. It’s the necessity of it.

You cannot consciously affect the good, the true or the beautiful without participating in it.

This is our confidence. This is an assurance.

Neither in my youth, nor now in old age have I seen the righteous one abandoned or his offspring begging for bread Psalm 37:25

God and Aaron

Num 17:25-18:6         11/26/2017

Although God had principally spoken to Aaron through Moses, or else in the presence of Moses, God began to speak to Aaron directly. In this conversation, He formally “gives” the service of the Levites to Aaron as a gift.

Being alone with God.

Always Moses around. First as a messenger of God’s word to Aaron and others. Later, as co-recipient of God’s messages. Now God is speaking directly and plainly to Aaron – no one else is around.

Intimidating.

Listening Prayer: It’s really easy it is to sit and “listen” with no real anticipation of hearing. I’m OK with taking a little vacation from the droning stream of objects made ever present to me by my brain.

But am I really ready to hear this word when it comes?

I suppose it’s about capacity. We all live, at least to some extent, in God’s grace. But who is prepared to act on it?

“the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps” Matt 25:4