Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
Time After Pentecost-Lectionary 26 September 27, 2015
“The rabble among them had a strong craving…” You might remember the rabble from Cecil B. DeMille’s movie The Ten Commandments. Charleston Heston portrayed Moses. The rabble were represented by Edward G. Robinson. Robinson’s famous line from the movie asked, “Yeah, Moses, where is your God now?” The rabble were the people on the journey but who did not believe in the journey, and in our reading this morning, they are instigators.
It only takes a few people to get the whole group grumbling. Before you know it, they all were sighing, “Oh, if only we had meat to eat!” You might remember that the last time they complained, God gave them manna, which is like bread. Manna literally means, “What is it?” But the Israelites remembered the good old days of fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onion and garlic. Since leaving Egypt, they ate manna, boiled, fried or baked. Nothing but manna, and no Manna Helper.
Moses heard the people crying outside of their tents, and once again he was in a triangle between the people and God. God got very angry, and then Moses just snapped! He said to God, “Why are you doing this to me? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? These kids aren’t even mine! Did I give birth to them? Where am I going to get meat for them to eat? I can’t carry all these people by myself, they are too heavy! If this is how you are going to treat me, just kill me instead.”
Moses was burned out! Hear him: “I cannot carry them all alone. They are too heavy for me!” Moses’ feelings are not unique to him, or unique to his time. When have you felt that you had more responsibility than you can handle? When have you felt God has given you a heavy burden to bear? We are living in that kind of society where there is too much to do, and we are taught that it is all up to us, each person individually. Our responsibilities can be overwhelming.
What is recommended for us to do just to take care of ourselves properly is a full time job. If we are providing care for children, spouses or parents, that caring becomes a priority, and there is more to do. We who are called by God to live out our baptisms and follow Jesus feel responsibility for people we don’t even know, while the rabble around us tell us to look out only for ourselves.
I invite you to come to a Social Ministry Coordinating Committee meeting. There you will hear commitment to helping those in need. This week, we heard from the director of a Lutheran program called, “Grace Inside.” Grace Inside seeks to provide ministry for those in prison. Pastor Lynn Litchfield came to tell us stories of women in prison. She told us about a woman she called “Hope” who was incarcerated for two years on felony charges for stealing $210 worth of food to feed her children after her husband had died.
Lutheran World Relief and Lutheran Disaster Response, both of whom are engaged in helping those fleeing war and crisis in Northern Africa, Syria and Afghanistan. Our quilters sew quilts that make it around the world, maybe even to the refugees from Europe and the Middle East. Not only will these quilts provide warmth, they will also wrap someone in hope and love.
Did you see the newspaper picture of some of our members and our Lutheran Student Association working to revitalize a playground for the Grove community. Avalon, which helps victims of abuse, and Harbor, the new day shelter for homeless people in Williamsburg are among those we support. Our motel ministries, which is our program of feeding the homeless, has two teams of people. All of these efforts require not simply financial support but our physical involvement as well.
There are many that we support spiritually, financially and through volunteer efforts, both as a church, and you as individuals. But as many as we help, there are more who need it. Family, friends, the world, there are so many who need help. The need will always exceed our capacity to meet it. Yes, the burden can be overwhelming, but it is impossible for us to put down.
Despite Moses’ dramatic diatribe, there is blessing in the burden. Moses’ journey across the desert proved to be one of building trust in God, trust that God will be there, trust that God provides, and trust in God’s wisdom. God has been faithful, not only freeing the Israelites from slavery, but also providing them manna to eat every day. God has given them what they need. God is faithful.
Just as there is blessing in the burden, there is blessing in burn out. Moses had felt all alone and triangulated as a leader. It took a near-breakdown for Moses to go to God, and with honest weariness say, “I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me.”
When Moses had reached the end of his rope, and came before God honestly, God responded, not to Moses’ request to die, but to his exhaustion. “Go. Gather for me 70 people and have them stand with you. I will take some of the spirit that is on you and put it on them; and they shall bear the burden of the people along with you so that you will not bear it all by yourself.” God did not create an organizational hierarchy, but instead called for sharing of spirit.
God does not want, and God does not expect us to bear heavy things by ourselves. It is the community that comes together, sharing in the Holy Spirit, who supports each of us when we cannot go it alone. It is the community who comes together to help care for each other, for the homeless, for the sick, for refuges, for those in prison, for the poor. We cannot meet all the world’s needs, and so we join with other communities.
God did not let Moses off the hook. God did not say to Moses, “You can step down now and not be responsible.” God gave Moses help. The rabble still asks, “Yeah, Moses, where’s your God now?” God responds by being with him, and her, and them, and you, and me, empowering us to work together.
~Pastor Cheryl Ann Griffin