From the Pastor

The Burden is Too Heavy - Oct. 2006

Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29

The Old Testament lesson for Sunday contains one of several stories where the Israelites, traveling with Moses toward the promised land, set up a moan-and-groan, gripe-and-complain session. Anyone who has ever spent months on a diet could probably sympathize with them. You could say they were "fed up" with manna. They wanted meat. Of course, they also wanted fish, cucumbers, watermelons, leeks, onions and garlic.

Interestingly enough, God not only had to put up with their griping He also heard from Moses: "Why have You brought this trouble on Your servant? What have I done to displease You that you put the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do You tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land You promised on oath to their forefathers? Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, 'Give us meat to eat!' I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. If this is how You are going to treat me, put me to death right now--if I have found favor in Your eyes--and do not let me face my own ruin."

The chances are that Moses thought his brilliant speech might get him out of his thankless job, but God seems to take it like just one more complaint in the office suggestion box. Of all things, God takes him literally and decides he should have 70 helpers! (God always does abundantly more than we ask) Moses chooses them and assembles them. Then God pours His Spirit into them and, "voila," 70 new prophets to help share the flak!

Actually, two of the chosen elders hadn't made it to the gathering when the Spirit hit them. They were still back in the camp. When the word reached Moses and Joshua that two fellows were back there filled with the Spirit and acting like prophets, Joshua immediately wanted Moses to stop them. Perhaps he thought they would steal some of Moses', or maybe his own, thunder. Maybe he thought they were faking. Whatever he thought, he apparently jumped to the wrong conclusion. Moses was happy for the help wherever it was. In fact, Moses said he would be happy if God conferred His Spirit on all the people. And that is exactly what happened many, many years later as the prophet Joel testified.

The lessons in these lessons are fascinating. I could write a sermon on the importance of quieting our "grasshopper" instinct to jump at obvious but inaccurate conclusions. I could write another about religious intolerance--the attitude that attempts to silence all those who do not say the things we say and do the things we do, in the way we say and do them. I could probably write a book on the rest of the Gospel lesson, but my attention is drawn right now to the complaints and wishes of Moses.

As a parish pastor I often feel like Moses. The burden is too heavy for me. I feel so woefully inadequate as a pastor of God’s people. I can not properly care for all of these people, and as a result some people fall by the wayside. They back slide, become inactive, and then soon leave the church. Because I cannot care for everybody, I have to pick and choose who to care for and I don’t even do that, because it’s those with immediate needs that demand all my attention. And if you don’t make those needs known to me, than how am I supposed to know, and how am I suppose to minister?

On one hand I am suppose to go into all the world and preach the Gospel, yet I can’t do that because there are so many that need to grow in their faith here in this place, lest they fall away. On one hand I’d like to visit with each and every one of you and bring you encouragement from God’s word on the other hand I need to have a powerful and relevant multimedia sermon that will keep the attention of media rich modern audience, and that takes a lot of time to research and come up with. On one hand I want to spend time with the senior members of the church whose health is failing them and on the other hand I don’t want to neglect the young families who struggle with priorities and feel they are being pulled in every direction. And then there are the young adults whose simple confirmation instruction at age thirteen and fourteen does not seem to be enough to keep them in the faith during their impressionable years in university. And then there are the men of our congregation who are so gifted and so skilled and yet they are almost completely untapped as a resource in the building of God’s kingdom. And then there are all those people, new people, people that God is lining up to come be a part of this Church that I haven’t got the time to make even a contact with. The burden is too heavy for me!

I understand completely what Jesus said when he said the people are like sheep without a shepherd. It is not easy to believe in this day and age. The temptations of this world are great. I understand what Moses felt like when he said the burden is too heavey for him. God has called me to lead and care for His people. And although I know that God is the author and perfector of our faith, and that there is nothing within us that can save us, I also realize that God has chosen to work through means of grace, His Word and His sacraments, that that is what gives us faith and keeps us in the faith by the power of His Holy Spirit. Yet I also know that we grieve or quench the Holy Spirit too often. We do not do the things that God calls us to do to remain faithful and fruitful. We become lax in our spiritual disciplines like reading God’s life giving Word or attending His worship, and we are also tempted with other activities.

So I see myself in the place of Moses, where do you see yourself? As the people of Israel ? As the rabble? Maybe? But I want you to see something else. There is another group of people in this text. They are the 70 of Israel ’s elder’s. Are you part of the rabble, or are you not part of the called out group, the seventy elders? Has God not called you out of a life of complaining, blessed you with riches that are eternal and commissioned you in your baptism to be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, a people set apart to declare the wonderful deeds of our Saviour, who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light? Did not God say to you, “Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.?” Did not Jesus send 70 disciples out during his earthly ministry? And has His Spirit not called, gathered, enlightened, and sanctified you? I believe the answer is ‘yes’.

God gave Moses seventy helpers. Moses didn’t want to be alone in his care and keeping of the people so God gave him seventy helpers! Moses picked them and God enabled them with His Spirit. And the Bible says they prophesied. To prophecy does not mean to tell the future. It means to speak forth the Word of God. Where the Word of God is preached, there is faith and thanksgiving, not doubt and complaining.

Now there is a little twist in the story. Remember two of the elders did not make it to the tent meeting, but remained in the camp. The Spirit came upon them and they prophesied as well. Joshua didn’t like that and protested, but Moses’s reaction is fascinating, “I wish that ALL the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit on them!”

Fortunately, the first half of his wish has never come true. It would be terribly boring if everybody had the same gift, the gift of prophesying. It would also be very confusing when the people of God got together and everyone was talking and prophesying at the same time. The second half of Moses' wish has come true in the New Testament Church. For we have all received God's Spirit.

Jesus illustrated the point by talking about someone offering a cup of water in His name. We can learn some very important lessons from this teaching. The one who serves Communion, the one who washes the vessels and the one who serves coffee to the Bible Class are all serving God with the gifts He has given them.

It is a great blessing when the Executive Director of the congregation and janitor, the acolyte and the elder, treasurer and plumber, food pantry server and church builder, greeter and Sunday school teacher, youth counselor and usher, secretary and soloist, all see their roles as opportunities to use their gifts in service to God and each other. It is an equal, if not greater, blessing when no one or group of them sees any position, task or gift as greater, more important, more God-pleasing or more worthy of praise than any other.

What Joshua failed to see is that the real tragedy would be if people received the gift of prophecy or any other gift for that matter in Christ's name, and did not use it. That is the greater tragedy and that is what the book of James is all about—our other scripture readings this past month. James is encouraging all of us, God’s people, to act like God’s people, to be part of the solution, not part of the problem, to live a life of thanksgiving rather than a life of complaining, to let the Spirit of God so move us that all our lives are filled with good works that bring honour and glory to the name of God.

The tragedy that is rampant in Christian churches today is that people who have received the Holy Spirit, who have talents, gifts, training and skills to use in the Kingdom, the world and their own congregations are not using them to serve anyone but themselves and perhaps their families. They are spectators, consumers, users, receivers, but in no way participants, workers and givers. Worse than that, some of us are faultfinders and conclusion-jumpers. Like Joshua and the disciples, we are too busy interfering with the good works of others to do any of our own. Ouch!

Jesus gave His life for all people of every race, nation and language. He rose victoriously from the grave and, before He ascended back to His Father, He commissioned His church to tell all those people, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. As a Church we are to bring Christ to the nations, the rabble, the world in which we live.

There is an old, but very appropriate, saying that can guide Christians in their search for ways to use their gifts in Christ's mission. The saying is: "Find a need and fill it." Just as Jesus is the One who gave us the Great Commission, so also He is the One who promised at its conclusion to be with us to the end of the age. He is the One who guides, provides resources and empowers His people to accomplish His work in the world. We are part of the problem, but we are also part of the solution. God grant us the strength to help.

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