Sermon
for Pentecost 18, September 22, 2024
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort. Amen.
Numbers 12:1-15 Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses
because of the Cushite woman he had married (for he had married a Cushite
woman). 2They said, “Has the
Lord really spoken only through Moses? Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” The Lord heard this. 3(Now the man Moses was very
humble, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.) 4Right then the Lord spoke
suddenly to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “You three come out to the Tent of
Meeting!” The three of them came out. 5The Lord came down in a pillar of
cloud and stood at the entrance to the tent. He called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came
forward. 6He said, “Now
listen to my words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, will make
myself known to him in a vision. In a
dream I will speak with him. 7Not
so, however, with my servant Moses. He
is faithful in my whole household. 8With
him I speak face-to-face, clearly, and not in riddles. He sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against
my servant, against Moses?” 9The
Lord’s anger burned against them, and he left. 10The cloud went up from above the
tent, and immediately Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. Aaron turned to Miriam and saw that she was
leprous. 11Aaron said to
Moses, “My lord, please do not hold this sin against us. We have acted foolishly. We have sinned. 12Please do not let her be like a
stillborn infant that comes out of its mother’s womb with its flesh half-eaten
away.” 13Moses cried out to
the Lord, “God, please heal her, please!” 14The Lord said to Moses, “If her
father had merely spit in her face, would she not be disgraced for seven days? Have her confined outside of the camp for
seven days, and after that she can be brought back in.” 15Miriam was confined outside of
the camp for seven days, and the people did not set out until Miriam was
brought back in. (EHV)
Dear fellow redeemed,
The events in this text could probably be described as a
teachable moment. Certainly, for Miriam
and Aaron, and for the whole house of Israel, this should have served to teach
them God’s ways. For you and me, as
well, God’s reaction to this seemingly minor rebellion testifies to us how
seriously God takes our disobedience and sin, but this scene also demonstrates
His mercy to the repentant sinner.
Therefore, we say, Praise God for His mercy.
At first
glance, this dispute might seem rather minor.
A prominent woman is upset with her younger brother. The problem here, however, is that Miriam’s
complaint is completely invalid, and her sin involves several layers of
rebellion against God. Whenever we study
the Ten Commandments in our confirmation classes, it quickly becomes clear that
our actions often violate more than one command. Such is the case with Miriam.
Miriam,
the prophetess who had led the Israelite women in praising God after their
rescue from the Egyptian army, became guilty of prejudice (or irrational
judgment) against Moses’ wife. She was
jealous of Moses’ rank, envious of his authority, slanderous of his good name,
and rebellious against what Moses taught at the Lord’s command. Likewise, her brother, Aaron, became complicit
in her sin by listening to her without correcting the accusations.
As I
said, this text must serve as a teaching moment for us. It would be easy for us to look down on
Miriam for her weakness. Some might
prejudicially judge her and condemn all women as similarly weak, but that is
not the intention here. We might,
however, criticize Aaron for his lack of leadership, for he was granted the
role of High Priest in Israel. By God’s
choice, Aaron was placed in that leadership position in which he was to teach
and intercede for God’s people.
Obviously, he fell down on the job just as he had earlier when the
people demanded an idol to worship.
Yet, this
text would serve us poorly if we only judged others based on Miriam and Aaron’s
weaknesses. God’s law was given
primarily as a mirror to show us our sins, and since this incident is clearly
picturing God’s response to rebellion, we would best use it to examine
ourselves.
Therefore,
we each need to look deeply into our own rebellions against the authorities
placed over us. How often, in our youth,
did we rebel against our parents, teachers, or others who were put in authority
over us? How often do we still today
desire to shave the rules a little bit in our favor? How often do we treat those in authority with
disrespect, slander, anger, or false accusations?
As we
look into our personal mirrors, how often do we find ourselves prejudiced
against other people simply because of their genealogy, skin color, accent, of
family background? It wasn’t very long
ago that for a Norwegian to marry a German, Italian, or Swede might have caused
anxiety in the family. What lack of faith
do we still show simply because someone is different than ourselves?
More
importantly than any other fault, how often do we find ourselves questioning
what is written in the Bible because it doesn’t fit our personal preference? There are many people who claim to be
Christians, yet they want to bend what the Scriptures say. Have the difficulties presented by close
communion caused you to question what Paul wrote in his letter to the
Corinthians? Maybe more personally, does
the role of men and women presented in the Scriptures cause us irritation
simply because our modern feelings seek something supposedly more equal? Have any of us ever complained about a
pastor, not because he taught false doctrine, but because we simply didn’t like
the way he said something, or perhaps because we thought he should be better at
something?
Don’t
worry, dear friends, I am not up here challenging you because of anything I
have seen in you personally. Rather, I
am primarily examining myself. How often
I have fallen short of perfection in these matters is deeply troubling to my
confessional faith. If we are honest,
these faults, like every sin, are common to every person on earth. Even the most pious person falls short of
perfection.
Having
said that we all fall short doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter. When Miriam and Aaron complained against
Moses, it wasn’t Moses who called them to task; it was God Himself who heard
their evil rebellion and God Himself who brought them before His
judgement. Again, this teachable moment
shows us that we can’t hide any of our guilt from God. We might perhaps keep our wickedness hidden
from our loved ones or even those who offend us. They might not hear our muttering,
complaining, and conspiracies. Our
government officials, pastors, and teachers won’t catch all our faults. But there is no hiding from God and His
all-knowing, all-seeing, all hearing perfection. Like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and
Miriam and Aaron here, God always knows our guilt before He accuses.
On the
other side of the coin, though, here we see how God has provided someone to
intercede for us. In Miriam and Aaron’s
case, it was Moses, the same Moses they wanted to judge, who in humble faith, after
the Lord laid severe consequences on her for her rebellion, pleaded with God to
heal Miriam. This same Moses, who God
called the humblest man on earth, didn’t react angrily to Miriam’s haughty
challenge, nor did he turn away gloating at her punishment.
We should
now also recognize that Aaron returned to the role God had planned for him as
priest for Israel. The chief role of the
priest was to intercede for the people.
When Aaron saw the plague God put on Miriam for her rebellion, he
immediately repented of his own sin as co-conspirator and pleaded for mercy for
Miriam as well. Likewise, gentle Moses
never sought punishment for his accusers, but rather, he immediately pleaded
with God for mercy for their sister.
Now,
before we get to the conclusion, we should note that there are often
consequences for our sins. Some want to
ask why God allows bad things to happen to people, but bad things happen
because of sin. Sometimes, it is others
who suffer for the sins committed, and then our judicial system tries to
rebalance the guilt. By that I mean that
if a person pulls the trigger, drives drunk, or does other foolish things that
hurt or kill people, the victim certainly suffers the consequences. Yet, the jails are here so that the guilty
will also suffer a consequence for his faults.
Therefore,
we need to understand that God doesn’t let sin go unpunished. No, He doesn’t always inflict immediate
punishment on the guilty, for if He did, none of us would live. Just as Peter was moved to write by the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “The Lord is not slow to do what he
promised, as some consider slowness. Instead,
he is patient for your sakes, not wanting anyone to perish, but all to come to
repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) God made
it clear throughout His Word that sin’s reward is death. Yet, God has shown unlimited patience and
mercy toward us in two ways. First, He
doesn’t punish us as we deserve. Second,
and most importantly, God gave a Savior to intercede for us, but even before
that, to bear the punishment we all deserved, so that we could be forgiven and
restored to peace with God. Thus, by the
power of the Holy Spirit, the apostle John testified, “For out of his
fullness we have all received grace upon grace.
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus
Christ.” (John 1:16-17)
Therefore,
when Moses was sent by God to rescue Egypt from their slavers, he was also put
in the position of bringing the law that showed their need, and ours, for a
Savior. Consequently, in His love for
us, God didn’t leave us condemned but instead, He sent His Son to bear the
eternal consequence for the sins of us all.
Jesus dealt with the devil hoard that both tempted and accused us. Jesus bore the burden of death that the
rebellions and accusations we throw around deserve.
Then,
just as Moses interceded for his sister, Miriam, and God restored her, so Jesus
intercedes for those who by faith in Him have been made His brothers and
sisters. For you and me and all those
who trust in Christ, Jesus is interceding with His Father in heaven, so that we
are counted holy and worthy to be restored into the fellowship of the kingdom
of God.
Dear
friends, Miriam and Aaron were taught a harsh lesson for their foolish attack
on Moses. The price they paid was a
scolding and a temporary banishment for Miriam.
You might say, they got off easy, but we all got off easy when it comes
to sin against our God and Savior, because we “all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God publicly displayed as the
atonement seat through faith in his blood.” (Romans 3:23-25) Justified freely means that God has forgiven
all our sins for Jesus’ sake. There is
nothing we must do to reconcile ourselves with God for He accomplished that
completely through the life and sacrifice of His Son. Praise God for His mercy. Amen.
The peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in
Christ Jesus. Amen.
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