I’m in charge here!!
In all things, put your faith in the Lord. He IS in charge here.
Moses has distinguished himself as the leader of the Israelites, delivering them from Egypt at God’s command. At the start of this task, Moses told God that he did not have the gift of speech that would be needed to deliver God’s message to Pharaoh. God directed Moses to use his older brother Aaron as the messenger. Miriam was the older sister of both Moses and Aaron. She became known as “the Prophet Miriam.” They complained, “Is it through Moses alone that the LORD speaks? Does he not speak through us also?” And the LORD heard this. Our readings today help us understand that we don’t need to “be in charge here” to be part of the solution.
Tuesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Numbers 12:1-13
Matthew 14:22-36
“I’M in charge here!” the voice bellowed in the hallway. “No, I’M in charge here!” blasted back a different voice, apparently quite a distance away from where my brother was sitting. I wonder what’s going on, he thought to himself.
Dave had a consulting job with the Indiana Department of Motor Vehicles. His job was to design the architecture for the electronic check processing system to be used by the DMV offices around the state to facilitate payment processing for vehicle registration, license plates, and driver’s licenses, among other things.
It is common for legislatively appropriated funds to arrive at unpredictable times. Once funds reach the department account, notifications are automatically sent to key personnel. It was one of those email blasts that had triggered the shouting match in the hallway; several managers were posturing for their share (or more than their share) of the new pile of cash in their DMV bank account to assure that their individual projects got the funding that they wanted.
A more clearly defined process for the internal distribution of received funds would have reduced the need for the ranting and raving, because the REAL person in charge would have already put guidelines in place for actions to be taken upon receiving payments from the state.
What does this have to do with a reflection on today’s readings?
Let me share some background details that provide context for that reading from Chapter 12 of the Book of Numbers. In addition to the Lord God himself, this Old Testament reading includes Moses, his older sister Miriam, and his older brother Aaron.
Moses has distinguished himself as the leader of the Israelites, delivering them from Egypt at God’s command. At the start of this task, Moses told God that he did not have the gift of speech that would be needed to deliver God’s message to Pharaoh. God directed Moses to use his older brother Aaron as the messenger. This worked out well, with God giving detailed instructions to Moses on what to tell Aaron to do and speak. Aaron would continue in this service through the first three of the ten plagues that God inflicted on Egypt. At that point, Moses had gained the confidence to deliver messages to Pharaoh himself.
Moses continued to talk to God directly, most notably receiving the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. Aaron is appointed as the first High Priest of the Israelites, and subsequent High Priests had to be direct descendants of Aaron. The High Priest played a unique role in the worship conducted in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple in Jerusalem and was recognized as the head of the Israelite priesthood. That didn’t keep Aaron from doing wrong. You may remember it was Aaron who led the efforts to create the “Golden Calf” at the request of the Israelites. This enraged Moses, and God was plenty upset, too. Moses convinces the Lord not to lay waste to the Israelites and start over with a new set of chosen ones. Aaron continues as the High Priest and a leader of those making the Exodus from Egypt.
Miriam was the older sister of both Moses and Aaron. She became known as “the Prophet Miriam” when she led the Israelite women in song following the successful crossing of the parted Red Sea and its subsequent entrapment of the Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and horsemen in Exodus 15.
Today’s first reading from Numbers 12 made me think of the DMV project managers asserting their importance to get preferential treatment. We have Miriam and Aaron speaking against Moses. It initially appears that they are complaining about his marriage to a Cushite woman. Is it because she is a black woman and not “like them”? They don’t dwell on the details because this was, as noted, a pretext, or something to call attention to Miriam and Aaron’s real problem.
They complained, “Is it through Moses alone that the LORD speaks? Does he not speak through us also?” And the LORD heard this. [Numbers 12:2]
Not unlike trying to claim, “WE’RE in charge here!” or at least we are on equal footing with Moses. But that does not seem to be the case.
So at once the LORD said to Moses and Aaron and Miriam: “Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.” And the three of them went. Then the LORD came down in a column of cloud, and standing at the entrance of the tent, called, “Aaron and Miriam.” When both came forward, the LORD said: “Now listen to my words: If there are prophets among you, in visions I reveal myself to them, in dreams I speak to them; Not so with my servant Moses! Throughout my house he is worthy of trust: face to face I speak to him, plainly and not in riddles. The likeness of the LORD he beholds. Why, then, do you not fear to speak against my servant Moses?” [Numbers 12:4-8]
God has delivered a stark answer to how the LORD speaks to Miriam and Aaron and how he speaks to Moses:
Miriam and Aaron, in their role as prophets to the Israelites, get their messages from God in visions and dreams.
Moses speaks face to face with the LORD, plainly and not in riddles, and is trusted in all matters.
I guess that means Moses is in charge here!
Should you fear speaking against the LORD’s servant, Moses? Yes, that seems to be the case:
So angry was the LORD against them that when he departed, and the cloud withdrew from the tent, there was Miriam, a snow-white leper! When Aaron turned and saw her a leper, he said to Moses, “Ah, my lord! Please do not charge us with the sin that we have foolishly committed! Let her not thus be like the stillborn babe that comes forth from its mother’s womb with its flesh half consumed.” Then Moses cried to the LORD, “Please, not this! Pray, heal her!” [Numbers 12:10-13]
It probably wasn’t leprosy, but had the unnaturally pale white colored skin of a leper or stillborn baby. It may have been a “think about this” moment from God regarding the initial complaint about Moses and his black-skinned wife. You have to read the last three verses of this chapter to find out that the LORD made the condition last for 7 days, during which Miriam was isolated from the community. After she was taken back, the Israelites continued on their journey.
The Gospel reading today is from Matthew's version of Jesus walking on water. It starts with Jesus staying behind to pray after sending his disciples out in a boat into what becomes a rough, windblown night. Somewhere after 3 am, Jesus is seen walking towards the boat.
When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified. “It is a ghost,” they said, and they cried out in fear. At once Jesus spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” Peter said to him in reply, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened; and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” After they got into the boat, the wind died down. Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying, “Truly, you are the Son of God.” [Matthew 14:26-33]
“It’s a ghost!” might be roughly synonymous with “I’m NOT in charge here!”
“Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” This sounds like something someone in control of the situation would say. THIS is the “I AM in charge here!” moment.
Reflect on Exodus 3:14: God replied to Moses: I am who I am. Then he added: This is what you will tell the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.
Recall that Peter replied to Jesus, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” There is a problem here from the beginning: the “if” word. A qualifier that suggests at least a degree of doubt. When Jesus replies “Come,” Peter does remarkably well until he becomes distracted by the wind and waves. He loses focus. Peter starts to sink. He cries out, “Lord, save me!”
Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” [Matthew 14:31]
That’s almost like saying, “Peter, you were SO close!”
The Gospel continues: After they got into the boat, the wind died down. Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying, “Truly, you are the Son of God.” [Matthew 14:32-33]
They recognized “who’s in charge here”.
Our takeaway message for today is a bit of a two-fer:
Understand that you don’t need to “be in charge here” to be part of the solution.
In all things, put your faith in the Lord. He IS in charge here.