What it felt like to be scolded by God
“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching"
By Steve Hall
The Scriptures are replete with such failures/inadequacies/foibles/sins committed by those who are the apparent stars of the narrative. From this fact we should be reminded of more than a few things.
Tuesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Numbers 12:1-13
Matthew 14:22-36
What’s your earliest memory?
We all remember something from our youth — some of us recall earlier events than others. As our lives go on, more and more memories are added, but at the same time, more and more memories are forgotten or filed in a “memory folder,” and we’ve forgotten which one.
On the other hand, some memories hang with us through the years. Some are retained because of their usefulness and never seem to age, such as the memory of riding a bike. Others seem to stick around because, for some reason, known or unknown, they were or are important to us. Still others that are insignificant remain readily available, but usually hang out on the fringes of our memory files. Then there are those memories we would genuinely like to forget, but can only do so temporarily.
And finally, there are those memories whose impact was too significant to be forgotten. These memories might include personal things as well as public events like the assassination of President Kennedy or the attack on New York’s twin towers. It is this group of events that come to mind when we say: “I’ll never forget where I was when... “
Is it unlikely, then, that some of what is recorded in Scripture should also include some things that were unforgettable even when some or all of the participants wish they were? The description of Miriam and Aaron’s encounter with God at the meeting tent had to have been embarrassing, to say the least. I can’t even imagine what it would feel like to be personally scolded by God. I’m sure both would have preferred that the incident had been confined to the deepest part of “forgotten.”
Nevertheless, the human author of Numbers was moved by the Spirit to put it in. This is a good place to remember the teaching of Paul to Timothy: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness … “ (2 Timothy 3:16) What is written in the Scriptures never has as its purpose the denigration or acclaim of a human person even though we might draw one of those two conclusions.
Similarly, we have the New Testament account, which would have been embarrassing to Peter. WOW! Walking on water! Such a wonder must have been astounding to the disciples in the boat. What was it that moved Peter to make his request? How foolish he must have felt when that initial success began to fizzle out.
The Scriptures are replete with such failures/inadequacies/foibles/sins committed by those who are the apparent stars of the narrative. From this fact, we should be reminded of more than a few things. Among these reminders are the following: The people of God, even those most acclaimed, are not perfect, so it is foolish to discard the church because it has hypocrites or sinners in it. Second, the Scriptures are only secondarily a history of a people. Instead, they are a history of God among men. And third, in a culture (meaning most human cultures) that idealizes its heroes, the inclusion of these failures/inadequacies/foibles/sins practically certifies their authenticity.
A final note here is appropriate.
Not all Biblical incidents in the New Testament are recorded in all four Gospels. This one is recorded in three, Matthew, Mark, and John. Why not Luke? After all, this was a remarkable event. We can only conjecture, but the omission may be related to the fact that Luke wasn’t there. Matthew and John would both have been on the boat.
Mark was Peter’s companion, and, of course, Peter was on the boat. Luke, however, was Paul’s associate. Neither he nor Paul was on the boat, and so this ‘private’ incident could not get independent verification. This, too, confirms the authenticity of the text.