Leadership and leprosy

Today: Numbers 11-13

Today's passage had a lot of interesting things to read, think and write about. I could choose to write about Joshua and Caleb's excursion to the Promised Land--I've heard lots of sermons on that. I could talk about God's provision of quail to His people--another interesting part of the passage. But I thought I'd write about a strange part of the passage I've never heard anyone teach about before--when Moses' sister was cursed with leprosy.

Let's take another peek at the story:

Miriam and Aaron talked against Moses behind his back

because of his Cushite wife (he had married a Cushite woman).

They said, "Is it only through Moses that God speaks? Doesn't he also speak through us?"

God overheard their talk.
Now the man Moses was a quietly humble man,

more so than anyone living on Earth.

God broke in suddenly on Moses and Aaron and Miriam saying,

"Come out, you three, to the Tent of Meeting." The three went out.

God descended in a Pillar of Cloud and stood at the entrance to the Tent.

He called Aaron and Miriam to him.

When they stepped out, he said,

"Listen carefully to what I'm telling you.

If there is a prophet of God among you,

I make myself known to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams.

But I don't do it that way with my servant Moses;

he has the run of my entire house;

I speak to him intimately, in person, in plain talk without riddles:

He ponders the very form of God.

So why did you show no reverence or respect

in speaking against my servant, against Moses?

The anger of God blazed out against them. And then he left.
When the Cloud moved off from the Tent, oh! Miriam had turned leprous, her skin like snow.

This is a weird story. First of all, we don't know everything Miriam and Aaron were exactly saying about Moses or his wife. Secondly, I think it was strange that Miriam--only Miriam--was cursed with leprosy. Why not Aaron, too?

Here are a few of the things we do know: God's just. God hears, sees and knows everything. Miriam and Aaron were not only Moses' siblings, they were also leaders. God grants authority to leaders and wants people to respect authority He has established.

Another thing we learn from this story? God doesn't avoid confrontation. In fact, in this passage, God demonstrated the value of straight-up communication--by talking with Miriam and Aaron directly, He addressed His concerns and challenged their thinking.

To some extent, He may have been modeling the behavior He wanted them to follow (see Matthew 18:15-17). Instead of gossipping and griping behind Moses' back, as leaders, Miriam and Aaron should have gone to Moses directly to address their concerns (if they had anything legitimate)--with a spirit of love and a desire to resolve differences and maintain unity (for their sake and for the sake of the people they led together). My gut (and some of the context of this passage) tells me that their backbiting really came out of jealousy--perhaps more Miriam's jealously than Aaron's. Maybe that's why He delivered the mysterious consequence of (temporary) leprosy to Miriam alone.

I don't know if the last few sentences are true--only God knows our motives. Maybe that's one of the key take-aways from today's strange story: God knows our hearts. How we think and speak about people--in this case, leaders--matters to Him.

Tomorrow: Numbers 14-15

Clean and unclean

Today: Leviticus 11-13

All right...did you stick with the reading today?

It was tougher than most, I'll admit. Lots of commands and instructions for defining clean and unclean food and people. Thankfully, today, most Christians do not live under the religious nature of these laws--thank God for the New Testament and Christ's fulfillment of the law!

A few things stood out to me today. First, how holy and perfect God is--and the big gap that separates us imperfect human beings from Him. Secondly, I was thankful for God's grace and gift of salvation that "bridges the gap," so our eternal destinies are not based on following laws or not. Jesus fulfilled the law and if you have chosen Him as the leader and Lord of your life, you can walk in the freedom of His forgiveness. Beautiful.

As I read this passage, I also thought of Jesus' work with people in the New Testament. For example, how He interacted with lepers. According to the law, lepers were unclean people--people to be basically banished from their homes and families. Lepers were outcasts. They couldn't DARE come close to a Temple or a priest after being declared "unclean."

Contrast that with Jesus--God Himself--who walked up and physically touched lepers to heal them. Quite a different picture, right? Before Jesus, the lepers really couldn't connect with people except those who were also deemed unclean. Jesus' care and His simple touch changed that. It first gave them dignity and kindness. Then it changed their health, social status, and their eternal destinies forever.

Tomorrow: Leviticus 14-15

Patients and persistence

Today: Mark 1-3

I hate waiting. More specifically, I REALLY hate waiting at doctors' offices, hospitals or dentists' offices. They all have this weird...medicinal...smell (or maybe it's a smelly fish tank in the lobby?). And as much as I love reading magazines, why is it that at these medical offices, I still end up stuck with Sports Illustrated, Highlights or something utterly fascinating...like Chiropractic Today? (Note to self: Stash a copy of InStyle or People in your purse next time!)

Fact: I'm a patient without much patience.

The people Jesus encountered weren't like me. At all. Many of them waded through thick crowds just to touch Him. One guy in this passage had friends that tore off part of a roof just so they could lower him to Jesus. Some of the people in this passage are what Jesus called "sin-sick"--"disreputable" people who "unlikely as it seems" became His followers. But there's one guy, a leper, whose story spoke to me today:

A leper came to him, begging on his knees,

"If you want to, you can cleanse me."
Deeply moved, Jesus put out his hand, touched him, and said,

"I want to. Be clean."

Then and there the leprosy was gone,

his skin smooth and healthy.

The leper's words are interesting, "If you want to, you can cleanse me." I don't believe these words were spoken out of timidity, but confidence--like, "If you choose, I know you can heal me." The words and the heart "deeply moved" Jesus (Wow! What would that be like?). I love how in this story, Jesus doesn't just display His power, but His desire to heal the leper. There's a difference between the capability and the will to help others...and Jesus had both.

The next part of the story was also interesting:

Jesus dismissed him with strict orders:

"Say nothing to anyone.

Take the offering for cleansing

that Moses prescribed and present yourself to the priest.

This will validate your healing to the people."

But as soon as the man was out of earshot,

he told everyone he met what had happened,

spreading the news all over town.

So Jesus kept to out-of-the-way places,

no longer able to move freely in and out of the city.

But people found him, and came from all over.

Jesus asked the leper to stay quiet, but his joy was overwhelmingly contagious. He actually disobeyed Jesus' instruction...but I don't think Jesus was mad. He likely understood the leper's gratitude and joy. News of the leper's healing became so widespread that Jesus couldn't stay undercover. But was He ever meant to?

Tomorrow: Mark 4-5