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July 26, 2009
Onward
or Backwards
by
Rev. Mary Currie
Exodus 18:5-27; Numbers 10:29-32
And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to
where Moses had put up his tent in the waste land, by the mountain of God. And he said to Moses, I, your
father-in-law, have come to you, with your wife and your two sons. And Moses went out to his father-in-law,
and went down on his face before him and gave him a kiss; and they said to
one another, Are you well? and they came into the tent. And Moses gave his father-in-law an
account of all the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians because of
Israel, and of all the troubles which
had come on them by the way, and how the Lord had given them salvation.
Then Jethro was glad because the
Lord had been good to Israel, freeing them from the power of
the Egyptians. And Jethro said,
Praise be to the Lord, who has taken you out of the hand of Pharaoh and out
of the hand of the Egyptians; freeing the people from the yoke of the
Egyptians. Now I am certain that the
Lord is greater than all gods, for he has overcome them in their
pride. Then Jethro, Moses'
father-in-law, made a burned offering to God: and Aaron came, with the chiefs
of Israel, and had a meal with Moses'
father-in-law, before God.
Now the next day, Moses took his
seat to give decisions for the people: and the people were waiting before
Moses from morning till evening.
And when Moses' father-in-law saw all he was doing, he said, What is
this you are doing for the people? why are you seated here by yourself,
with all the people waiting before you from morning till evening? And Moses said, Because the people come
to me to get directions from God:
And if they have any question between themselves, they come to me,
and I am judge between a man and his neighbor, and I give them the orders
and laws of God.
But Jethro said to him, What you
are doing is not good. Your strength
and that of the people will be completely used up: this work is more than
you are able to do by yourself.
Listen now to my suggestion, and may God be with you: you are to be
the people's representative before God, taking their causes to him: Teaching them his rules and his laws,
guiding them in the way they have to go, and making clear to them the work
they have to do. But
for the rest, take from among the people able men, such as have the fear of
God, true men hating profits wrongly made; and put such men over them, to
be captains of thousands, captains of hundreds and of fifties and of
tens; And let them be judges in the
causes of the people at all times: and let them put before you all
important questions, but in small things let them give decisions
themselves: in this way, it will be less hard for you, and they will take
the weight off you. If you do this,
and God gives approval, then you will be able to go on without weariness,
and all this people will go to their tents in peace.
So Moses took note of the words
of his father-in-law, and did as he had said. And he made selection of able men out of
all Israel, and made them heads over the
people, captains of thousands, captains of hundreds and of fifties and of
tens. And they were judges in the
causes of the people at all times: the hard questions they put before
Moses; but on every small point they gave decisions themselves. And Moses let his father-in-law go away,
and he went back to his land.
Same
story, second verse
Now in the second year, on the
twentieth day of the second month, the cloud was taken up from over the
Tent of witness. And the children of
Israel went on their journey out of
the waste land of Sinai; and the cloud came to rest in
the waste land of Paran. They went forward for the first time on
their journey as the Lord had given orders by the hand of Moses
Then Moses said to Hobab, the
son of his father-in-law Reuel the Midianite, We are journeying to that
place of which the Lord has said, I will give it to you: so come with us,
and it will be for your profit: for the Lord has good things in store for Israel. But he said, I will not go with you, I
will go back to the land of my birth and to my relations. And he said, Do not go from us; for you
will be eyes for us, guiding us to the right places in the waste land to put
up our tents. And if you come with
us, we will give you a part in whatever good the Lord does for us.
Exodus 18:5-27; Numbers
10:29-32
A
follower of God does more than just believe. A follower of God is willing to leave the
past behind and dare to march forward to meet the coming Lord.
Moses
father-in-law, Jethro–also called Reuel–was a Midianite priest. Yet he recognized the God of Abraham.
Isaac and Moses as the true God. He
blessed and worshiped the Lord there in the wilderness of Sinai when he and
his sons brought Moses his wife and children to join them on the journey to
the promised land. Jethro was holy
and he was wise: He brought Moses the gift of delegation that more might be
done among the people. But when
Moses invited him to join the children of Israel on the adventure toward the promises of God,
Jethro turned away.
Isn’t
that interesting? At least one son
and his daughter and grandchildren stayed with Moses. Jethro rejoiced that God was leading and
protecting the Israelites, and he was convinced God was leading them to a
better future. But still he turned
around and went home to be a priest to idols that were no gods, even though
he was convinced that the Lord alone was God, the God who was saving and
leading Israel. He turned
around to return to a people who did not recognize the Lord. He went home, even after God had used
Jethro to teach Moses and help accomplish his will and his way. Jethro did not seek the future of God and
the promises God held out before him, for Jethro was too deeply rooted in
his past to accept God’s freedom for his future. So he returned to Midian and refused to
become a pilgrim going forward to meet the Lord.
Never
doubt it, Jethro was a believer in God who knew the Lord chose to reveal
himself in mighty ways to his people.
And Jethro knew God had used him to help accomplish his work. But still he turned back: He could not
commit to doing anything about what he believed was true. He believed in God. He even believed God. James the Apostle would probably chastise
him and say, Jethro, be a doer of the word, and not just a hearer of it,
blinding yourself with false ideas.
The
struggle between what we believe and what we are willing to commit
ourselves to do as a part of the people of God is a struggle that continues
today: Most of us have faced it. It’s
the struggle between being bound by the past and being freed to go forward
into the future following the Lord.
Some of us are like Moses–open to the call and the challenge and the
changes. Some of us are like Jethro,
seeking security in the old ways.
And in a bit, we might agree all of us are standing today with Hobab
considering the same question Jethro did: to go forward toward the promise
or go back to the idolatry of the past.
So
you think you want to be Moses?
Moses as we meet him today is the take charge of everything guy, God’s
left-hand man, because as you well know, Jesus is sitting on the right hand
of God, if Moses doesn’t do it for the children of Israel, how will it get
done? You Moses people are pretty
sure if you don’t have your hand in the project–in leading and planning and
doing, it will not happen like you know it should. You know what you get with a church full
of Moseses–a church too tired to do anything effectively, too worn out to
remember the work of the Lord is a community project. Moses people need Jethro people to remind
them that there is simply too much work to be done in the church for any
one person, committee or small group to do it all. Jethro keeps reminding us that there are
many people who are willing and able to help–and ready to do so if someone
would only ask. Moses people need to
read the letters of Paul where he reminds the believers different strokes
for different folks, except he says something like: Now there are many
gifts, but one giver of those gifts, and the secret of being a strong
church is finding a way for all the gifts to be used for the upbuilding and
strengthening of the people of God.
Now
every minister in this world knows Jethro.
Jethro people are the ones who know what everyone should be doing
for the good of the church. This is
what the new minister should be doing.
This is what the choir should do.
This is what they young people should do. This is what the worship committee should
do. This is what the Christian
Education committee or the women or the men should do. I encourage you to listen to the Jethro
people, because they often have a pretty clear picture of what is going on
and what could be helpful. Some
people see them as always critical.
I like to invite them to join the committee and join in the process
of change for the better, but alas the Jethro people know their Bible
stories, and often take off for Midian when invited to be a part of the
working future. They plead family.
They plead old obligations. They will say been there, tried that, no
one listens to me. They will offer
good suggestions, and should be accounted as faithful people who truly want
what is best for the children of God.
They can suggest change–but cannot always change themselves.
Can
you imagine how Moses must have felt when Jethro looked at him and said: “Here’s
how you need to be doing things. I
have the idea, the wisdom, the experience–and by the way, I’m leaving and
going on back home, while you take up my idea and run with it. When Moses asked Jethro to commit himself
to the cause of Israel, Jethro got defensive: Oh no, Moses, can’t do
that. I’m too old. I’m too set in my ways. It’s better to tell you what to do, them
back out, go away and never know how you follow through. That litany brings on an echo of the song
we learned in Sunday School or Bible school about Jesus’ parable of the
wedding feast–remember the last verse?:
I cannot come, I cannot come to the
banquet,
don't trouble me now. I have married a wife.
I have bought me a cow.
I have fields and commitments that cost a pretty sum.
Pray, hold me excused, I cannot come.
Now God has written a lesson for the rest of mankind,
If we're slow in responding, He may leave us behind,
He's preparing a banquet for that great and glorious day,
When the Lord and master calls us, be certain not to say,
I cannot come, I cannot come to the banquet...
How do you find yourself as a part of the
kingdom of God–or apart from the kingdom of God? By your
willingness to be involved in the great feast, the great adventure God
invites you to.
Jethro was afraid to get involved! He was afraid that the God who had called
him to believe might not give him enough strength to live out what he was
claiming he believed. So he didn’t
even try. He made his excuses and he
turned and walked away–and Israel lost whatever good Jethro might have done on the
journey to the promised land.
The
days pass–the 10 commandments are given, the ark and the tabernacle is bult
and it is time for the children if Israel to leave the place where Jethro and his family
met them. Jethro is long gone. Zipporah and children are going with
Moses. But Hobab, Moses brother in
law is suddenly faced with the same decision his father had to make some
time before: To become a pilgrim, a seeker, or go home? It seems his inclination is to return and
inherit the priesthood of idols from his father, for he tells Moses: I will not go with you, I will go back
to the land of my birth and to my relations. So Moses, the stutterer, throws out his
best persuasive stuff: But if you
go with us, you will be eyes for us, guiding us to the right places in the
waste land to put up our tents. And
if you come with us to th waste land, we will give you a part in whatever
good the Lord does for us.
Who
could refuse that? If you were your
father’s son, what would you do?
Would he stay or would he go?
The next sentence in Numbers simply reports: So they went forward
three days journey from the mountain of the Lord–the wilderness journey had
begun. Yet if you jump over to the first chapter of Judges, and the
settling of the promised land, there is Hobab, having made the journey to
the promised land–though identified as Moses father in law, not the son of
his father in law. Did Hobab make
the commitment to the future? I
think he did. Midian lost a priest,
God gained a pilgrim.
It
takes courage to let go of the past and give it to God, so we can go
forward to the future. It is one of
the scariest things to do that I know of.
Jethro’s way seems the way of safety and wisdom: the future is
uncertain, the past is safe, even if the past binds us to a lesser
way. But you know what? God still calls us to be a people of the
future–people going forward to the place where he will meet us.
I
don’t know all the possibilities that lie before you as a church–I don’t
know all the possibilities that lie before me. But I do know that God will always
challenge each of us to decide between the past and the future. I kind of like the future–it’s
exciting. But it means we stand in
Jethro’s shoes, in Hobab’s shoes: Do we trust the calling of the Lord? Will we commit to the future God has in
mind for us? Will we go ahead–I
think Hobab did. Or will we tell
Moses to go on without us, we’ll go back to our safe place and ignore that
calling of the promises of God? I’m
going to be praying for you to be like Moses and Hobab, people following
the promises of God, people of purpose, people of adventures, people of the
future that God has in mind for you.
Amen.
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