Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29 Mark 9:38-43
When God chose Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, the dream of reaching the Promised Land was probably motivation enough for most of the people to follow. It had to be better than being a slave.
But no one dreamed that the trip to the Promised Land would take so long and be so tedious - and, certainly, when they were assured that all their needs would be met, no one expected to have a steady diet of only one food.
The monotony of eating manna everyday grew tiresome in short order, and soon their old days of captivity were beginning to look pretty good. The food in captive camps was plentiful and tasty. Their diets included not only meat and fish but also fresh produce; cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic, and the people looked expectantly toward the regularity of their meals.
Their status as slaves protected them from many of the important life and death decisions they would face now as free people and they were long enough into their perilous journey to start considering the pros and cons of "freedom". Even though the Egyptians pulled all the strings, in some ways the Israelites led a rather sheltered life.
Now Moses, too, was having second thoughts about God's calling him to lead the people through the wilderness. They complained incessantly about having no meat to eat and Moses was getting the brunt of their impatience.
Moses grew tired of the burden of leading this thankless bunch, and was nearly at his wit's end. He protested to God, "Why have you treated your servant so badly?" He moaned and groaned about how unfair it was that he should have to carry the burden of his people all alone. "If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once." Put me out of my misery! So the Lord instructed Moses to gather seventy of the elders of Israel and bring them to the tent of meeting where they were to stand along side Moses.
So Moses did as he was instructed and brought the seventy elders into the tent where the Lord came down in a cloud and took some of the spirit that was on Moses and put it on the seventy elders and they began to prophesy - but they did so only once.
Now, as Paul Harvey would say, "You're going to hear the rest of the story!"
Before Moses called the elders to the tent, God explained what it was that He was about to do: "When I take some of the spirit from your shoulders and put it on the elders they will help you carry the burden of the people so that you will not have to carry it alone."
"Tell the people: 'Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow when you will eat meat.' The Lord heard you when you wailed, 'If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!'
Tell the people that the Lord will give them meat and they will eat it, not just for a day or two but for a whole month! Tell them "you will eat it until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it - because you have rejected the Lord."
"Yeah, right", Moses grumbled. "Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them, or if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?"
The Lord answered Moses, "Is the Lord's arm too short?"
Now, I'm not sure exactly what is meant by "the elders prophesied". It seems to have gotten lost in the rest of the story. Outside in the camp, two men whose names were Eldad and Medad who did not enter into the tent, nevertheless, received the spirit and they prophesied in the camp. Curiously, Eldad means "God has loved" and Medad means "affectionate". Joshua saw the two men prophesying and ran to Moses in protest: "Moses, my lord, stop them!", to which Moses answered "Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord's people were prophets and the Lord would put his Spirit on them."
Then a wind went out from the Lord and drove quail in from the sea and brought them down all around the camp in every direction. So plentiful were the quail that they could not take a step without running into one and their arms tired from catching them - but they had meat to eat!
Now there's another account in the New Testament where Mark tells of a similar incident where John complains to Jesus, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not one of us".
The nerve of that guy! It must have seemed quite an infringement on the status of the disciples and John was not pleased that an outsider was claiming to be a representative of Jesus.
But Jesus said, "Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward."
Now, the rest of the story:
At first mention it seems that Jesus has lost his train of thought when he continues his advice to John with the words, "If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea."
To understand the cohesiveness of this statement, we have to back up a bit to something Jesus said in Matthew 18: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me."
The little ones Jesus is talking about are not only children, but all, regardless of age, who have humbled themselves and come to Jesus. That includes Eldad, Medad and the unknown prophet trekking across the desert with Moses.
But no prophets walk the earth today. Or is it that we just don't know what a prophet looks like? Or we don't know what a prophet does?
Since the days of Jesus, we have learned to fashion coats of skepticism. We believe children should be seen and not heard. We have forgotten to trust the innocence that each newborn infant brings to the world time and time again.
We fail to recognize the divine spirit on the shoulders of our neighbors and family members because it is much too simple for us to see in our complex surroundings.
We do not recognize the young prophet with fair skin and hair of gold who plays with his dark skinned friend, both of them shimmering in the golden glow of happy abandonment. They smile and laugh together with no knowledge of the differences the world will soon teach them to hate.
We do not recognize the prophet with shriveled limbs who moves with great difficulty among us, his eyes pleading for us to ease the painful differences that God instructs us are only variations of his love and mercy.
We do not recognize the aging prophet who has seen the ways of the world and yet still believes in what God has promised.
We do not recognize the prophet deep inside our own selves that cautions us to be kind and gracious, not to hurt or diminish the least among us - for when we do, we pollute the mist of life as it creeps from one hurt soul to another.
Do we not recognize the prophet who cries for peace and stumbles on the rocks of ridicule, labeled "unpatriotic" or stupidly naïve? We are afraid to recognize the prophets among us for they might not look as we would have them look, or talk as we would have them talk.
We are afraid of trickery. We do not accept miracles for what they are, but rather explain them away in rational terms because we are afraid we will be duped by something that is not "God", and we cannot afford to take the chance.
Yes, prophets still walk upon the earth. If only we will trust them. They are as near as our own hearts.
Amen.