Answer to Prayer

 Jesu Juva

Numbers 11                                                                 

 September 26, 2021

Proper 21B                                         

 Dear saints of our Savior~

          Do the prayers we pray have an expiration date?  Is there a statute of limitations?  Are prayers you prayed last month—or last year—still sounding before our Father in heaven?  Are those petitions—offered in faith—still resounding in the heart of God?  Is it possible that God answers even ancient prayers—prayers long ago prayed and long ago forgotten by us?  Could a prayer offered for you long ago by a parent or grandparent or sponsor still be guiding the steps and decisions you are making today?  Could your life today be impacted, shaped and directed by prayers that were offered up to God long, long ago?

          In today’s OT reading we have just such a prayer—a prayer that God is answering here and now to bless you.  You probably missed it.  It is admittedly difficult to hear that prayer because, as you listen to Numbers chapter 11, the things that really jump out are the grumblings.  Now, grumblings can sound a lot like prayers.  And sometimes our prayers do include complaints.  However, grumblings are not prayers.  Grumblings are not spoken to God.  Grumblings are spoken to the world—to anyone who will listen.

          The grumbling in Numbers 11 started like this:  The tribes of Israel were encamped in the wilderness.  At the center of the camp was the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, the place where God dwelled among His people.  That tabernacle was like the hub of a wheel, and spread out around it were tents as far as the eye could see.  The grumble began perhaps when one man stepped out of his tent early one morning.  He looks around; and he sees what’s wrong.  He used to love to get up in the morning—to go outside and see manna covering the ground as far as the eye could see—precious, mysterious food from God.  The name “manna” literally meant “What is it?”  The very name of this food expressed wonder and amazement.  It reminded you that it was a gift from the hand of God—that this was the bread of angels.

          Who knew you could get so sick of the bread of angels?  Baked, battered, boiled, pickled or fried—it didn’t matter.  Just the sight of that manna now made him sick.  Manna yesterday, manna today, manna tomorrow for years on end.  So, rather than gather up that gift of God, the man let out a beautiful grumble.  He let loose his longing to go back to Egypt.  Oh, he conveniently forgot about the hardships and the slavery—conveniently forgot about Pharaoh’s plan to murder every newborn baby boy in the Nile River.  All he could recall was the food they had in Egypt—a veritable smorgasbord of meat and fish and cucumbers and melons and leeks and onions and garlic.  And his mouth watered, and his neighbors’ mouths watered, and in no time that one grumble had spread throughout the entire camp.  That grumble—that awful, beautiful grumble had a terrible and powerful effect.

          All of us know the power of a good grumble, don’t we?  Like when you’re driving home from church, after you’ve had your sins forgiven and you’ve been fed and nourished with the precious, priceless body and blood of Jesus, and the Word of God is still ringing in your ears . . . and you let loose with a good grumble about how the sanctuary was too warm (or too cold), or how the choir sounded flat, or how the organ was too loud, or how the sermon just didn’t seem particularly relevant.  And suddenly the precious, powerful gifts God gives in this place fade away—just disappear—erased by the power of a good grumble.

          Or it’s like in marriage, when you are sacrificing of yourself for the sake of your spouse.  And that sacrificial love for your spouse is Christ-like.  It is holy.  It makes the angels in heaven rejoice because that’s the hard work husbands and wives are called to do.  But in your frustration, you let loose with a good grumble about how unthankful and unappreciative your spouse is—about how you are taken for granted day in and day out.  And suddenly—suddenly—the gift of God that is your spouse is despised, and what God has joined together you have torn asunder by the power of a good grumble.

          The grumbling of the Israelites drove Moses to his knees.  Moses took all those grumbles and gave them to God—made them into a prayer.  Only it’s not a prayer for wisdom or strength or faith.  Moses prays that God would annihilate him!  Because Moses was sick of these people!  Moses takes it all and throws it up to God.  Now the Lord has a leader who doesn’t want to lead, and a people who don’t want to follow.  The people are looking at the past in a way that takes away the gift of the present.  Moses is looking at the present in a way that takes away the gift of the future.

          But the Lord also looked ahead to the future—and in the future God would indeed orchestrate the death of the Leader of His people—the Good Shepherd of His sheep.  The punishment His grumbling people deserved would be heaped up upon the One God had sent to save them—Jesus, who came to save His people from their sins.  The Lord showed His mercy on that day of grumbling. 

          The mercy of God was actually hidden right there in their midst—behind the curtain in the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle.  God must have longed to pull back that curtain and dwell among His people in the flesh—to gather them as a mother hen gathers her chicks beneath her wings.  But when that time had fully come—when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us in the person of Jesus the Christ—God’s grumbling people grabbed Him and grasped Him and nailed Him to the cross.  Jesus was beaten and battered and crucified—and this was the beautiful, loving plan of God—to offer His life for you.  This is the merciful heart of God—that He does not punish us as our grumbling hearts deserve.  He does not count our sins against us for Jesus’ sake.

          It was because of that mercy that God answered Moses’ prayer in an unexpected, undeserved fashion.  Instead of gathering manna, the Lord told Moses to gather men—seventy men of the elders of the people.  And the Lord Himself came down in the cloud and took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and put that same Spirit on the seventy elders.  And they all began to prophesy.  And that Spirit was so strong and so powerful that even two men who were way out on the far edges of the camp—Eldad and Medad—even they began to prophesy.  Joshua came running to Moses to make them stop.  But Moses responded with a prayer—a prayer which doesn’t sound like much more than a footnote to the whole episode.  Moses prayed: Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put His Spirit on them all!

          That’s the ancient prayer I want you to hear today:  Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put His Spirit on them all!  That prayer went unanswered for centuries.  It sat in God’s “inbox” year after year.  But God began to answer it when He raised Jesus Christ from the dead and lifted Him up in glory to be seated at His Right Hand in the heavenly realms, and then sent His Holy Spirit into this world to call and gather for Himself a holy people, filled with His Spirit—each one a little temple of the Holy Spirit.  Each one called, gathered, enlightened, and sanctified.  Each one connected to Jesus Christ in the one, true faith.  Each one forgiven.  Each one destined for resurrection.  All because the Lord has put His Spirit in us—the very thing Moses prayed for all those centuries ago.

          Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put His Spirit on them all.  That ancient prayer of Moses is still being answered today.  Right here where the Word of God is preached and proclaimed, the Lord puts His Holy Spirit on you—drawing you closer in faith.  Right here at the rail, where the Lord’s body and blood are given to eat and drink, the Lord puts His Holy Spirit on you—richly forgiving all of your sins.  And these wonderful things happen not just here, but all around the world—among even the “Eldads and Medads” who are far away—in ways we aren’t even aware of.  Moses’ ancient prayer is being answered still today.

          God’s answers still shape our life together.  Living together as brothers and sisters in Christ is not as easy as it sounds.  What’s easy is grumbling.  But that grumbling takes away God’s gift of the present.  So when you feel the urge to get a good grumble going, rethink that plan and redirect your thoughts.  Ask the Lord for what you need.  Pray.  Because the Lord will hear; and the Lord will answer according to His grace and mercy—be it today, tomorrow, or on the Day of His return. 

          In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.