God Finds Us

Elizabeth M. Hoster
October 1, 2006
Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecos
Numbers 11, Mark 9

Focus: No matter how we try to hide from God, God will eventually find us, show us God’s power and mercy, and give us God’s spirit to fulfill God’s kingdom.

            Today is one of those Sundays where we are hard pressed to find anyone in the readings who is having a good day on the job.  Maybe the psalmist is the exception. Moses has had it, James has to take some followers to task, and Jesus is threatening fire and worms to get a point across to his followers.

            There’s a lot of finger pointing going on, a lot of folks looking sheepish when they get some message from God saying they did not quite get it. There are a lot of folks getting “called out.”
           
            This story from Numbers, and the story from the Gospel, are ones that we’ve heard before, and we skip right to what we think they mean: God puts the spirit on who God wills, God often works outside of the box. Yes, those interpretations are correct–but there’s a little more going on.

            Let’s start at the beginning: The Israelites had been given freedom, given a mission, and given sustenance by God.  A few people–the rabble–get tired of manna, get everybody else stirred up, and pretty soon, thousands of people are standing in their tent doors wailing. The Lord becomes angry at the people, Moses becomes angry at the people AND at the Lord, goes to the Lord and says, “Lord, just shoot me. I didn’t conceive them, I can’t carry them, I can’t do this by myself.  If this is the way it’s going to be, please put me out of my misery.”

            But Moses is not going to get off quite that easily.

            Instead, the Lord tells him to gather 70 elders, and in the verses that get edited out this morning, also promises there will be meat for them to eat.  Moses goes and tells the people what the Lord had said to him, and starts to get the elders herded into the tent.

            Enter Eldad and Medad–or should I say, EXIT Eldad and Medad.

            They were registered, but they didn’t go.  The story does not say they were not chosen, it says they didn’t go.

            So, please give me some leeway with midrash here: My theory is that these two guys heard everything Moses said.  The Eldad said to Medad, “You wanna help govern and shepherd this lot?”

            “No way!” says Medad, and they both duck out as soon as possible, slip around to the back of a tent, make sure no one has seen them, and sigh in relief, “Man, that was close!”

            But that won’t be the end of it.  Even though they did not go to the tent, even though they tried to duck out on their responsibility and God’s gift, God found them, anyway–and put God’s spirit on them, anyway.  Even though they tried to shirk a call, God put it on them, anyway.

            When people start to whine about it, Moses gets it immediately.  Remember, Moses is no stranger at running away–he was still running away from a murder charge when God called him.  When confronted by Joshua, he sees God’s action and says, “Are you jealous for me? Don’t worry about me-- I wish all of God’s people were prophets, and that God would put his spirit on all of God’s people!”    

            It’s the same kind of story in today’s Gospel: someone who is on the outside, at least in the disciple’s eyes, is doing the healing.

            Pay attention to the placement of this story in the Gospel: This story happens after the Transfiguration, and after Peter, James,  John and Jesus come down form the mountain and find a ruckus because the rest of the disciples couldn’t cure a boy.  They could not cast out a demon. 

            Then they come upon someone having success at casting out demons who is not one of them.  We don’t know anything about this guy–he could have been a scam artist, could have been "a zealot with his own agenda.” He could have been a real believer but not in the inner circle.”  We don’t know–but we do know that he was not welcomed by the disciples.
           
            Once again, please give me a little leeway with midrash here: Maybe Jesus knew him. Maybe earlier, Jesus called him–and he had said no back then. Maybe he thought Jesus was a little too crazy, a little too radical. Maybe he saw Jesus coming and ducked around to the back of the tent. He didn’t want to be so close, so called out by God. Maybe he watched–and learned-- from a distance.

             In any event, Jesus sees him.

            “Let him go,” he says out loud. “The longer he does this, the less he will be able to speak ill of me.  He’s not against us–so he is for us. He’s helping someone who had nothing–just like you and I are trying to do.  Stand back and let God do whatever it is God is going to do.” 

            Jesus goes on to say, “He’s not the stumbling block here–you are!  YOU and your egos and your resentments--they are closer to you than your eye, your hand, your foot!”

            You know that person inside–that false self that thinks it is sooooo important to be seen as the one being followed instead of the one doing the following?  That is the first demon you all need to cast out.  As for this man–he is trying to restore people to health and community in my name.  You think you have a right to stop him? Keep that big ego and all your resentments around and you will never, ever get what it means to be God’s disciples.
           
            Well, where are we this morning? 
           
            Maybe some of us are in the box, complaining about Eldad and Medad, and tattling to the Teacher about the healer.  Some of us may be running with Eldad and Medad, and are catching our breath while hiding behind the tent, dodging something we know we should do in our lives, silently thinking, “man, that was close!”

            I know I have found myself in both places.  My guess is, we all have. We are either inside the box, doing the complaining, or we are outside of the box, running.

            In the first, we THINK it’s about being in relationship, but then we find out our motives were about our being right. In the second instance, we think we have dodged God, only to find God is right there wherever we have tried to run.        

            The collect today says it all: O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure.

            We all run.  Maybe we run  away from God, and away from something God has called us to do.  Maybe we think we are running toward God, only to find we are really running toward our own egos.  Wherever we run, God runs with us.  Wherever we run, God finds us.

             And if we let God, God may cast out a demon or two. God may cast out our resentments. God may cast out our egos, our desire to be followed instead of following the One who created us and redeems us and sustains us. And then, God puts some of God’s spirit, some of God’s hope, into each one of us.  We may try to dodge it, but God finds us, and calls us out, anyway. 

            We may get called out of a very different place than others to do whatever it is God calls us to do. We may need to grow a little longer, we may need to take a different path, but ultimately, God works in us anyway. 

            No matter which way we run, God loves us anyway.  God finds us, and pours out God’s spirit and God’s kingdom on us–ANYWAY.

----

1. good day on the job. Susanna Metz–Paraphrased from a Sermon October 1, 2000

2. "called out." A phrase I’ve heard  in African-American communities. Getting “called out” means getting asked to quit hiding and start using your gifts for the good of the people.

3. "a zealot with his own agenda." From a sermon by the Rev. Dr. Frank Hegedus, October 1, 2006, Sermons That Work.