15 May 2010
Psalm 87, 90; Num. 11:16-17,24-29; Eph. 2:11-22; Matt. 7:28-8:4

Moses gets some help. As the leader of hundreds of thousands of people it would be hard to imagine how Moses could possibly have done the job. It is difficult to lead even a small church all alone, let alone this many people caravanning about the desert whose needs for food, water, sanitation, rest, etc. had to be provided. Here God gives some relief to Moses by setting His Spirit on seventy of the elders and two who no one saw coming. All prophesy as an indication that they have indeed received the Spirit, whatever that looks like as none of it is recorded. Two others, Eldad and Medad, prophesy in the camp, away from the outpouring of the Spirit on the seventy. Joshua’s jealousy is for Moses as leader but Moses rightly responds that his hope would be for all of God’s people to be filled with the Spirit. Little did he know that was God’s plan for the fullness of time.

Jesus heals a leper, showing his authority was not simply in teaching but in doing. It is always wonderful to hear a teacher who knows her subject intimately. First hand accounts of something are always better than not. Here, and in all of the teaching of the law that we have in the Gospels, we see Jesus interacting with the law in ways that astound those who hear Him as though He were understanding it at a level not humanly possible for the other teachers. As He heals the leper, He sends the man to the priest to certify the cure according to the law as a testimony to the priest as to who was the healer. In essence, Jesus is one outside the camp.

Jesus has brought in those who were outside. His work on behalf of the Gentiles is extraordinary, giving us hope and making us part of the chosen ones of God. We have been joined to the household of God in Christ Jesus. Peter saw this work in the household of Cornelius when the Spirit was given to the Gentiles as to Eldad and Medad, but it took a good long while for the Jewish believers to accept the Gentiles as full members of the house. We must always be prepared to receive new people who were formerly at enmity with us into the household of God. God is doing a work in the camp and outside the camp but it is one God, one Spirit, one Lord who is working.

Lord, you have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.