Moses
has married a Cushite woman? Because of
this he is vulnerable to Miriam and Aaron’s reproof. The choosing of the elders to receive the
Spirit is also likely at work here as these others now have new standing in the
leadership of the community while Miriam and Aaron have other roles. They now come claiming their own rightful
places in leadership. As the Lord makes
abundantly clear to all, however, Moses’ relationship with Him is
different. Moses doesn’t fight the
battle, he is too humble (not meek) to make such claims for himself, but the
Lord says that others might get dreams and visions but Moses hears directly,
conversing as a friend. In spite of
Moses’ plea for Miriam’s healing, the Lord is doing something here and that
means she needs, with Aaron, to be humbled to be restored properly.
Jesus
gives us instructions for how to deal with interpersonal sin in the
church. The goal is reconciliation but
that is also based in truth. We are to
keep personal matters personal in an attempt to reconcile without the community
forming an opinion. If this fails, we
are to take a couple of others to hear the matter and help with the issue. If there is no repentance at that level we
take it to the church. If there is no
repentance there, we put the person outside the body. All sins aren’t dealt with this way. We have to be careful to define what
constitutes such sin and we have to always have reconciliation as the ultimate
goal. The person needs to know that this
isn’t a witch hunt but a true desire to forgive based on truth. Remember that this is how we deal with sin
among believers, we don’t turn the other cheek and allow it, we deal with it in
the hopes that change will happen in the person’s life and actions.
We
must be careful in judging others. That
isn’t to say we shouldn’t do it, but we should always do so with great
humility, recognizing ourselves to be sinners in need of grace. Paul says that some of the law is easy to see
in the created order and when Gentiles see and do that which fits with that
order, they acknowledge the law and its righteousness. Paul never condemns the law, he has simply
become a realist rather than believing it is possible to be righteous under the
law. Humility is the great virtue of
Christians, it keeps us from presumption, self-righteousness, or asserting our
own prominence in the kingdom. I wish
there were more of it in the church, myself included.
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