Why did Moses' sister, Miriam, stand at a distance to see
what would happen to him? What did she
think would happen? Some Jewish rabbis
believe this is the reason Miriam is known as a prophetess, that she knew in
her spirit that Moses would be rescued.
She then arranges for her brother to be restored to her mother to nurse
him until he is weaned. He is then
adopted into the household of Pharaoh as a son of Pharaoh's daughter, a
grandson. Was this woman not able to
have children of her own? She must have
been an extraordinary woman to have rescued a child her brother had ordered
murdered. Moses grew up in Pharaoh's
house but we are told that the Jews were considered to be "his
people" and when he saw them being mistreated by the Egyptians he took
action on their behalf. They seem not to
have recognized him as a brother, even after this act of valor. They were not prepared to receive him as
ruler and judge, who made him thus? The
answer to that question will ultimately be revealed but at this moment Moses
was acting on his own, not in an anointing.
When he flees to the land of Midian he acts on behalf of the daughters
of the local priest who presume he is an Egyptian. His welcome and thanks for his actions are
rather more warmly received here. Moses'
life was one of great contrasts always.
Even though Peter didn't know what to say, he had to say
something didn't he? They were terrified
yet he had the idea to build three shelters, one for Jesus, Moses and
Elijah. What happens next tells them all
that Jesus is greater than all these. If
you have Jesus you don't need the others who represent the Law and the
prophets. That isn't to say they don't
serve a purpose, it is the reality that He is the fulfillment of all they had
written and done, the Word become flesh. In this moment they have seen the shekinah
glory of God shining through Jesus, not as reflected in the shining face of
Moses, within Jesus. These men would
know after the resurrection who Jesus was in ways that they always
remembered. John writes, "We have
seen His glory, the glory of the one and only", while Peter wrote, "when
he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him
by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,”
we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on
the holy mountain. They never forgot.
Paul gives an outline of the spiritual gifts given to the
church. It would be hard for me to
imagine that anyone could feel left out of this particular list. I doubt, however, that Paul was thinking of
creating an exhaustive list here, simply trying to help the church understand
better the metaphor of the body and the individual's place in the body. It is important to know our spiritual gifts
that we might share them appropriately and that we and the body might have
optimal effect in its ministry. The
corrective to all of this is love. Too
often I have seen misuse of the gifts because the person lacked love. If God was God but was not a loving God what
kind of world would it be?
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