The Lord devises a test that will serve as proof that He
chose Aaron and his house as priests. Perhaps
the continuing controversy over the issue was due to the fact that he was
Moses' brother and therefore was open to the charge of nepotism, too much power
in leadership was vested in this one family.
The test was that each tribe was to come forward with the staff of its
leader and the staffs were to be placed together in the tent of testimony. The staff which produced buds as if it were
living would be the one who was chosen by God.
From Moses' perspective this was a no risk situation, he already knew
what the outcome would be, but for the people it was to be a sign. When, indeed, the staff of Aaron budded it
was to be placed in the ark as a perpetual testimony on the matter, case closed
forever.
Could the disciples have possibly blithely accepted Jesus'
prophetic words concerning His near term fate?
They knew there was certainly opposition to Him in Jerusalem. In John 11 when Mary and Martha send for him
to come and heal their brother, Lazarus, they are deeply concerned about going
so near the city. Thomas says, "Let
us also go, that we may die with him.”
Here, they are told exactly what will happen to Jesus, "(he) will
be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him
to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and
crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.” James and John's mother then comes and asks
that her sons be at his right and left hands as vice-regents when Jesus comes
into the kingdom. The brothers were apparently
prepared for such a request and had given it some thought although they clearly
had no idea what was in the mind of Jesus concerning the kingdom at this
point. It seems they were all still
thinking of an earthly kingdom at this point and, unsurprisingly, this request
introduced significant discord into the disciple community. How could they go from hearing Jesus prophesy
to this silly argument in such short order? Who is greatest is a game humanity
seems designed to play but that is nothing more than vanity.
In the church, the church that is made up of people saved by
the blood of Jesus and filled with His Spirit there is no vain striving for
greatness is there? So long as we
continue to live we must fight against this temptation in our lives to desire
greatness and recognition. We must
always remember that it is by grace that we not only enter the kingdom but also
remain there. We are saved, first, last
and always by that grace and nothing else.
We never collect merits of our own that accrue towards positions in the
kingdom, we have what He chooses to give us and we can either be thankful for
that mercy and grace or we can be grumblers.
The best antidote for pride and vanity is remembering the cross and
Jesus' sacrifice and our need of it. Let us seek to be like Him, seeking the
fame and glory of God alone.
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