From the 5MOM archives as I take today off.
The great radio commentator Paul Harvey has been dead since 2009 and if I had not grown up with the parents I had or with the older siblings I had (and still have) and if one of those siblings had not been in radio himself, I might not have known who Paul Harvey was. But I did and if you did too, then the title of this entry already makes sense.
I thought about those old “The Rest of the Story” radio segments and their little known or forgotten facts as I reflected on Numbers 11.
It is one of my favorite passages of the Old Testament and is one I invoke often. Look it up. Read it. And smile along with me.
There are times, in ministry and in life, we are, quite frankly, overwhelmed by the ignorance around us. On the road, in the supermarket, perhaps even in the office, we are surrounded by foolishness, incompetence, and just plain…well…you know what I mean. Like Moses in this reading, we hear the cries of those we are called to serve and, though we know the tasks we have been given, we are at our wits end, ready to surrender. Every time I read Numbers 11, I laugh because I recognize the Moses in me. “Please, Lord, if this is how you are to treat your servant, just do me the favor of killing me now.”
I don’t really mean it. I am sure Moses, a family man himself, didn’t really want to die either.
But there does come a time in ministry when we look around and wonder if we are the only ones with creativity, vision, or a sense of what’s possible. It’s not arrogance. Really, it isn’t. It is just frustration that those around us simply don’t move as quickly or in the same direction as we think they ought.
So, like Moses, we take it to prayer, and we ask to be let off the hook.
But you have to read the rest of the story.
Since it’s not in this morning’s first reading, let me summarize. Moses says, “Kill me now, God, so I do not have to bear the burden of these people.”
And God says, “I have a better idea.”
“Go find people smarter than you and bring them with you to the meeting tent (ahh, the first parish committee). Then I will take some of my spirit that is within you, Moses, and I will place it on them, so you do not have to do my work all by yourself.”
So, in other words: “Quit your whining and surround yourself with smart people, if you can admit they exist, which is another issue entirely. Find those who share your passion and vision and remember: the work you do is God’s, not yours.”
It isn’t your ministry. It’s God’s.
They aren’t your young people. They are God’s.
It isn’t about you. It’s about you making God present to others.
And just because an idea wasn’t yours, doesn’t mean it isn’t good. Just because you didn’t think of it, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t support it…but I digress.
God could have let Moses off the hook. He could have struck him dead.
But disciples hardly ever get off that easily.
Look around this week. Who are the smart people you should gather together so that God can share God’s spirit with God’s people so that, together, you can do God’s work?
I love Numbers 11. But you have to read the rest of the story.
I think Paul Harvey would be pleased.
~pjd