Numbers 12:1-2, 9-10 Romans 12:1-21
Much has been said in recent days concerning race relations in the United States. It is a shame that the conversations have been initiated and necessitated by the tragic events that have occupied our thoughts and prayers, as well as the media. Anyone that has any type of feeling knows the emotions such stories evoke. We well know the feelings of frustration and anger, and the necessity to suppress feelings of retribution and revenge. One wonders how such issues of race and the showing of preference could still be prevalent in our day and time. One wonders how our communities could still be faced with conflicts with law enforcement and overwhelmed with protests. One wonders what it is that has gone so wrong that the only recourse seems to be calling for everything from walkouts to congressional hearings? What is it that has happened?
In our Old Testament text today we read of an encounter between Moses and his siblings, Miriam and Aaron, where Miriam is struck with leprosy because she dared to challenge her brother’s legitimate authority. To understand the text, one has to understand that the presenting issue is not the issue at all. Miriam and Aaron questioned whether the Lord spoke through Moses only or whether He has spoken through them as well; but the real issue was the Cushite woman Moses had married. Now to be clear this is not a misplaced reference to Zipporah. The Bible is clear that Zipporah was the daughter of the priest of Midian, Jethro. This is another woman whose ethnicity reveals the true nature of their challenge of Moses. The text repeats itself in the first verse and whenever we see that in scripture it is for added emphasis. The key to understanding the message of the text is in the description of the woman Moses married. In some texts she is called an Ethiopian, in others she is called a Cushite. They are interchangeable terms, one of which means burnt face and the other black face, so clearly their issue was one of racial prejudice and not authority. The irony is that the Israelites were people of color, yet they were prejudiced toward a person of darker skin than their own (sound familiar?). But though they were concerned about this woman’s skin color, their problem was not really a skin problem; it was a sin problem.
It strikes me that we have not come very far from Miriam and Aaron’s concern. We are still overly concerned with color and ethnicity, but make no mistake about it, our problem just like the problem in their day is not a skin problem. It is a sin problem. So, how does one overcome it? To arrive at an answer one need only look to the words of the Apostle Paul as he writes to the believers in Rome. We are familiar with the beginning of the twelfth chapter, but less familiar with the remainder of it. In the remainder of the chapter Paul provides instruction for giving dedicated service, but the instruction serves also as advice for how to overcome the sin of prejudice and the showing of favoritism. Paul writes:
- Do not think more highly about yourself than you should (v. 3).
- Be devoted to one another in brotherly love, giving preference to one another in honor (v. 10).
- Bless and don’t curse those who persecute you (v. 14).
- Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep (v. 15).
- Be of the same mind toward one another (v. 16).
None of the instructions the Apostle gives are easy. Each one flies in the face of what was and even now is acceptable practice, and yet the instructions are given anyway. Of course, they are not easy. To create and sustain a most just and equitable society takes work. The easy thing is to retreat to our individual enclaves where we are surrounded by people who are similar to us. The irony of such a truth is that even when people surround themselves with others who they believe are like them there is conflict.
How does God view our petty prejudices? He calls them evil and admonishes us to overcome them with good. In our story from the book of Numbers the Lord turns Miriam’s skin leprous, as white as snow, necessitating being excluded from the camp. It is almost as if God was saying to her and to the nation that if you would be so conscious and petty over the color of someone’s skin I will make you the accumulation of all colors, and she would have remained a leper for the rest of her life had not her brother, the very one whom she had challenged not intervened on her behalf.
Dear friends, in the words of New Orleans Saints Tight End Benjamin Watson, the problem we face in America is not a skin problem but a sin problem; and, this problem can only be resolved in and through Christ. Hear what Watson wrote that received over 700,000 likes, was shared over 400,000 times on Facebook and got him invited to appear on shows like Dr. Phil. “SIN is the reason we rebel against authority. SIN is the reason we abuse our authority. SIN is the reason we are racist, prejudiced and lie to cover for our own. SIN is the reason we riot, loot and burn. BUT I’M ENCOURAGED because God has provided a solution for sin through his son Jesus and with it, a transformed heart and mind that is capable of looking past the outward and seeing what’s truly important in every human being. The cure for the Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice and Eric Garner tragedies is not education or exposure. It’s the Gospel. So, finally, I’M ENCOURAGED because the Gospel gives mankind hope.”
There is not a more appropriate time to share this hope than now in this season of Advent when we rehearse for all the world to see the awesome love of God that sent His Son to live among us and ultimately die for us. Yes He was God in flesh, but He was also fully human and as such prone to the same proclivities we are, tempted by the same temptations we are, and driven by the same passions we are and yet He was without sin. We can get past this racial divide but it will not happen with mandatory attendance at sensitivity training sessions. It will not happen Moral Monday bus rides or legislative action. It will not happen through violent protests of protests that stop traffic and inflame passions. It will only as people are grasps by that which laid hold of us one day and, I truth, is still laying hold of me. “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus! What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
Copyright © 2014 James H Logan, Jr.
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