Leading like Moses

 

Pentecost 2023

We think of Pentecost as the day we think of the coming of the Holy Spirit through a mighty wind, of speaking in tongues, being on fire with energy and love of God or even of acting as if drunk! These are all things we hear in the story of Pentecost in Acts. Consequently, that’s how we tend to think of Spirit filled people behaving or being.

But today I want us to look at a passage from the Book of Numbers Numbers: 11: 24 – 30 as the passage shows us how God’s Spirit can work in other ways too.

In order to get to grips with the passage, we need to look a bit further back in the story.

Moses has led the Israelites from Egypt into the wilderness. They have been there for many years and in chapter 11 of Numbers we are told that the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, Numbers 11:1 God was angry, and his anger was kindled. Then the fire of the Lord burned against them, and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. Numbers 11:1

Moses intervened and God’s anger subsided. But people still complained.

⁴  ‘If only we had meat to eat! ⁵ We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; ⁶ but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.’

Once again God became angry. But this time Moses has also had enough. He is at his wits end. He has been faithful to God, he has led the people out of slavery in Egypt, he has been leading them through the wilderness as God directed. But the people still moan and complain.

¹⁰ Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, all at the entrances of their tents. Then the Lord became very angry, and Moses was displeased.

Moses was displeased. What an understatement. He is fed up with the people moaning and groaning. (How many church leaders can relate to this I wonder?) But Moses is also displeased with God.

 ¹¹ So Moses said to the Lord, ‘Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found favour in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? ¹³ Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they come weeping to me and say, “Give us meat to eat!” ¹⁴ I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me. ¹⁵ If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once—if I have found favour in your sight—and do not let me see my misery.’

Understanding Moses’ exhaustion, the Lord decides to act. And in doing so God demonstrates to Moses and to us something really important. If we try to respond to the crying of the needs of the world as individuals, we will soon find ourselves in despair.

God tells Moses to choose seventy people among the elders of Israel to help Moses carry the burden of leading the people. God then gives these elders some of the spirit that God has given Moses to enable them to fulfil their leadership roles.

The Holy Spirit means we do not have to carry a burden on our own. The Pentecost experience and the gift of the Holy Spirit mean that we always have a guide willing to lead and always be present in every circumstance. (Church Leaders take note – we do not have to carry everything on our own. Though I accept that’s easier said than done sometimes.)

Having chosen his seventy elders, and the seventy having been touched by the Holy Spirit, Moses can now be assured that he is not on his own. There are others who can help him lead the people of Israel.

Things are looking better.

But then we are told that the Spirit rested upon two men who had remained in the camp

²⁶  one named Eldad, and the other named Medad,

And they too began to prophesy and in so doing take some the weight from Moses.

Fair enough we might say. The Holy Spirit moves where the Holy Spirit moves. However,

 ²⁸  Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men,^[c] said, ‘My lord Moses, stop them!’

Moses realises that Joshua is driven by jealousy and Moses refuses to do as Joshua said. In fact, Moses says:

Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!’

Words that remind me of John Wesley

“Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on Earth.”
― John Wesley

Of course, Joshua’s jealous reaction is something many of us will have seen in church life. Joshua may well have been motivated by a sense of possessiveness. He didn’t want someone else taking over his turf. Sadly, in the life of the Church how often do people put up barriers to keep others out so that they can keep their own self-importance?

Or perhaps Joshua just didn’t want someone else sharing the limelight with Moses and himself. Joshua was Moses second in command and perhaps had a sense of taking on the role of leader from Moses in due course. And he is protective of his position accordingly. Again, in a church context often people are reluctant to share a leadership role or even give it up so as not to lose the coveted public attention they might receive when being the sole person in charge.

It is noticeable that Moses doesn’t react that way. He doesn’t seem to mind that others are now in leadership positions with him. Nor does he object when God took some of the spirit that was on Moses and put it on the seventy elders; 

We could easily interpret this as meaning that Moses gave up some of his authority when some of God’s spirit was taken from him.

It would be a very human reaction. We who have been given much of something want to hold on to it. We do not wish it to be shared. We do not wish to relinquish it. It explains how some nations are more abundant than others. It explains how the rich get richer and the poorer get poorer.

If we apply this understanding to our spiritual resources, we can believe there is only so much to go around and therefore we must protect what we have as we wouldn’t want to lose it all. With this mindset churches become selfishly protective of their resources whether that is financial resources or people.

Moses wasn’t diminished when some of God’s spirit was taken from him. I think a good way of thinking about this is – that the gift of the spirit is like the gift of wisdom. When a person shares wisdom the act of sharing that wisdom take nothing away from the giver. Rather it is a like using one candle to light another candle. The first candle doesn’t lose its light because it shares with a second candle. In fact, the light becomes brighter through the sharing.

In taking his spirit from Moses I think we can see it as God sharing the wisdom and experience Moses has gained with the seventy who in turn will pass this on to others. When leaders share their skills, authority and resources with others, this does not diminish their effectiveness. Rather it enhances it. And in the sharing the community grows in its own wisdom and skills too.

This is a slightly abridged version of a sermon preached at Pentecost 2023 at Central Methodist Chippenham.

I am grateful for the resources of Feasting on the Word which inspired this sermon