Proper 21 :: Numbers 11: 4–6, 10–16, 24–29;
Psalm 124; James 5: 13–20; Mark 9: 38–50
This is the homily given at St. John’s,
Huntingdon, Pennsylvania by Fr. Gene Tucker on Sunday, September 30, 2018.
“THE (HOLY) SPIRIT BLOWS
WHERE IT WILLS”
(Homily
texts: Numbers 11: 4–6, 10–16, 24–29 & Mark 9: 38-50)
“The wind blows where it wishes, and
you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (English Standard Version)
These words, found in John 3: 8, were spoken by the Lord as part of His
conversation with the Pharisee Nicodemus.
The Lord’s words could easily be spoken
in connection with today’s Old Testament reading from Numbers, chapter eleven,
and from our Gospel text, taken from the end of Mark, chapter nine.
For in each case, God’s people are
struggling with the idea that some outside persons – persons who were not of
their inner circle - were showing signs of God’s inspiration and power. It is
the idea that these very human people, people who were following the Lord and
who counted themselves as members of God’s inner circle, couldn’t control the
work of God that connects these two readings together.
Let’s explore each one in depth just a
little.
In the Numbers passage, Moses is
dealing with a rebellious people. The element within Israel that was causing
all the trouble is identified by the word “rabble”. So it seems clear that not
everyone in the camp of the Israelites was grumbling about their menu, which
consisted of manna, supplied by God. As a result of this tumult, Moses finds
himself between the people and God. God tells Moses to appoint seventy elders
to assist in governing the people. (In the verses that are omitted from today’s
lectionary, God tells Moses that He is going to meet the needs of the people in
their desire for meat, telling Moses that He is going to supply them with
quail, so much quail, in fact, that God says it will be coming out of their
noses.) So Moses gathers the seventy at the tent of meeting, which is located
at the edge of the camp. God’s presence and God’s spirit descends on each one
of the seventy who had gathered, and they begin to react to God’s power and
inspiration as some of the Spirit of God that had already been granted to Moses
descends on them. They begin to prophesy. (It is interesting to note that this
manifestation of God’s power was only temporary.) But two others who were
called to the meeting with God weren’t present….Eldad and Medad were elsewhere.
But they, too exhibit the same signs as the seventy had.
At this point, Joshua tells Moses to
forbid these two from prophesying. Somehow, Joshua feels that, because they
weren’t at the meeting, they shouldn’t be doing what the others did.
Hold onto that thought for a bit, and
we’ll come back to it.
Now, let’s turn our attention to our
Gospel text.
Here, we find Jesus being confronted by
John, who says, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and
we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” (English Standard
Version)
Two aspects of what John said are worth
our notice: For one thing, John admits
(or seems to) that the person was carrying out a successful ministry in Jesus’
name. For another, John says that the person wasn’t following us. (Italics mine)….notice that John
doesn’t say that the person wasn’t following you (the Lord).
Can we put God in a box?
Can we count ourselves as members of
God’s inner circle, and then take it upon ourselves to decide whoever else is
in that inner circle or not?
Obviously, the answer to both of these
questions is a resounding “No”.
Then what is the criterion by which someone
may be recognized as a genuine disciple of the Lord?
I think the answer is found in both our
Old Testament and Gospel texts this morning: In each case, those who weren’t
part of the recognized inner circle were showing signs of God’s inspiration and
power.
Ultimately, that’s the true test of
faithful Christian living.
Are there limits to what falls within
faithful Christian living? Most assuredly so, as the history of the Church will
attest: The early Church had to deal with more than one challenge to acceptable
belief….my own short list would include the challenges posed by Marcion in the
2nd century, by Gnosticism in the 1st through early 4th centuries, by Arianism
in the 4th and 5th centuries, and by Pelagius in the 4th and 5th centuries.
Rightfully, each of these is called “heresy”. As the Church wrestled with each
of these challenges, the full understanding of what God had done in the sending
of Jesus Christ was hammered out.
There is no shortage of challenges to
acceptable belief before the Church today, either. For example, consider the
challenges of the New Age movement, or of those outside the Church who believe
that they can pick-and-choose what to believe. (Some of those within the Church
hold the same attitudes.) These challenges are not dissimilar from the
challenges of the very early Church. We can learn a lot from the early Church’s
actions in maintaining correct belief in the face of the challenges they faced.
In the final analysis, it is the outward
and unmistakable fruit of God’s indwelling Spirit that confirms the
faithfulness of a person’s inner disposition toward God.
We would do well to look for that fruit
before determining whether or not we are encountering a faithful follower of
the Lord.
AMEN.
