Presence Weekly 6/19/23

Good afternoon, this week's edition was delayed in honor of Juneteenth. Quite providentially, our devotional over the past three weeks has focused on people set free from generational chattel slavery and its implications in modern social, cultural, and political conversations.

We are also welcoming a couple hundred new subscribers after our attendance at a conference last week in Memphis. Welcome!

[THE DEVO] Rethinking Entitlements (Part 3 of 3)

In our examination of the role perspectives play in considering the implications of entitlement programs, we set our focus on those mediating the program.

With respect to Scripture, the term mediator takes on a more technical term. Within many theological circles, a meditator is someone chosen by God to act as the emissary between God and his people. The role of the mediator is to direct the people in the terms of the relationship with God. These terms are part of the contract or covenant. The primary mediators of the Old Testament include: Adam, Noah, Abraham, David, and, of course - Moses.

In Exodus 16-17 we examined how quickly the people who had just been rescued from slavery in Egypt came to a place of complaining about their present conditions and the level of their provision. Their complaints were directed to the Covenant Mediator - Moses. However, their complaints came before they had been given the terms of their relationship with the God of steadfast love and faithfulness. This matter is resolved in Exodus 24, when Moses, free reading the terms from the Book of the Covenant, sprinkles the people with blood from the peace offering. The Father hearing these words, the people reply with one voice,

“All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” (Exodus 24:7)

What follows from Exodus 24 to Numbers 20 covers nearly 40 years. Throughout that time, the people repeatedly broke the terms of the Covenant. Nonetheless, the God of steadfast love and faithfulness continued to uphold the Covenant.

When we arrive at Numbers 20, and see the people once again complaining to their mediator and asking for immediate provision of food and water, we are meant to be awestruck with God’s steadfast love and faithfulness.

2 Now there was no water for the congregation. And they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. 3 And the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord! 4 Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? 5 And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.” 6 Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them, 7 and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” 9 And Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he commanded him.

Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. 12 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” 13 These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them he showed himself holy. Numbers 20:2-13

When Moses takes the complaints of the people to God, he is simply and clearly instructed to,

“Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.”

That’s it. Nothing more. Nothing less.

But Moses was frustrated, fed-up, and angry. While Scripture is unclear about exactly what was going on in the head of Moses, it’s likely he was frustrated on behalf of God and himself. So, rather than once once again have his role of mediator be that of gracious provision, Moses decided to call an audible and use his role to portray God as frustrated, fed-up, and angry. Leaving the tent he says,

“Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice…”

What the people see and hear from Moses is a stark departure from what God desired to convey. Moses presents a God who is running out of patience and wants the people to feel shame and inadequacy. Yet, despite Moses disregarding God’s instruction, the God of steadfast love and faithfulness provides abundantly!

“and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock.”

In the closing verses, the LORD makes clear he is fed-up, frustrated, and angry with only one person - Moses, for his failure to appropriately mediate the Covenant between the LORD and the people.

Moving from theological to political understanding of a mediator requires some allowance for context. No one in the government is truly mediating the Covenant between God and man. That role belongs to Christ alone.

That said, there is a place for comparison.

Moses had faced 40 years of leading a people from slavery to the Promised Land. The behavior and identity that resulted from 420 years of generational oppression were not quickly resolved, even through the terms of the greatest entitlement program ever initiated. As Christians, we too are members of this same entitlement program. It’s appropriate to call this the New Covenant mediated by Christ.

As Christians serving and leading in Washington, we are certainly responsible for properly stewarding the resources and programs under our discretion: SNAP (Agriculture), SSI and SSDI (Health and Human Services), VA benefits (Veterans), Pell Grants (Education), Section 8 and FHA (Housing and Urban Development). We are also called to refrain from interjecting our personal frustration into our God-appointed role. Further, we must resist any thoughts of superiority or merit in the realization that all of us are still undergoing the process of sanctification and conformity into the image of Christ.

All that to say, when it comes to our thoughts on entitlement programs, perspective matters. To those we serve, and to God.

LAST WORDS

Thanks so much to all our subscribers for taking the time to read our content. More than anything, we want this to be a blessing to those serving and leading in Washington and to the many who care about what happens in the public square. If you enjoy what you are reading, please spread the word!

Until next week...