God, What Do You Want to Do through Me?

Numbers 11:24-30; Acts 2:1-21

This morning’s sermon will focus on two similar stories about the gift of the Holy Spirit upon God’s followers. In the passage from Numbers, God responds to Moses's complaint that he is being asked to lead the people. In the story from Acts, a group of Jesus’ disciples is leaderless and looking for what is next. In both stories, God acts, the Spirit is given, and lives are changed.

So let’s begin with this story from the 4^th Book of Moses, commonly called the Book of Numbers. Why is it entitled so? This concerns two censuses of the Israelite population taken by Moses. In effect, he counted the number of people, hence the title.

Just before this morning’s passage, we read that the people were complaining. They had had their fill of Manna, which God had provided every night as the dew fell from the sky, so did manna, and they wanted some meat. “Their strength was dried up” (v.6). Back in Egypt, (v.5) even though they were in slavery, they had all kinds of fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, and garlic! Here, it was Manna all day, every day.

Now, what was Manna? Well, Numbers 11:7-8 describes it as follows. “7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color was like the color of gum resin. 8 The people went around and gathered it, ground it in mills or beat it in mortars, then boiled it in pots and made cakes of it; and the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil.”  So it was some sticky, yellowish syrup with seeds. Then it was ground, boiled, and turned into cakes, sort of a Biblical hard tack.

Although God is still miffed about the people worshipping a golden calf (Remind you of any recent news stories?), God still provides for them. But God’s anger is stoked again with the people’s complaints over the lack of variety in food.

Then Moses starts in, complaining to God that he can’t lead the people by himself anymore, that he hears the cries of the people wailing in hunger from their tents every night, and he can’t stand it! He tells God, “If this is how you are going to deal with me, kill me at once as a favor, that I may not see how wretched my life is!” v.15

God answers Moses’ complaint, telling him to gather 70 elders from the people, and that God will take some of the Spirit given to Moses in his encounter with the burning bush and divide it. Thus, many others besides Moses would have God’s wisdom and help in leading the people. Furthermore, the people will have their fill of meat, so much meat that it will eventually “come out of their nostrils and become loathsome!” (V.20) Sometimes it seems to me that the God of the Hebrew Bible is often a bit grouchy…

That brings us to this morning’s passage. Moses has gathered the 70 elders around the place of worship, the tent of meeting. God divides the Spirit upon the elders, and apparently the Spirit spreads even further (As it says in the Gospel of John, 3:8, “The Spirit blows where it will, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it is going.”) to two others who weren’t part of the 70 elders. Eldad and Medad then begin to be led by the Spirit and speak of God’s wisdom and prophecy. Someone complains to Joshua, the head minister, who then asks Moses to stop the two from prophesying. Moses responds that he wished ALL the people had been given the gift of the Spirit! (v.29)

For a time, scripture portrays God’s Spirit as being accessible and present. But then, it seems that the Spirit becomes elusive.

In 1 Samuel 3:1, the verse states: “The boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision. “ This rarity refers to the scarcity of direct, open divine communication — the Spirit of God moving in unmistakable, prophetic ways — during the period when Israel was transitioning from the era of the judges to the establishment of the monarchy.

Fast-forward approximately 1500 years to the scene in Acts. From a practical standpoint, the followers of Jesus found themselves without a leader, without direction, without a sense of purpose. The absence of Jesus from the community threatened to become a crisis that could destroy this fledgling church. It sounds as if God’s Spirit is still rare. And so, the community of 120, rather than taking matters into their own hands, withdrew to the upper room, to wait and pray- to wait for what Jesus promised- the gift, or redistribution of the Holy Spirit. They really didn’t have anything else they could do, save for quitting altogether. Yet Jesus’ appearance to them and his promise that a gift from God was on the way, and that they should wait for it, gave them resolve, and so, rather than relying on their own ideas or actions, they waited. They hoped that God could give the church what it needed, not human effort.- The gift they waited for was the power of God, first experienced by Moses, then by tribal elders, continuing to blow where it willed through the people of God, present at Christ’s birth, resurrection, and ascension. It was time for a new beginning.

Those who were gathered happened to be gathered on the day of Pentecost, which means "50th." This day dates back to the Jewish festival of Pentecost, which was observed 50 days after the festival of Unleavened Bread. The Jewish tradition held that God gave the law to the Israelites at Mount Sinai 50 days after the Passover in Egypt, which is why the festival lasted for 50 days.

There were several important parts to this festival. One was repentance and redemption, as sacrifices were given as sin offerings. This was also a time to dedicate spring harvests to God, with grain and animal offerings made in God’s honor. This was a time of thanksgiving and renewal and fit in quite well with the gift of the Spirit- For upon the Spirit’s arrival, it would also be a time to give thanks, and a time to begin anew.

In the creation story, the breath of our Creator, the Ruach of God, breathed life into dust and created a human being. In Acts, the Ruach of God breathed life into a once-cowardly disciple, Peter, and into a quiet, wondering group of 120 who had lost their leader. The Spirit gave them power from on high.

The gift of the Holy Spirit is a part of God’s fourfold plan- restoration through sacrifice, resurrection, ascension, and then the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost. Those who had no tongue to speak of the mighty works of God could preach. Those who hadn’t a clue about demonstrating their faith in the world suddenly could perform acts of mercy, justice, and healing.

So, here we are, quite a bit less than 120, gathered on Pentecost Sunday. You may think the presence of the Spirit is rare these days. Yet Jesus did not say to those gathered as he ascended that the Spirit would be around for a while, then fade away. Jesus called it a gift and didn’t take it back later. This means the Spirit is present, here and now. The Divine wind of God is accessible to us all.

I will say this: the Holy Spirit can be one elusive dancer! You may have to wait until she comes around to be with you. But she is there, a gift for us, to know and experience the presence and wisdom of the Eternal One.

 We, too, have been anointed with the gift from God, the Spirit from above. We, too, have been called to preach the good news and share Godly wisdom to help change this broken and sinful world. We do not have to wait for it. That Spirit is part of who we are.

Last Thursday, our session had an important meeting regarding a potential tenant coming onto our campus. At the beginning of that meeting, I asked for God’s Spirit to guide us in all wisdom and deliberation. I am confident that the same Spirit God placed upon Moses, and then divided up among the people, the same spirit that brought together the wayward followers of Jesus looking for unity and purpose, guided us in that moment. The same Spirit is with us here and now, although our experience of the Holy Spirit might be different than the account in Acts.

Theologian Rebecca Dean writes, “It may or may not be the case that we should expect to see the tongues of fire and hear the sound of rushing wind for ourselves. Still, the Acts narrative offers us a glimpse of these marvels: it weaves them into the lives of ordinary people, who are called to notice the signs of the times—both divine and human—and to locate them within the wider story of God’s purposes. As God’s people, we are invited to respond, not through the pursuit of “mountaintop” or “upper room” experiences, but by engaging in community-building, hospitality, and welcome, and by looking out for the Holy Spirit at work in unexpected places.”