We’re All Prophets

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

–Numbers 11:29

This week in the weekly pastor-led Bible study, we covered the first half of the book of Numbers, which includes one of my favorite stories in the Old Testament. In Numbers 11, the people of Israel complain to Moses about their situation in the wilderness. After experiencing liberation from Egyptian slavery, the community is journeying by stages towards the promised land, sustained in the wilderness by God’s provision of manna—the strange food that appears each morning and forms the core of the Israelite diet during their wilderness sojourn. But the people are not satisfied, dreaming of the meat and fish they ate in Egypt “for nothing.” How quickly they forget the oppression under which they lived.

Moses is overwhelmed with the burden of leadership and the complaining of the people, and he turns to God and expresses his frustration. In response, God calls for 70 elders to be gathered together, and says to Moses, “I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people along with you so that you will not bear it all by yourself.” Some of the elders take on the burden and begin to prophesy.

But two men named Eldad and Medad stayed behind in the camp, not present with the other 70 when God appeared and the spirit was placed on the group; yet they prophesied in the camp anyway. This prompts some complaints. “And a young man ran and told Moses, ‘Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.’ And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, ‘My lord Moses, stop them!’ But Moses said to him, ‘Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!’” Eldad and Medad might not have been in the exact right place or following the exact protocol, yet God’s spirit comes to them as well.

That story always makes me think about how human beings can’t seem to help wanting to control who gets to speak for God or participate in the work that God is doing in the world. We have a tendency to want to control where and how and among whom God can work. But the Spirit is not predictable or controllable. She blows where she will.

On Sunday I shared the story of the Rev. Harold Wilke, a UCC minister and disability advocate whom some people wanted to prevent from serving in ministry due to his disability. But he knew the Spirit rested on him, and despite some church leaders discouraging his ordination, he was set apart for ministry and became a leading advocate for disability justice, ultimately standing next to President Bush at the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act and receiving the pen from the president with his foot. Wilke also presided over the ordination of the Rev. Beatrice McConnell early in his ministry, the first woman ordained in the denomination—another person whom some would have prevented from answering the call to ministry. But he and she answered the call, echoing the ancient words of Moses: would that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!

This Sunday is Pentecost, the day when we remember the Spirit of God falling on everyone, without exception, without regard to language or nation or gender or background. May we be open to the Spirit speaking—even through us. God is still speaking; thanks be to God!