Numbers 11:4–6; 10–16, 24–29

⁴Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, "Oh that we had meat to eat! ⁵We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. ⁶But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at." ¹⁰Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of the LORD blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased. ¹¹Moses said to the LORD, "Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? ¹²Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,' to the land that you swore to give their fathers? ¹³Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, 'Give us meat, that we may eat.' ¹⁴I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. ¹⁵If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness." ¹⁶Then the LORD said to Moses, "Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. ²⁴So Moses went out and told the people the words of the LORD. And he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tent. ²⁵Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. And as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied. But they did not continue doing it. ²⁶Now two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the Spirit rested on them. They were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. ²⁷And a young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp." ²⁸And Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, "My lord Moses, stop them." ²⁹But Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the LORD's people were prophets, that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!"

Life in the middle: What do I mean by that? It is where we are today—living in the middle between what God has done for us in the past, and what he is going to do in the future. How do you survive living in the middle? Between the cross of Christ and his coming again? Life in the middle is life in the now and the not yet? In the "done!" and "not finished!"?

Life in the middle is a place of contradictions. We have already received creation and redemption, but we are waiting for the fulfillment of God's promises when Christ returns. Our sins are forgiven, but we still sin. We have been saved, yet every day we are in peril. Our youth has been renewed like the eagle's (Ps 103), but we get older each day. We have been made God's children, but we live and act like children of the devil. We are citizens of heaven, but we live in this world. We have eternal life, but people are dropping dead all around us. Jesus died on the cross, saved us from sin, and made us his own, then he went away, and now we wait for him to return.

The people of Israel show us what life in the middle is all about. They were living in the middle; between being delivered from bondage in Egypt and entering into the Promised Land. They had been delivered from slavery, they had been saved from death by the waters of the Red Sea, they had been given the promises of God in the covenant, they had been called out from among the nations as God's chosen people, they had been promised their own land flowing with milk and honey. But so far none of the promises had been fulfilled. Their hopes and dreams were still just theory, not a reality. They were living in the middle, between the promise and the fulfillment.

That is exactly where we are today! We are in the same predicament as Israel and Moses. It says, "The rabble that was among them had a strong craving, and the people of Israel also wept again and said, "Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt...but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at."

First off we notice that they were influenced by the rabble. The rabble were not Israelites, not the chosen people of God, but were also slaves, servants, oppressed people living in Egypt who tagged along with Israel when they departed Egypt like a group of people hitch-hiking on the Exodus. They were not believers in YHWH. Now, living intermingled with Israel, they and their pagan beliefs had a negative influence and were leading the Israelites astray from God. The Israelites began craving their old life in Egypt. There were no longer satisfied with the bread God sent them from heaven, they wanted the meat and delicacies they enjoyed living in bondage and slavery in Egypt.

Just like us today, the pagan, non-believing world around us rubs off onto us. We live intermingled with the culture of the world and begin to crave what the world has; its libertine life style, its debauchery, its unquenchable thirst and lust for greed and pleasure; its affluence and riches. All that is of the world sparkles like gold in our eyes, and we, like the Israelites, crave the meat of slavery to sin. We want to return to our former lives of sin, and we yearn for what the unbelieving world has. Meanwhile things like forgiveness of sins, redemption, salvation, reconciliation with God, and treasures in heaven become just a bunch of tired, old words that cause us to yawn and go "ho-hum." So sitting in church becomes boring and irrelevant as we nod off to sleep and our minds wander onto the pleasures of the world that we are anxious to get back to just as soon as we manage to escape this unbearable tedium. We may even begin to see God and worship as not as important as other things like work and school. God takes second place in our lives and in our priorities. All this is sin against the First Commandment.

Hence, many churches, wanting to fulfill our cravings for the pleasures of the world, under the ruse of packing the pews, redesign their worship service as entertainment, preach a gospel of prosperity and success and how to get all the pleasures the world has to offer, and even have a Starbucks in the lobby so you can have your morning cup of coffee with a bagel while you sit watching the show on the big screen. That is life in the middle when we forget who we are and lose our vision for where we are going. When salvation on the cross seems like something way back then that doesn't really apply to life today; when we begin to forget that we are God's people and living in relationship with God seems far off and irrelevant. All this church stuff becomes "nothing at all but manna to look at." But, where's the beef?

Even Moses could not escape the perils of life in the middle. When the people complained; when the anger of the Lord blazed hotly, he was displeased and protested to God, "Why have you dealt ill with me? Why have I not found favor in your sight? Did I give birth to this people? I am not able to carry all this people alone and bear this burden. If you treat me like this, then kill me at once." Life in the middle is filled with burdens, heavy loads to bear, pain, afflictions, grief and sorrow. We, like Moses, struggle with God, and sometimes do combat with him. Like Moses and Elijah we sometimes wish he would just slay us and get us out of our misery. Moses, too, had forgotten who he was and where he was going. He had lost the vision and the hope. That is a perfect description of life today, in this world. We are constantly in need, constantly sinning, constantly losing our faith and our vision for where we are going.

Life in the middle involves combat with God. We wrestle with him in prayer and hold on to him like Jacob until he gives us his blessing. Like the Syrophoenician woman who didn't give in to Jesus, even after he called her a dog and told her he was not here for her. She still had faith in him and argued with him until he gave in and granted her request. In the end, God relented and gave in to Moses. He granted his request and gave him 70 men as elders of Israel so Moses wouldn't have to bear the burden of the people all alone. In your misery, cling to God, don't let go of him until he gives you his blessing no matter how long it takes. "The fervent and effective prayer of a righteous man availeth much." (James 5:16). You see, God does listen to his children as a loving Father. He does relent and He will give you his blessing. He even enjoys you arguing with him because it demonstrates your unrelenting faith in him.

God has blessed you! He did hear your prayers for mercy and sent his Son as the answer. Like Moses, the burden we bear is too great for us. The burden of this life in the middle. The burden of our sin, the burden of temptations. The burden of death breathing down our necks. Jesus came to bear that burden for you. He took the burden of your sin upon his own shoulders and absorbed your sin into his own flesh. He fulfilled all righteousness and obeyed God and fulfilled the demands of the law for you. He took the burden of death into his own body and was crucified and died on the cross. All this he has done for you. It is finished! It is accomplished! And so as you live in the middle, he invites you to come to him, all who are weary and heavy laden, and he will give you rest. He has made you His children in your Baptism. You are saved. You are forgiven. Sin has no power over you. He has promised you an inheritance and he has qualified you to receive it. He has made his covenant with you and signed it in blood, the blood of the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.

All this is done! Finished! But it is not yet seen! It is not here yet! you are waiting, hoping, expecting, watching for Jesus to return. you have the promises, but they are not yet fulfilled. you have the dream, but it has not yet come true. The Master of the house has gone away on a journey to a distant land and has left you in charge of his house. But he will return. When you least expect it, he will come, like a thief in the night. you are the children of God, but it is not yet revealed what we shall be (I John 3:2). you have a promised land in heaven, but we have not yet crossed the River Jordan to go in a take possession of it. you have been cleansed of your sin, but sin is not yet purged out of your flesh. Death has been overcome, but you still get old and die. The victory is won, but the battle rages on.

We don't sit around and wait idly. you know who you are: citizens of God's kingdom. Unlike the rabble who lost their way in the wilderness, you know where we are going: home to God's kingdom. Meantime you are people on the move; marching like a mighty army toward the promised land. you are a people busy at work living as God's children. You are in communion with God. How do you live alongside God in a world of sin? We live by continuing the work that Jesus did while on earth. There is much to do before Jesus comes again, and the time is short. We live in worship to God. Our worship is to feed the hungry. To help the poor. To heal the sick. To seek the lost. To proclaim repentance and the kingdom of God. To preach forgiveness of sins and salvation to those who are perishing before Jesus comes and it is too late. There is much to do. There are still many who have not heard. Like Jesus, we reach out to those in need, touching them with the touch of God's love. Like Jesus, we raise those who are dead in sin through Holy Baptism. Like Jesus we make disciples and teach them to observe all that Jesus teaches us. And like Jesus we have our eyes fixed on the New Jerusalem, the eternal kingdom. That is our goal. That is what we are waiting for. That is where we yearn to be. So we continue in prayer like Moses and watch for Jesus to come like a watchman in the tower, waiting with joyful anticipation like a child waits for Christmas. We live for the day that Jesus returns; the promises fulfilled; when we will be free from sin; when all tears shall be wiped from our eyes, and our bodies raised from the dead, that we may dwell in the courts of the Lord forever and ever. Amen.