The Rev. Virginia W. Nagel
Episcopal Diocese of Central NY (Retired)
In one of the Harry Potter books there is a description of the birthday of
Harry's cousin, Dudley. Dudley comes down to breakfast on his big day, and finds
stacks of presents all over the kitchen. But he immediately throws a tantrum.
"Thirty-six. That's two less than last year." And Dudley refuses to be calmed
down until his parents point out one that he missed counting, and promise to buy
two additional presents for him.
The reading from Numbers is almost an exact parallel. God has sent the
prophet Moses to convince the Pharaoh of Egypt to allow the Hebrew slaves to go
free again. After God's miracles over-ride Pharaoh's refusals, Moses leads the
former slaves out of Egypt, through the Red Sea where God has rolled the waters
back, and onward towards Palestine. The people are hungry, and God provides
food; they are thirsty, and God tells Moses how to get fresh water for them. And
still, the people complain endlessly: If only we had meat to eat! We
remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the
melons, the leeks, the onions, the garlic; but now our strength is dried up, and
there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.
It's no wonder that Moses exploded and asked the Lord how he was to put up
with and continue to lead these people!
Every one of us has received many gifts and blessings from God. And every one
of us has been just as ungrateful as Dudley, and as the former slaves from
Egypt. Every one of us has complained, "Yes, I know God loves me, yes, I know I
have a great family and home and can go to school and have all sorts of freedom,
I know I have things much better off than people in Greece or China, but if only
I could get a better-paying job, if only the neighbors' dogs would stop barking,
if only......."
It's sad. More than that, our lack of gratitude for the blessings we have
received is downright nasty. Perhaps we never think that we are grumblers, like
the tribes of Israel in the desert, or that we sound like spoiled brats, like
Dudley. But how do you think God hears our constant complaints, our constant "if
onlys" and yearnings for more, more, more blessings and gifts?
There's a simple cure for this horrid condition, and every one of us already
knows it: take thought and take time to be thankful for what you have. As the
old hymn says,
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.
Today's Gospel reading shows another side of this same situation. Jesus'
disciples came to him complaining that someone else had been healing, using the
name of Jesus. They wanted Jesus to make him stop. They wanted to be the only
ones to whom Jesus had given power to heal. They did not want to share their
privilege, their gift, their talent or blessing, with anyone else. They wanted
to be the important ones, the ones looked up to and revered, like Jesus himself.
It's rather like that other episode where a couple of the disciples asked if
they could sit on the right and left of Jesus in heaven, and be higher up, more
important, than the other disciples.
They were shocked that Jesus did not do as they asked, and seemed to think it
was just fine that this other person was healing in Jesus' name.
What they didn't know, or maybe did not want to remember, is that every one
of us is tremendously important to God. Every one of us has a part to play in
God's plans for the salvation of the whole world, the whole of humanity. But we
have to play the part that we are fitted for...the part that God has given us
talents, blessings and life experiences to enable us to carry out perfectly. We
cannot go belly-aching around, wanting to play someone else's part, wanting to
be more famous or respected than someone else. We cannot go around seeing the
work of salvation as a chance for one-upmanship, a chance to be famous or
respected or closer to Jesus. If we are truly willing to be part of God's plan,
the point is not that we seek salvation and fame for ourselves. The point is
that we need to buy into God's plan for his Kingdom to come, for everyone to
have a chance for salvation, not just us. The point is that we need to do our
part and not dream of doing someone else's part. We are each greatly loved by
God, whether our part is to wash dishes in a soup kitchen or stand at the altar
and call Jesus down into the bread and wine.
True gratitude, you see, shows when we gratefully accept the gifts and
blessings we have been given, and then put them to use for the purposes God
wants us to use them for: helping to bring the Kingdom to all people on the face
of the earth, by the use of our own gifts, whatever they may be...instead of
ranting and wailing that we don't have different gifts for a different job in
the bringing of the Kingdom.
There are time-tested cures for both these types of ungratefulness.
For the kind of ungratefulness described in the reading from the book of
Numbers, the simple cure is to spend time each day thanking God one by one for
every gift you can remember or think of, that he has given you...health, a
loving family, a warm cozy home, the ability to work, the people who taught you
about God, the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross, your talent of singing or
drawing or baking bread, the prize you won in 4-H or the good report card from
college....on and on, and I guarantee you'll never run out of things to thank
God for.
For the kind of ungratefulness we read about in today's Gospel, the cure is a
very short prayer to pray every day...maybe some of us will need to pray it
several times a day. We need not only to mouth the words; we need to pray it and
mean it. Here it is:
Thy kingdom come, O Lord, beginning with me. Amen.
