November 13th

Number 2:10-3:51, Luke 1:39-56, Psalm 34:1-10

Jesus said:

“Many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Mark 10:31)

In fact this was so important that Jesus said it on a number of occasions. Jesus had a real heart for people who were downtrodden and whom society put towards the bottom of the social pile. Added to the phrase above on a couple of the times that Jesus said it is the fact that we must become the servant of others if we are to be great in the Kingdom. Jesus is challenging social structures, saying that how we “order” people is not how God does. And he is also saying that we must be humble ourselves before God, not placing ourselves high up in the pecking order.

Having worked on offices long enough, it is often the cleaner who is seen as the least member of the workforce, certainly furthest from the “boss”. And perhaps then the secretaries and the people who manage the office, and yet these are often the people who know exactly what is happening. And what about our churches, the caretakers and the people who clean, where do they stand? Do we realise how important they are in the life of the church? I know  churches have longed failed to hear Jesus teaching on who will sit where, and who take such roles for granted.

But God didn’t! The whole of todays passage from numbers is about the caretakers of the Tabernacle. What did God want to say to us when this bit of scripture was included in the Bible, perhaps that the care of the holy places was essential business in they eyes of the Lord. God has just named the generals of the army and ensured for the protection of the people, a vital role, and then he ensures for the upkeep of the altar.

In the Gospel we see Mary describe herself as a humble servant and from what we seem to know of her historically she was far from a lady of status. And David, the author of the psalm, the youngest son who was out tending the sheep when he was called. From the humblest of starts the greatest of roles. “Many who are first will be last, and the last first”.

So are we guilty of judging people on the basis of social status that is not quite as Jesus intended. Or do we feel that we may be somewhere near the bottom of the pile in the eyes of other people. Well God threw all that out of the window. For him one of the most important jobs was the cleaner and caretaker. For him, the best place to come from was a humble lowly beginning. Perhaps we need to stop seeing status through human eyes and see it through God’s eyes.