And it shall be that the rod of the man whom I choose will blossom.
(Numbers 17:1-5)

When I was a child, I remember that my grandfather carried a walking cane when he went out, as yours probably did too. I still have one of his canes out in the garage. Today people still sometimes use walking sticks when they need them, although they have changed in considerably in their appearance. But at one time a man often carried a "cane" not because he needed one to walk, but to indicate he was a gentleman. As a man grew more successful his canes grew fancier. Some were made of rare wood, intricately carved, some had silver or ivory heads. If he passed a lady, a man might tip the brim of his hat with the cane out of respect.

I mention canes because before the word "cane" came into use, men called them "rods" or "staffs", and they were symbols of authority.

We are all familiar with the bishop's crosier, which is made in the shape of a shepherd's staff.

Less well known is the old custom in the Church of England and in the Episcopal Church of the Warden's Wand. The Senior Warden once was given an ornate cane-like staff which he carried in procession, and which was placed in a special holder on the end of his pew to both show his office and that he was present.

In some armies senior officers and non-coms are allowed to carry a short rod (sometimes called a "swagger stick") that is a symbol of their authority. This use of a cane or staff as a symbol of authority was common in the Roman and Egyptian world and even in Old Testament times.

Moses was not the only one among the Hebrews who had a rod. Each of the twelve tribes had a prince, and each prince carried a rod to show authority. The Hebrews even visualized the Lord had one. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death: I will fear no evil; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." The meaning is clear; the rod was a symbol of the power to discipline and the staff the power to rescue and guide.

The Old Testament lesson today is a scene from the Hebrew's wilderness wandering. The children of Israel had not become a disciplined people yet; they were, in fact, an undisciplined rabble. They complained about everything Moses and his brother, Aaron, did to improve their lot and make them a better people. They groused about what they saw as the absence of freedom. They complained about their food and drink. They actually sometimes longed for the good life of slavery when they didn't have to think for themselves. They griped about living in the desert, and the severity of life under Moses and Aaron. They complained about God's requirements.

So the desire to live without rules and to complain about everything was not invented in the 1960's and 1970's. There is a fundamental desire in human beings for anarchy -a desire to destroy all institutions and all order and to complain about every aspect of life.

The basic nature of man doesn't change. Times change but men do not. "They think they are better than we are: who put them in charge". I remember feeling that way as an 18 year old college freshman. How about you?

The Hebrews were chronic complainers and ingrates. They constantly moaned and groaned about Moses and Aaron. "Why should they be our leaders? After all we are God's people, too. We all are holy; aren't we?" In a sense they were right...all of God's children are holy, but the person who belongs to the Lord (the one who has surrendered to the Lord) is not the one who demands his rights. Isn't it astounding how quickly privileges become rights? A neighbor asks to borrow our lawn mower. We agree. The second time, he comes and gets it out of the garage without even asking. The third time, we have to go get the mower out of his garage when we want to use it.

As a banker, I once had a customer who gave Christmas turkeys to every employee as a gift the week before the holiday. He gradually noticed that fewer and fewer people remembered to thank him for it. Then one year no one thanked him. One employee did stick his head into the man's office to complain that last years turkey was bigger. A privilege becomes a right. That man never gave out another turkey to his employees, instead he gave them to the homeless shelters.

Like the ungrateful employees or the neighbor who appropriates you lawn mower, the Hebrews demanded rights they did not possess.

So in our lesson today, the Hebrews had not learned that if a person is really God's child, he has absolutely no rights, just as a child has no rights in his father's house, only responsibilities.

A person reaches maturity when he learns to take responsibility for his or her own life out in the world. A person reaches spiritual maturity when he or she learns that all things are gifts from God who has created all things and who owns all things.

This is why we trust God for our daily needs. He knows what we need better than we ourselves. I say "needs" because our needs, like privileges, have a habit of being confused with our "wants", and our wants are endless. The Hebrews were quite willing to accept the Lord's blessings, but to surrender power to Him and to His representative, Moses, was something else. By no means were these newly freed slaves ready to permit God to decide how and under whom they should serve. As a result there was dissent about Moses' leadership.

So God, as He often does, intervened in history to point out whom He had chosen as leaders...giving a sign so obvious that even the spiritually blind Israelites could see whom God chose. It was not by democratic vote, or one man, one vote or supreme court decision. The Lord ordered, "Tell the children of Israel to bring their rods; one rod for the prince of each tribe. Write the name of each prince on the rod. Put all the rods in My tent in front of the Ark of the Covenant where I meet with them. I will show this rabble whom I have chosen, who is to be the High Priest in My house."

So Moses collected the rods and placed them as the Lord commanded in the Lord's tent where He dwelt among His people. The next morning in front of the assembly, God showed whom He had chosen. Moses went into the tent and collected the rods. Eleven of the rods were exactly as they had been when placed before the Ark. But Aaron's rod, from the tribe of Levi, had been turned into a living rod even though it had been a lifeless stick of wood. Aaron's rod was nourished by God. Like blood and the Spirit, the flowing sap of life was in it. It had green leaves and almond flowers and even ripe almond fruit, reflecting the gift of the Spirit. It was like the skeletons come to life in the valley of dry bones.

So the Lord directed Moses to put Aaron's rod inside the Ark of the Covenant along with some of the Manna with which God fed his people, and the two tablets engraved with the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mt. Sinai. These were to bear witness that God had visited His people and to show proof that God is the giver of all good things. God is the One who chooses, just as Jesus admonished those whom He called, "I have chosen you. You have not chosen me." The Lord chose when and where we would be born. He chose our parents. He chose how tall we would be, the color of' our hair, our eyes, our skin. He chose what talents He would give us because He wanted individuals like you or me who could be filled with Life, His Spirit. We had no right or say so in any of these matters.

Now that He has chosen us, He gives us free will to accept His call, to serve or reject Him. Now the most astonishing part of our story is this: When God chooses us and we follow Him, He gives us the Rod of His power through Christ. David's psalm promises us, "The Lord shall send the rod of thy power out of Zion." Christ promised us He would give us His power from on high. The rod is a sign of power. In the hands of man, Aaron's rod was a dead stick. In God's hands, it came to life. We need God to put life into our bodies as without him we are physically and spiritually dead. With God all things are possible... the birth of a son to Abraham's wife, Sarah, who was beyond child-bearing years and the birth of a Savior to a Mary through the power of the Holy Spirit. God even made Aaron's rod -a dead stick of wood-burst into bloom to demonstrate that in Him all things are possible.

Man, you see, is both flesh and blood, a physical being, but also has a spiritual nature that has been dead ever since Adam rejected God-given life to be his own god. Since that time man has chosen a way of life that feeds his physical appetite and seeks to live without a higher law than himself. We demand the finest food and drink, the best clothes, and seek infinite pleasure. We demand rights, but shirk responsibilities. Man is a slave to those things that feed his physical craving, things that make him feel good. But what about spiritual man ...that part of man that seeks fulfillment and cries out in the darkness of the lonely night for wholeness?

"The Kingdom of God is not food and drink," Paul cautioned, "but joy in the Holy Spirit." Giving our children everything from the latest IPOD to the most expensive designer jeans without teaching them responsibility will not make them better or happier adults.

The Hebrews had to wander 40 years in Sinai before they were deemed ready for the Land of Milk and Honey and victory over the Canaanites. If the Lord can bring a dead stick back to life, then let us have enough faith in Him, as Revelation directs, "to open the door and let Him come in so He may break bread with us in glorious communion." He will give real life to those whom He has chosen.

And it shall be that the rod of the man whom I choose will blossom.