1.
Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation
of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our
Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word is taken from
Numbers 22:21-35 (READ TEXT). It’s
entitled, “You Shouldn’t Have,” dear
brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.
“You shouldn’t have.” What a nice thing to hear! Maybe you heard these words
recently, after you gave a Valentine’s Day gift. Of course, the expression can also be quite
literal. Then it means that we really shouldn’t have. You and I have done
things we shouldn’t have done. We know what we’re to do, but we end up doing
something different. We’re perfectly capable of doing the exact opposite of
what we were supposed to have done, even though we know shouldn’t have.
3.
The story of Balaam reminds us of
such incidents. It occurred when Israel’s forty years of wilderness wandering
were almost over. Soon God’s people would enter the Promised Land. Kings in the
region viewed Israel and its movements with horror. After all, this was a large
population that could hardly be missed. Word had spread about how mighty these
people could be with the Lord on their side. King Balak of Moab realized that
against such supernatural help, it would be pointless to deploy his army to
attack God’s people. So Balak wanted to cripple them supernaturally. He sent
messengers to enlist the aid of a famous sorcerer named Balaam. If the great
Balaam would curse the Israelites, Balak seems to have thought, maybe that
curse could counteract the blessings they enjoyed. Then the Moabite army might
have a chance against them.
4.
This threat was nothing to take
lightly. These days we may find more to worry about at the hands of soldiers
than sorcerers, but the powers of evil remain quite real. They’re real now, and
they were real then. Balaam actually stood out as the greatest threat Israel
had faced since leaving Egypt. He knew about the Lord, but he really didn’t
know the Lord. God’s Word was on Balaam’s lips, but not in his heart. Would he
do what Balak was prepared to pay him great sums of money to do, namely, curse
Israel? Balaam knew he shouldn’t do it. The Lord had instructed him to say only
what he was told. Was Balaam hoping to do what he shouldn’t have and so get his
big payoff from Balak?
5.
When people get caught in the midst
of an evil scheme, they can try to act ever-so- innocent. They might say things
like this: “We haven’t done anything yet.
All we did was talk about it. We took a drive and saw what it might look like.
We haven’t done anything.” People talk as if sin in the heart or on the
lips really isn’t sin. But it is. Even if we don’t recognize it, God certainly
does.
6.
God himself caught Balaam. The
incident of the talking donkey on the road stands out as the most famous part
of Balaam’s story. Prior to the three times when Balak would tell Balaam to try
cursing Israel came three times when the angel of the Lord, with drawn sword in
hand, blocked the path that Balaam and his donkey were traveling. Balaam
couldn’t see this at first. He grew impatient and hit his donkey. Then the
donkey spoke to Balaam. So did the Lord.
If God could make a donkey talk, then he could certainly make Balaam say
what he was supposed to say. Sure enough, on Balaam’s first attempt to curse
Israel, he ended up asking: “How can I
curse whom God has not cursed?” (Numbers 23:8). Balaam couldn’t curse those
whom the Lord had blessed. King Balak complained, of course. In effect, he told
Balaam that he shouldn’t have said what he said. But Balaam answered, “Must I not take care to speak what the LORD
puts in my mouth?” (Numbers 23:12).
7.
Balak wanted Balaam to try again. This
time he positioned Balaam on a mountain where he could see all of the
Israelites. From this new position, Balaam could see a lot, but of course the
Lord could see still more. What would Balaam say? He would say only what the
Lord put in his mouth, but what would that be? The previous forty years had
hardly been a distinguished time for Israel as God’s people. They complained
about the steady diet of manna. Moses’ brother Aaron and sister Miriam rebelled
against the leadership that God was providing through Moses. Some of the Levites
rebelled too. Most recently, when the people had spoken against God and Moses,
the Lord sent fiery serpents that killed them with a bite. As a psalm says,
summarizing this period: “How often they
rebelled against [God] in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert! They
tested God again and again and provoked the Holy One of Israel” (Psalm
78:40–41). So when Balaam made his second try at cursing, would God go ahead
and curse this rebellious people?
8.
In many situations you and I have
done things we shouldn’t have. Like Israel, we knew better than to do such
things, but we did them all the same. We also sin by omission, when we should
do something, but do not. Like St. Paul, we can get sick and tired of our own
sinfulness, including the condition of sin that underlies all our sins in
thought, word, and deed. But our real trouble doesn’t amount to weariness or
frustration. Our trouble is with the Lord. We have given him no good reason to
be on our side, and lots of reasons to be against us.
9.
What Balaam said on his second try
strikes us as even more remarkable than what he said previously. Looking at the
entire people of Israel, he declared: “I
received a command to bless: he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.”
Balaam added that the Lord didn’t behold iniquity in Jacob, and didn’t see
mischief in Israel (Numbers 23:20–21). Oh, come on now! God saw no wickedness
in them? For the last forty years they had shown him nothing else! How was it
possible for God to see no iniquity in them? Did he need to have his eyes
checked?
10.
No, he did not. The question to ask
is exactly who was the Lord looking at? Obviously, he was looking at Someone
else. Israel was guilty as sin, and richly deserved God’s condemnation. Yet the
Lord wasn’t looking at them. He was looking at Christ. Thus, with people like you and me, people
whose guilt is undeniable, the Lord does not see sin. For he is looking at his
perfect Son, Jesus Christ. “For our sake
he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Christ did the things we should
have done, and he took the punishment for the things we did even though we
shouldn’t have. Incredibly enough, God sees no iniquity, perverseness, or sin
in us, despite all the evidence of it in your life and mine. He calls us like
he sees us, and he sees us in Christ. God is looking at him, and his
righteousness covers us. “As many of you
as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27). God sees
Christ when he does not behold iniquity or wickedness in you or me.
11.
By inspiration, St. John wrote: “Whenever our heart condemns us”—literally,
“knows against” us—then “God is greater than our heart” (1 John 3:20). The
evidence of our sin piles up in our hearts and our consciences. But God isn’t
looking at any of that. He sees us in Christ.
Further, John continued, “if our
heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God” (1 John 3:21).
Remember, the whole episode with Balaam and Balak was going on without Israel
even being aware of it. You and I can rest comfortably, too, even with all the
demonic forces loose in the world, because we are in Christ and Christ has
taken away their power to hurt us or accuse us. How can they harm the people in
whom the Lord sees no iniquity?
12.
As you might imagine, Balak hit the
ceiling after Balaam’s second unsuccessful attempt to curse Israel. Still, he
wanted to give it one more try, at yet another place. He said to Balaam, “Perhaps it will please God that you may
curse them for me from there” (Numbers 23:27). But these were the people in
whom the Lord saw no iniquity. If he was for them, who could be against them?
God had justified; who was going to condemn?
13.
On Balaam’s third try, even more
than the first two, he said what—from Balak’s point of view—he shouldn’t have. Balaam
spoke of Israel settled in the Promised Land! Still more, he quoted previous
passages from the Old Testament. He said that Israel crouched like a lion,
recalling the blessing Jacob gave to his son Judah (Numbers 24:9; see Genesis
49:9). Balaam added, speaking to Israel: “Blessed
are those who bless you, and cursed are those who curse you,” which had
been God’s promise to Abraham (Numbers 24:9; see Genesis 12:3). God was now
repeating his promises of old through someone as unlikely as Balaam. Israel was
indeed his people, and they stood secure under his blessing and protection.
14.
As far as King Balak was concerned,
three tries and you’re out. Balaam had tried three times to curse Israel, all
to no avail. So the king fired Balaam. But Balaam made one last speech after he
was fired. This turned out to be his greatest blessing speech of them all.
Balaam said: “I see him, but not now; I
behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall
rise out of Israel” (Numbers 24:17). These words foretold the Messiah, the
Christ, whose birth was announced by the appearance of a star. He himself is
the “bright morning star” of the Book
of Revelation (Revelation 22:16), the Victor who will vanquish his enemies,
those close at hand and those far off. Whoever they are, Christ defeats them
all. Only those who are related to him stay safe. Look how safe the Israelites
were. They didn’t even know that there was a threat from Balaam at the time.
15.
With that kind of safety coming from
that kind of protection from this Lord and his Christ, we can be at least a
little bit like Balaam, who didn’t curse Israel but rather blessed them. He
shouldn’t have, according to Balak. But a powerful Word from our powerful Lord,
even when spoken in an unlikely place by an unlikely person, has great effect. So also, we can be a countercultural people.
We can say and do what people around us think we should not. Most of all, we
can point our neighbors to Christ, the One who died and rose for us and for
them. You never know when a powerful Word from our powerful Lord, even when
spoken in an unlikely place by an unlikely person, will have great effect. If
God could speak his Word through Balaam, he can use you or me to speak it to
family and friends.
16.
This powerful Word continues to have
its effect in our lives. It is like a lamp shining in the darkness, to which we
give attention until the day dawns and the morning star rises in our hearts.
(See 2 Peter 1:19.) God calls us like he sees us, and he sees us in Christ. Now
you and I are in a position to transmit God’s blessing through his Word, just
as we have received it through Word and Sacrament. People around us may say, “Oh, you shouldn’t have!” Is that so? Amen. Now the peace that passes all human
understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life
everlasting. Amen.
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