Links for today’s readings:
Read: Exodus 30 Listen: (5:06) Read: Luke 12 Listen: (7:42)
Scripture Focus: Exodus 30:12, 16
12 When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the Lord a ransom for his life at the time he is counted. Then no plague will come on them when you number them.
16 Receive the atonement money from the Israelites and use it for the service of the tent of meeting. It will be a memorial for the Israelites before the Lord, making atonement for your lives.
Reflection: All People Count
By Erin Newton
A megachurch has over two thousand members (according to research by Katelyn Beaty in Celebrities for Jesus). According to that fact, I was once a member of a megachurch.
I remember an elder strolling the aisles each week with a clicker in hand. Click! Click! Click! You could hear how full our services were. Counting people was a tried-and-true church practice.
Is there anything wrong with counting people? Actually, according to the Bible, there is no law forbidding it. But we do have stories that reveal the risks involved.
Exodus 30 is a bit scattered in topics; the verses about taking a census land in the middle of instructions on building an incense altar and preparing anointing oil.
God commands Moses to count the people and instruct them (rich and poor alike) to give a small portion of silver as a “ransom” to be used for the “service of the tent of meeting.”
What are they ransoming? The Hebrew word is broad, and “ransom” is still probably the best translation. Christopher J. H. Wright clearly states that it is not atonement from sins; “It is unthinkable … that Israelites were to imagine they could buy God’s forgiveness for half a shekel of silver once in a while.” The act was more like an act of identifying with this sacred place, an investment of sorts.
But counting (and taking in money) risks the invasion of pride. As the rolls grew with the census, the coffers would fill with money. So the instructions come with a warning wrapped in a promise, “Then no plague will come on them when you number them” (v. 12). (Because that did happen once in 2 Samuel 24.)
A census in the ancient world was a quick way to find out how many soldiers were available for an impending battle. Pride grew with large troops. But this counting is not for war. This is a census for worship.
Each person invested equally in the sacred assembly. They were also counted equally among the community.
When all people count, pride can be countered.
We are tempted to look for ways to boost our numbers, to grow our churches, to take pride in our overflowing, popular services. But to what end? Have we forgotten the risks of being obsessed with numbers?
Let us consider the warning and test the motives of our hearts. Are our numbers growing worship or pride?
Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
Let us make a vow to the Lord our God and keep it; let all around him bring gifts to him who is worthy to be feared. — Psalm 76.11
– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.
Read more: The Context of The Widow’s Mite
The Widow’s Mite has more to say about unscrupulous religious leaders than about generous poor people…judgment is coming on leaders who take advantage of the poor.
Read more: Are We Proud of the Prideful?
Too often, we aren’t ashamed of the prideful, we are proud of them. “Look at the fruit!” However, the “fruit” we are typically pointing to is worldly results