sprout, bud, blossom, produce

STANDOUT PASSAGE – Numbers 17
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the people of Israel to bring you twelve wooden staffs, one from each leader of Israel’s ancestral tribes, and inscribe each leader’s name on his staff. Inscribe Aaron’s name on the staff of the tribe of Levi, for there must be one staff for the leader of each ancestral tribe. Place these staffs in the Tabernacle in front of the Ark … Moses placed the staffs in the Lord’s presence in the Tabernacle of the Covenant. When he went into the Tabernacle of the Covenant the next day, he found that Aaron’s staff, representing the tribe of Levi, had sprouted, budded, blossomed, and produced ripe almonds!

Where are you fruitful? Each staff had at one time been capable of bearing fruit – each had been part of a tree and in order to have been of sufficient quality for forming a functional staff would have come from a healthy tree. When cut off from its root, its setting, the world in general they became fruitless. Even in the presence of God they were simply sticks. To bring forth fruit they need to be rooted in the earth, planted in their setting. Only one was able to be fruitful while cut off, and then only because God had decreed that the people it represented were “dedicated to the Lord for service in the Tabernacle.” (Num 18:6) The implication is perhaps that it would not have sprouted, budded, blossomed and produced in the world.
In the church, and though we do not speak of it, our actions often seem to declare that we are all Levites. We are useful, fruitful, when in Gods house, cut off from the hardship and muck of the world. Outside God’s house is a trial and necessary evil we must endure until we may once again meet. Yet this model was to be true of only one clan, and the smallest clan at that (*). The place of blessing for the rest is in the world. It is when we are embroiled and dirty. It is when we are following Jesus’ example and mixing with “tax collectors and sinners”.

ADDITIONAL VERSE OF NOTE – Luke 3:12,14
Even corrupt tax collectors came to be baptized and asked, “Teacher, what should we do?”
… “What should we do?” asked some soldiers …

For John his place of fruitfulness was dirty; was in the midst of corruption; in the midst of oppression. It was preaching an often unwelcome message of sinfulness, of repentance and of judgement.

Are you really a Levite? If not, where is your dirt? Are you in it up to your neck yet?

Lord God, being in the muck and dirt and getting filthy is not always where we want to be, for the sanitized tabernacle is where we find holiness and purity easiest. But you did not promise us ease in life, simply purpose and fruifulness. So Lord, fix me in the ground and get me embroiled in the dirt of worldy life so that I may bear fruit. May I sprout, bud, blossom and produce for you.
Amen.

(*) though initially the Levites at 23,000 [Num 26:62] may seem more numerous that the Simeonites at 22,200 [Num 26:14], itself by far smaller than all other tribes, the Levites were counted at one month old or older [Num 26:62] whilst all other tribes were only counted in men of 20 years or older [Num 26:4].