"COLORED PEOPLE"

“And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous.” (Numbers 12:3)

This week is a very important week, indeed!

On Monday, January 19, the United States of America observes Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in honor of the great civil rights leader and minister of the 1950s and 1960s. Then, on Tuesday, January 20, Barack Obama will be Inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America. Any Presidential Inauguration is important, but this one is PARTICULARLY important because it’s the Inauguration of the first President of African-American heritage. With those two very special days in mind, I preached my sermon on Sunday morning, January 18 from Numbers 12. The title of the sermon was, “Colored People”.

My title was deliberately sensational, but also deliberately had a double meaning. I took the sermon’s title from the name of a song by the Christian rock group DCTalk. DCTalk’s song, “Colored People” came out around thirteen years ago. At the time, my then middle-school-aged son was constantly listening to it. One day, as I drove him to school, I asked, “Jon, WHAT are they singing about... ‘COLORED PEOPLE’?!” Of course, I wondered if this was some sort of weird, racist song. Jon assured me it WASN’T and encouraged me to listen closely to the words. If you do an on-line search for “Colored People” by DCTalk, you’ll be able to listen to the song and also to read the lyrics. Sadly, the term, “Colored People” was usually used by whites in a derogatory way. It implied that African-Americans were somehow tainted, deficient, and substandard. People would make statements such as, “I think our new neighbors are COLORED!”, with the same tone of voice and attitude in which they’d say something like, “I think the milk in the refrigerator has spoiled!”.

I grew up hearing “colored” used that way. I also recall our family driving to Florida during the summer of 1965. I was greatly surprised to discover that in the South all gas stations had 3 bathroom doors, rather than the customary 2 doors in the North. I was used to doors which read, “Men” and “Women”. In the South, the bathroom doors read, “Men”, “Women”, and “Colored”. I realize this was AFTER the signing of the Civil Rights Act, but that summer we also visited SIlver Springs in Florida where you rode through the springs in glass bottom boats. The place was segregated. The whites rode in nice new boats and the “colored” rode in older boats.

When DCTalk sings about,”Colored People”, THEY sing about ALL human beings being, “colored people”; that is, tainted with sin and moral failure and needing a Savior. I carefully explained that during the introduction to my sermon.

The 12th Chapter of the Old Testament Book of Numbers is a FASCINATING chapter. Did you know Moses married a Black woman? He did! I’ve not been asked this question in many years, but in my early days in ministry, I’d sometimes be asked, “Is there a Bible verse that says it’s wrong for my kid to date a Black person?” My response usually floored the questioners: “No, but there’s a verse that says it’s RIGHT!” Then I’d tell them the story of Numbers chapter 12.

In Numbers chapter 12, Moses’ brother Aaron and sister Miriam spoke against him complaining that he had married an Ethiopian woman. Some commentaries speak of a, “Cushite” woman. Either way, it means a woman from sub-Saharan East Africa- a Black woman. Aaron and Miriam spoke and complained that they were also prophets and that Moses was no better than they were. (Certainly, the chapter implies that after he’d married the Black woman, they thought he was considerably WORSE than they were.) One commentary expressed the opinion that their main gripe was that Moses’ wife was from a foreign and inferior RELIGION. In context, I don’t think that’s the problem. I really think it’s the skin color. Ancient Hebrews were quite cognizant of the skin color issue between them and Black Africans. Jeremiah 13:23 asks, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots...”.

Were you ever called to the Principal’s office as a kid? If so, it was likely a scary experience. Or, perhaps you’ve been, “called in on the carpet” in front of your boss. Well, in Numbers 12:4, GOD called Aaron, Miriam, and Moses to come into the Tabernacle and have a little conversation with Him. Once inside the Tabernacle, God really “lets Aaron and Miriam have it”, telling them that while He speaks to prophets (like them) in dreams and visions, He speaks to Moses FACE TO FACE. He asks them why they were not (then) afraid to speak against Moses. Miriam is THEN struck with leprosy! Literally, the Hebrew says, she became, “like snow”. The word “white” which gives the phrase, “white as snow” is not in the original Hebrew, but that phrase is certainly STRONGLY IMPLIED.
This winter we New Englanders have all had to deal with more than enough snow, and the WHITENESS of it is certainly one of the first things you think of when you think of snow.

It’s interesting, isn’t it? Miriam spoke against a BLACK woman. What happened? Her skin became somehow sickly and deficient. The term “snow” may also mean is became rough and flaky. She spoke against a Black woman. She was now “white as snow”!

Why would Miriam (and Aaron) do such a thing? Why would they be so unkind and unfriendly? Why would they be so critical? Why would they be so rebellious? Why would they speak and act in such a racist manner? It’s because they, like all of mankind, were “colored people”- tainted by sin. Sadly, we probably all have stories from our past where we’ve thought badly of someone for some really unfair and unimportant reason. Even if you DON’T think you’ve ever behaved in a racist manner (and I find that hard to believe) there’s SOME area in which you have fallen short in life. We’re all imperfect.

Aaron pled for Moses to heal Miriam (as if Moses could!). Moses then pled for God to heal Miriam. Like all lepers, Miriam would have to live apart from the camp. God decreed that after seven days, Miriam would be healed and could rejoin the group, and that’s exactly what happened.

I did not vote for Barack Obama. It was not because of his race. There are many African-American men and women I’d gladly vote for! I had many serious problems with Barack Obama’s political views, most of which I considered too liberal. I also had some problems with his past associations with questionable people. I was admittedly very nervous about what kind of President Barack Obama would be. I must say, John McCain’s concession speech in November was encouraging and even somewhat reassuring to me. McCain stressed the important historical milestone that an African-American had been elected to the highest office in the land. As an American History buff, I do “get” the significance of this, and it is a milestone. I don’t expect to agree with all of Barack Obama’s actions as President, but I also didn’t agree with all of George W. Bush’s actions as President. I do understand that as a Christian, I am called to honor the President, and to pray for him and for his family. The Rev. George O. Wood, The General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God (like an archbishop in many denominations) has called upon all Assemblies of God constituents to pray for President-Elect Obama and his wife and children on the occasion of his Inauguration. Wood’s call to prayer is on video at
www.ag.org

Yes, as we remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., let’s pray for our President-Elect and his family, and while we will disagree over policies and procedures, let us never attack any person because of their race.