Rev. Wesley Menke

26 September 2021

The Problem

Congratulations! You made it through another week! That is no small task. There are big problems and challenges to surviving everyday. It is remarkable that we as a species, the human race, have come so far. It really is quite remarkable all the things we have achieved like the increases in standards of living for so many people. Sociologists and Anthropologists believe that the reason that we as a species are as successful is because we are so highly social. We are phenomenally social beings. Even the most introverted among us, like pastors for example, are able to step away from our silent meditations on scripture to interact with other people. It’s phenomenal. But you know what? It comes at a price.

Our highly social nature as human beings is a two sided coin. On one side you have empathy, and on the other side you have jealousy. The two social responses are related and in tension with one another. One of my professors of pastoral care in seminary told us of an experiment conducted on babies. It was a very benign experiment in which crying was recorded in nurseries in hospitals and observations were made. You have probably heard that babies have different kinds of cries. Parents can often tell if a baby needs milk, sleep, burping, or a diaper changed. Well scientists have studied the social nature of babies crying.

It turns out that almost immediately out of the womb and into the world babies are social. They demonstrate both empathy and jealousy. How do we know this? We know this because when one baby begins to cry in a nursery out of hunger, the same or similar type of hungry cry spreads throughout the nursery. Babies are naturally empathetic; they feel what their neighbors feel. Emotional intelligence theory says that feelings are contagious. This is a beautiful thing, because it means that built into the fabric of our beings is the capacity to relate to others and have an understanding of what they are going through. But as I mentioned before, there is a flipside to this phenomenon.

The flipside is jealousy. Babies are also naturally jealous. The same experiment mentioned above yielded proof of natural jealousy. When one baby is picked up in the nursery and it’s needs are attended to, the other babies change the tone of their cries to one of anger and pain if they do not receive the same care. Babies naturally know and are hurt when they feel they are not being given the same love and care.

Both Josua son of Nun, the second in command to Moses, and the 12 disciples of Jesus demonstrate their very human capacity for empathy and jealousy. In both cases there is unsanctioned ministry happening. Elded, Medad, and some unnamed people get inspired, get in front of people, and start doing the work of the Lord even though nobody asked them or gave them permission. Joshua and the disciples don’t like it. They are jealous. This very human response highlights the strength and weakness of being so social. While these disciples excelled at empathizing with people in need and with their leaders, they weren’t prepared to handle the emotional challenge of being upstaged as it were. They were suffering from jealousy. 

Works-righteousness, that old stubborn sin, is perhaps the greatest contributing factor to jealousy. Joshua and the disciples had worked hard and sacrificed much. This was admirable. But it was no doubt the devil whispering in their ear that tricked them into believing that they had earned the authority and ministries they had been given. They had forgotten that God does not call the equipped, but God equips the called. It seemed unfair that Eldad, and Medad who couldn’t even show up to a meeting on time, nor wanna-be’s who didn’t even know Jesus could be afforded the Holy Spirit of God, ministries, and recognition. So Joshua and the disciples went to their leaders to express th