Focus: Scandalous Grace

Text: Num.12:1

"And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman."

It was scandalous to Aaron and Miriam to see their own brother Moses get married to a Cushite woman. They thought it unthinkable and abnormal - something not right. Their mindset was influenced by ethnicity and cultural differences.

Biblical Ethiopia is not the same thing as modern Ethiopia or the area known with that name. Some scholars think the Ethiopia in the Bible is connected to the spot known today as Sudan, and others think it's connected to Midian, because Moses lived and worked there. The truth is that Ethiopians in the Bible were Cushites, and Cush was one of the sons of Ham. They are Nubians who were depicted with dark skin pigmentation in Egyptian paintings - having a sort of negroid features. It is also possible that Zipporah was a Cushite living in a Midianite territory. Whatever the case is, it is obvious that Moses' wife was of a different race or nationality from Moses, and his siblings did not buy into the idea of their brother marrying a foreigner, whose father happened to be the priest of Midian. They looked down on her. Aaron and Miriam were racists; they had ethnic bias. They judged people by the "color of their skin, not by the content of their character," according to Martin Luther King Jr. Where a person hails from was more important to them than what stuff the person is made of. Aaron and Miriam elevated ethnicity above humanity.

Moses' choice of a wife was a bad one according to his brother and sister. They were blinded by racism and ethnicity. The choice that Moses made for a wife is not different from the choice that the prophet like unto him has also made for his own bride.

Jesus Christ is the prophet like unto Moses. While we were yet sinners He died for us. According to prophet Ezekiel, as Christ passed and saw us in our own pool of blood He loved us, saved us, washed us and set us apart for Himself. In the course of time He made us His own - the bone of His bones and the flesh of His flesh. He has rescued us and reserved us for Himself. We are members of His body. We await the day that He finally presents us to Himself without spots and without wrinkles.

Check out those that Christ has chosen for Himself, and you happened to be among them. He has chosen the foolish things of this world, the weak, the despised, the debased, and the nonentities. He has chosen us from all walks of life. He doesn't bother about race, sex, color or social status. In fact, He became one of us, lived among us, felt our human plight and pain, and even died in our place for our salvation.

Check yourself out. Were you the best of men when Christ chose you? Is your righteousness not like a filthy rag in His sight, and He still chose you? Did you in any way qualify for the least of His mercies? Is it because of your race or riches that Christ chose you as His own? Is it by your intelligence or integrity that Christ has picked you from the rest of humanity to be His? 

Grace is truly scandalous. There's nothing fair about grace. God picks out Abraham from the rest of humanity. God loved Jacob and hated Esau. Look at the a bunch of riffraffs who Christ chose as His own disciples and apostles! What about Paul who was a persecutor of followers of Christ and destroyer of His witnesses? Yet Christ chose him and turned him into a preacher of the gospel. 

The Scripture tells us that "it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy" (Rom.9:16). Salvation is of the Lord. He saves whoever He wants to save. God often elects the rejects of men and enthrones the enslaved of men. Grace saves sinners and transforms them into saints. Paul acknowledged himself as the least of the apostles, the least of all the saints, and the chief of sinners. Grace selected, elected, and elevated him. 

Grace justifies, sanctifies, beautifies and glorifies.

The cross is the stigma of grace. Our calling is the scandal of grace. The marvel of grace is that Christ saved a wretch like me and you - and that is also the scandal of grace.

The elder brother of the prodigal son was appalled at his father's decision to welcome his wayward brother and treated him with so much love and dignity. The prodigal's elder brother acted like Aaron and Miriam. But the amazing thing was that their dislike for Zipporah did not stop Moses from marrying her. 

In the same vein, God has made you His choice. You are the stone that the builders rejected, but Christ has made you fit to be the chief cornerstone. All the Aarons and Miriams in the world can never make Christ regret choosing you. You are the best choice Christ has made. Grace is indeed scandalous.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter