Easter 7, Tuesday - the Rebellion of Korah

Last week I posted about how conceit and envy "kill the communal sharing of joy (and love and peace, patience, kindness, etc)."  We see in Numbers 16 an example of envy cutting off the joy of life with God in His orderly worship.

So, when peace in the congregation is disrupted and envy rears its ugly head, what to do?  Here's an excellent Luther quote on Numbers 16:15 in The Lutheran Study Bible:

The ungodly... are obsessed with the ambition to apply and appropriate the promises to themselves.  Therefore they oppress and harass the true church.  In these circumstances there is nothing else for us to do than to commend our cause to the Lord, as Moses did in that troublesome conflict with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Num. 16).  They were entirely incurable and so sure of their own cause that they were neither willing nor able to be instructed.  Therefore Moses refers the matter to a divine judgment and prays the Lord not to regard their sacrifice.  Thereupon the Lord pronounces judgment upon them and encourages the true church" (Luther's Works: Volume 3 - Lectures on Genesis Chapters 15-20, page 15, emphasis added).