Today's Scripture Reading (January 22, 2025): Numbers 12
James Earl Carter, Jr died on December 29, 2024. We remember him better as Jimmy Carter, a name that almost seems too familiar for a President of the United States. And yet, that is what he was: the thirty-ninth President of the United States. President James Carter, it doesn't sound right, does it, lived to the age of 100. I have to admit that I have seen real fake news, as opposed to the typical contemporary definition of fake news, which seems to mean "news I don't like," that had proclaimed his death several times over the last few months. So, when someone finally told me that he had died over the Christmas break, my first reaction was, "Is this really true, or just another fake story trying to gather our attention."
Even as a lifelong Conservative, President Jimmy Carter is one of my favorite politicians. He was a man of tremendous integrity, trying to live out the beatitudes every day of his life. Jimmy Carter revolutionized what it meant to be a former President. Don't tell Donald Trump, but Jimmy Carter's reputation has only increased since his time as President of the United States. He might have been numbered among the failures at the end of his Presidency, but since then, his reputation has increased, and now he is remembered as a great man.
I remember Carter's Inauguration speech in which he said that the wisdom of the people would make up for his mistakes. Carter banned the playing of "Hail to the Chief" before his appearance for at least part of his Presidency because his humility would not allow what I am sure he felt was a prideful musical statement. Eventually, he recognized that regardless of how much he didn't want it played, the people needed to hear it, not because they wanted to honor Jimmy Carter, but because they respected the office of the President. On the day of his inauguration, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter got out of the official limo and walked up to Capitol Hill. I believe that Jimmy Carter was a great President, but I know that he was a humble man and that humility was essential to who he was. It was never about him; life was always about the people.
The author of Numbers reminds us of the humility of Moses. The first five books of the Bible are attributed to Moses as the author, which might be accurate, but there had to be others who added to the book. And this is one of those additions. There is no way that Moses would have written these words, just as Jimmy Carter would never have said, "Now Jimmy Carter was a very humble President, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth." That attribution of humility was left up to the rest of us who watched how he lived his life. And Moses would have done the same thing.
Moses knew that everything that was happening was not about him. His life was the story that God was telling. We call Moses the Lawgiver, but I am confident Moses would not be pleased with that assessment. God was the Lawgiver; he was nothing more than a servant.
Humility is Moses's legacy, and I hope it is how we remember President Jimmy Carter. Here, we have a model for all of us to follow: genuinely great people are also humble people. And we follow a humble king: Jesus.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Numbers 13
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