Read Numbers 21:4-9
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| Image Courtesy of Hermanoleon Clipart |
“Snakes, Why did it
have to be snakes?” This famous line from Indiana Jones perfectly sums up the
fear of snakes that we as humans have had for centuries. This adventurous
archeologist who had already been chased by a tribe of indigenous people with
spears, who had already outrun that huge rolling boulder as a Temple collapsed
around him, is now petrified of snakes. Studies have shown that the fear of
snakes is one of the most common fears that humans have today. Even though I
never really thought I was much afraid of snakes, I had even held some at the
zoo when I was younger; seeing one about a year ago just outside of the
parsonage stirred up something. I was looking out of the great big bay window
and looked down into the shrubs and noticed they were moving. Finally I was
able to trace the curled body of great big black snake. Even though I know they
aren’t poisonous and are actually good for keeping rodents away, there was
still something a little off putting about this massive snake right in front of
the parsonage. That fear grew even more a few weeks later as I was cutting the
grass. If you have been to the parsonage you know the back yard has a small
narrow hill on the side of the house. On the riding mower the best way to cut
it is do drive up it, throw it in reverse, and the go up again. As I reached
the top of the hill near the gate, my little friend started to poke its head up
out of nowhere in a not very friendly way just a few feet from my shin. You
better believe I got down that hill real quick which isn’t really that easy to
do, because before you can reverse you have to pull up the blade, and then
throw it into reverse and then hit the peddle, but you better believe it did it
the fastest I had ever done before. Even without a real fear of snakes, snakes
can still be pretty terrifying.
The Israelites in the desert can attest to that. After being freed from slavery in Egypt the
Israelites wandered in the desert for years and years. It seems that throughout
the time they were complaining, almost like kids on a long trip crying, “Are we there yet.” They were hungry and so
they complained and God gave them Manna, bread from heaven to eat. The people
got tired of eating Manna and complained again, and God provided quails for
them to eat. Again the people complained this time that they were thirsty, and
God provided water to them from a rock of all places. Finally the people were
complaining again. Why is this taking so long? Why did you lead us out of Egypt
just so we could die out here? I want to go back. This time their complaints
were not met with appeasement from God as had been the case before. This time,
matters got worse giving the Israelites something to really complain about it.
For as they wandered, down from the hills came poisonous snakes, that began to
bite the people killing them. The Bible these snakes as snakes of fire,
probably describing the burning pain they felt from where they were bit. In the
midst of this panic, the people returned to Moses repenting and asking for
help.
The way in which God works in saving the Israelites in
this story is fascinating. God tells Moses to make a serpent statue out of
bronze and to put it on a stick. Moses then tells the people that whoever gaze
upon the serpent statue will be safe, and whoever has been bitten by a snake
and looks at the statue will be healed. It is strange that the very thing that
heals the people and prevents them from dying, is the very thing that is
killing them in the first place. I have to imagine however that looking at the
snake statue was not easy. If had lost loved ones to the snakes, it would be a
painful reminder of your loss. Staring at that snake statue would be
terrifying. You know that looking at it will bring you healing, but it
certainly hard to look at a fake bronze serpent, when there are snakes of fire
all around you nipping at your ankles. The fear of your circumstance around
makes it difficult to focus on what is right in front of you; the thing you
need more than anything.
Personally I’m bad at looking at what it is that I need.
Most of that comes because I am quite an unorganized person. My desk is lined
with papers and books and still it seems the ones that I need are not there
when I need them. Heather on the other hand is a very organized person. She has
tried to help me with my organization skills, giving me folders and boxes
designed to put specific things in. Still, when I need that one book or that
one paper it is nowhere to be found. I call out, “Heather, have you seen my
book?” “Did you look on the shelf.” “I’m
looking right now and I don’t see it.” Then Heather will come in, and in a
matter of seconds will pull the book I need right of the shelf. “If it was a
snake it would have bit you” she says.
If it were a snake it would have bit you. Often this is
how it is for us in our matters of faith. We look for God and God is right
there in front of us and yet we still don’t see. In light of our scripture from
Numbers, this phrase takes on a new meaning as well. In John, Jesus compares
himself to this serpent on a stick saying, “And just as
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted
up, that whoever believes in him may
have eternal life.” Just as the Israelites looked upon the snake and
were saved, those who look upon Jesus are too saved. And then we get what is
probably the most famous Christian verse, “For God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whomever believes in
him shall not perish, but have eternal life. This is the classic bumper
sticker, bookmark, coffee cup verse. It is usually the first verse that we
learn in Sunday school. This verse is so popular that a decade or so ago it was
commonplace to see a John 3:16 sign in the stands of a baseball or football
stadium. As Christians we love this verse as it seems to sum up perfectly God’s
love for us and message of salvation, but the truth is that when it is taken
out of context we lose a little bit of Jesus’s message. Because in John 3:16 we
hear about God’s love, we hear about the promise of eternal life, but we really
don’t get the full picture of what our response to that grace looks like.
We hear in this popular verse about God’s love for us, we
hear that Jesus died for the whole world, that all who believe in him shall
have eternal life. This verse speaks about God’s grace freely given for us, but
it leaves us wondering, if salvation is available for all the world then why
wouldn’t everyone want it? Both of our scriptures shed light on this question.
Jesus says that in like the serpent held
by Moses, the Son of man must be lifted up. This phrase “lifted up” means two
things. The first thing it tells us is that the Son of Man, that is Jesus, must
be exalted. Jesus must be held above everything else in our lives; our jobs,
our family, our nation, our hopes, our dreams. Jesus must be lifted up above
these things. It means we must turn our focus, turn our gaze upon the one that
is saving us. Like the serpent on a pole, if we do not look, if we do not
follow, then we are not saved.
So whereas salvation is available for all, we have to
accept. Jesus says, “Indeed,
God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that
the world might be saved through him.
Those who
believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned
already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God ”
Jesus did not come to condemn, Jesus came to save. In Christianity we like to
view Jesus as a judge, and rightfully so. In fact in the Apostle Creed we even
say, “From whence he shall judge the quick and the dead.” We read Matthew 25
and Jesus separating the sheep from the goat, and we get this vision of Jesus
the judge. But just because Jesus is judge, does not mean that Jesus came to
condemn, Jesus came to save. Jesus has given us the opportunity to follow him;
that through faith we may be saved. This is the opposite of condemnation, this
is salvation. With this free gift right in front of us, it is we then who
condemn ourselves. It is we as our scripture tells us to stay in the dark
rather than walk in the light of the Lord.
When we refuse God’s grace, we heap condemnation on ourselves.
But why would anyone choose that, why would anyone choose
their own condemnation? Sometimes something so obvious that is right in front
of us, can be the hardest thing to see. Like the saying goes, “If it was a
snake, it would have bit you.” It can be hard to see the snake right in front
of you when you are worried about all the others around you. Just like I am
sure it was hard for the Israelites to trust in looking at the bronze snake,
when all the other serpents were biting at their heels. When the snakes bite in
our lives, we too can get distracted. We too can take our gaze off of the one
who saves us. When those bills pile up, when there is trouble at home, when we
are fighting health risks or have lost a loved one, those things bite. When we
battle our own demons, whether its addiction, or anger, or depression, or
apathy or whatever it may be, our instinct becomes to look away. Our instinct
is to focus on the darkness we are in, instead of lifting up Jesus Christ.
Jesus knew a little something about darkness. Jesus took
on our humanity, felt our pain, our hurt our fears, and for it he bore our sins
on the cross. Jesus felt the physical pains of the whip, the nails, the crown
of thorns, and the pain of asphyxiation on the cross. He also felt the
emotional pains of being betrayed by one of his disciples, denied by another,
and the pain of having his mother and loved ones watch him as he died. Jesus
bore our humanity. A little while ago I mentioned that scripture said that like
the serpent, Jesus must be lifted up. I said that lifted up meant to things,
and the first is that Jesus must be exalted, put above everything else in our
lives. The second meaning of Jesus being lifted up is more literal, it is
talking about the cross. Like the
serpent, Jesus must be put lifted up on the cross for all to see. But why?
Well, as you have heard the story of the Israelites in
desert did you ever stop to think it was a bit odd? That as the people are
being attacked and killed by snakes, God tells Moses to hold a statue of a
snake of all things up for all to see. The people had to gaze upon the very
thing that was killing them in order for them to be saved. The same is true
with Jesus on the cross. Humans are plagued with the disease of sin and death.
This is not what was intended for us. We were supposed to live long and prosper
in the garden with God until another serpent entered in and tricked us into
following our own desires. From then one we have continued to strive not for
Godly desires but for our own, and the consequence of these actions which we
call sin, is death. But now, God has come to Earth, as a human, as one of us,
and was lifted up on the cross for all to see. Like the serpent in the
wilderness, when we gaze upon Jesus on the cross, when we gaze upon God
incarnate, we gaze upon that which is killing us, ourselves.
Looking at God as human, suffering on the cross, convicts
us of our own sin. It reminds us that without God we are slaves to sin and
death. It reminds us that we are the ones who are killing ourselves. It is our
sin, our desire to follow what we want that leads to our own condemnation. And
maybe this is why we are afraid to gaze at the cross, maybe this is why we are
afraid to lift Jesus up. Maybe this is why we choose condemnation over
salvation. Because staring at the cross, lifting Jesus up is painful. It
convicts us of our own flaws and faults. It calls for us to repent and to
change our lives. It calls us to let go of trust in ourselves and put it the
hands of Jesus. It calls us out of the
darkness that we are comfortable with, and into the unknown of the light. And
when we step into the light all of our flaws become visible for others to see
as well. We’d rather hide, we’d rather heap condemnation on ourselves than face
the fear and the uncertainty of lifting up Christ. Lifting up Christ makes our
pain and our troubles all too real, and in our fear we get distracted from the fact
the gift of salvation is right there for us, if we would only trust in the
Lord, if we would only turn our eyes upon Jesus. God’s unmerited grace is right there in front
of you, inviting you towards salvation if you would just allow yourself to
accept it…. If it was a snake it would have bit you.
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