Sermon for the 4th Sunday in Lent

3-22-2009, Lent 4
Salem-Luther Memorial Parish - Parrottsville, Tennessee
John 3:14-21; Numbers 21:4-9
serpent on high

One reads from the Hebrew Bible: “From Mount Hor they journeyed by the way of the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people is short in the way.”

Sounds like trouble to me. The Hebrew text in its colorful way says the “soul of the people is short.” Right away we know their patience is short. Tempers are flaring. Voices are rising, arguments are happening, and people are becoming angry with God because God is leading Moses to lead them all around on this wild goose chase to the Promised Land, and they’re getting angry with Moses for listening to God in the first place.

And maybe you can understand why.

If you’ve been reading the Book of Numbers and the Exodus story up to this point you’d see that the Israelite people are being led by Moses who’s being led by God to wander around in this big barren place called Sinai and now they’re in the area near the Gulf of Aqaba on the eastern side of Sinai - somewhere near Edom and Mt. Hor.

Have you ever seen pictures of those places? I tell you, this is no place for a vacation. One does not casually walk around in that territory. I know what that’s like. I’ve been hiking with the Boy Scouts in Arizona enough to know. I’ve seen places like Mt. Hor and Edom and Sinai in Arizona. I know you better be prepared if you want to go hiking in terrain like that. That was our motto: be prepared. We scouted out the terrain before hand, had contour maps courtesy of the United States Marines in Yuma, planned our hike in advance, knew where the local water was and what the temperature would be and where our rest stops would be and we had all the proper gear we needed and packed enough food and water and we were prepared to go hiking 5, 10, even 20 miles in the desert. The Israelites were not prepared.

They have spent their entire lives as slaves in Egypt. This means they did not have easy lives. They were not free. But it also means they were somewhat sheltered. They had no idea how to take care of themselves out in the big wide wild world, especially in the wilderness of Sinai. They didn’t have the faintest idea how to manage on their own. They couldn’t even watch where they put they own two clumsy feet when they walked, probably too busy complaining about God and Moses to look where they were going.

You don’t have to be a Boy Scout to know that when you’re walking in a rocky desert type area whether its in Arizona or the Sinai you better pay attention to where you put your feet, especially if you are foolish enough to venture out without proper foot gear, and I guarantee you the Israelites did not have proper foot gear 3200 years ago. At best they had sandals. Probably many of them were barefoot in country where no one should go barefoot.

That made it all the worse when they blindly stumbled through an area infested with venomous snakes. No wonder a number of them were bitten. Some died. Not a pleasant way to go. Being sheltered, having no experience, not knowing how to deal with snakes, all of them were scared. They believed it was a punishment sent by God for their complaining. At the end of the day, after they made camp, they approached Moses and begged for mercy, “We have sinned … pray to God to take away the snakes…”

I personally do not believe that God is vindictive and would intentionally send the Israelites into the viper’s den as punishment for petty complaining. No complaint is going to hurt God, and the God who did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but to save it would not stoop to lethal revenge in response for the pettiness and self-centeredness of the Israelites. The Israelites had nothing but their own blind fool carelessness to blame for their troubles that day. They should have looked where they were going. They should have scouted out the route. They should have been prepared. Another way of saying their own sin was to blame. But I do believe God knew the answer to their problem and inspired Moses to do something about it.

I remember a few years back I was busy banging out a sermon on the computer one day, and Ayla discovered what happens when you sit on your foot the wrong way for too long. Painful. So she started wailing and catastrophising: “Is it ever going to get better?” And Leslie told her to just sit still and wait and the pain would go away, but Ayla had no faith in Mommie’s wisdom, and kept wailing and insisted it wasn’t getting any better. Finally I had enough of this; I’m trying to write a sermon. I can‘t think with all this racket going on. So I told Ayla if nothing seems to be working then there’s only one thing left to do. That got her curiosity going and she seemed to forget the pain for a moment.

“What?” Ayla asked.

“BRING OUT THE PLACEBO!” I called out.

“What’s a placebo?” she demanded.

“There’s nothing left to do now but give her the Placebo! Leslie, where’s the Placebo?”

“Mommie, what’s a placebo?”

Leslie got the hint, and got the Ace Bandage out and wrapped Ayla’s ankle, and behold, we had a miracle. The pain went away instantly. The placebo worked.

God inspired Moses to make the image of a poisonous snake and raise it up where everyone could see it. God does not use magic, like the pagan gods of Egypt, and so the serpent’s image was not magical in any way. In and of itself it had no power, just looking at it meant nothing more than looking at a bronze image. But -

God knows all about faith and God knows that faith is a very powerful tool in healing. The people had faith; those who suffered snake bites had faith that God would heal them. They just needed a sign that God had not abandoned them, that God heard them, that God cared, that God was still there, that God would, in fact, heal them. So God gave them a symbol of God’s power to heal and a symbol that God can overcome even the poisonous snakes in the desert. The poison snake crisis was over.

Jesus is reported to have told Nicodemus that, “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.”

The Son of Man raised high on a cross brings healing and new life to a world full
of suffering, dying, sinful people.

More than the simple image Moses made by hand from bronze found in the book of Numbers, more than just a simple placebo, Jesus himself is the cure, the remedy, the answer, the way.

We know God is rich in mercy, kindness, and compassion, even for, and especially for a fallen and sinful humanity. We know that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. If we need a sign that this is so, that God has not abandoned us, that God hears us, that God cares, that God is still there, that God will in fact, heal us and redeem us and bring us into the kingdom, then God gives us a sign. The only Son was raised high on a cross for the sake of all humanity, and history repeated itself, as the new serpent of Moses hung over Jerusalem long ago so that all may look up to the Son and know that they have new life.

Let the power of Christ raised over the world guide your life.

Let the compassion of Christ raised upon a cross forgive you and heal your life.

Let Christ hold you up in your pain, illness, distress and in your need for forgiveness and healing.
Let him give you strength and confidence and boldness to truly be his disciple, dedicated to his service, carrying his cross, working to forgive and heal others as he forgave and healed many, and bearing his Good News to the world.

Let him lead you in your own desert walk with God so that you may come out of your wilderness and into a new and promised life.

Peace be with you