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March 15:
March 15, 2015
Call: Numbers 21: 4-9
Reading: Lent #268 (revised by me)
Text: John 3: 14-21
Closing: Ephesians 2: 4-8
Snakes and The Darkness
I do not like snakes!
I am grateful that God has not given me Harry Potter's (fictional) gift of passel tongue.
For the idea of conversing with a snake
sends a shiver up my spine.
As I may have shared with you before,
One Friday several years ago,
I asked a Jordanville parishioner
to help me get rid of a snake
lying in the grass outside the parsonage
and near where the school bus dropped students off.
Well, actually I didn't ask him to help me
I asked him to get rid of it.
And I had every intention of staying a safe distance away.
Al came over
And he seemed to relish the task
For be arrived - with a loaded pistol!
That snake would be no match for Al Miller.
Now, I am not a hunter
And I am not particularly comfortable with loaded pistols
But my discomfort with snakes was substantially greater
And so, I raised no objection to the executioner's weapon
However, just as I was pointing out the snake to Al
A nine year old boy got off the bus
In my best father-like voice, I warned him about the snake.
But Josh, looked at me quizzically
And instead of moving away from the snake
Walked directly to it
Picked it up
and said, "Mr. Barnes, this is a fake snake."
And then, if it were not embarrassing enough
To know that I was about to have a man shoot a rubber snake,
My supposedly loving wife
Acting behind my back
Obtained possession of the said snake
And placed it on the pulpit
Where it greeted me on Sunday morning.
So you can imagine what my reaction would have been
If I had been a complaining Israelite in the wilderness
In the passage that Shaq read this morning.
The snakes in the story would not have even needed to bite me
For me to feel chastised and punished.
And in the future
Every time I saw the snake on the pole that Moses made
I would have been reminded - albeit uncomfortably -
Both that God is a healing, forgiving God
And that if I knew what was good for me
I had better avoid complaining.
I would also have been reminded of the example Moses set.
For this man had - along with his God -
Endured a multitude of unreasonable complaints about him
And yet, when those complainers
asked the man who had led them out of Egypt,
the man about whom they were complaining
and complaining over trivial rather than meaningful matters
Anyway, when they asked that man to pray for them He did!!
He did so
He did so without sarcasm
He did so by resisting what must have been a powerful temptation to respond,
"Why should I?" or "You've got to be kidding!"
or at least make them grovel a bit before praying?
Moses set an example for his traveling companions and for us
And God's answering the prayers by granting them relief
Should have driven home the lesson in that example
But just in case the memories were short,
God had Moses create a bronze snake
So that each time the people were bit
They could look at it and by seeing the reminder
Of how much God loved them
Even when treated poorly
And be healed.
After God punished the people with the flood
Got set the rainbow in the sky to remind God's self of the promise to not destroy the world like that again.
After God punished the people with snakes
God had Moses create the brass one to remind the people of God's love and healing power.
Sadly, however, as time went on,
The message in this story faded
And what was to be a reminder of God's love
Was transformed by many into a god itself.
People began to worship the brass snake - instead of God.
Ultimately, King Hezekiah,
knowing that the well intentioned reminder of God's love
Had become an idol
removed it from the temple [2 Kings 18:4]
With the message forgotten,
The descendents of those in the wilderness with Moses,
Became like their forefathers
They ignored God
except to complain or when they needed something.
They ignored the prophets God sent to warn and advise them
And to produce a reconciliation with them
Again God punished them
Not with floods or snakes
For the flood and the snakes
had not had a permanent impact.
This time God punished them with exile to and in Babylon.
And yet, while in exile
They again adopted the behavior of their ancestors
They complained that God didn't care for them
They complained that God wasn't powerful enough to save them
The difficulties of the exile did have an impact - for a while.
But not long after they were allowed to return to Jerusalem
They resumed the practice of ignoring God
Except when they wanted something
And of grumbling when they didn't get what they wanted,
It was as if their hearts had plunged into a darkness
That prevented them from seeing or recognizing God's love.
Now darkness, like snakes, is something that scares some people
We tend to think of children being afraid of the dark
But adults find the absence of light discomforting
Because we cannot see what - if anything - is lurking
And thus our minds can play tricks on us.
While I'll take darkness over snakes any day,
I have at times experienced some uneasiness
And have wanted a light to help me find my way.
So did the people who had strayed from God.
And so, despite their behavior, again they prayed to God
They asked God to send a deliverer.
God had sent a deliverer before
That deliverer led them out of Egypt
And all they did was complain and ignore.
God had sent prophets
Who had alerted them to correct their errors
And their response had been to ignore and complain.
Now they again have found themselves asking God
to once more send someone to help them out of a mess.
Wouldn't you think that at some point God would have given up
on them - and thus on us as well?
But God didn't give up.
And that brings us to the text from John
When God rescued their ancestors from the poisonous snakes
God gave them a visible reminder of his love
The snake on a pole crafted by Moses
And now, God gives them another visible reminder of his love
God's own son Jesus Christ [John 3: 14-21]
Christ is the light of the world
Through him you and I see our relationship with God
And come face to face with the reminder of God's love
The messages of these two scriptures are similar.
God so loved his people that he sent his servant Moses
to lead the people out of Egypt
God so loved the world that he gave his only son
Not to judge, but that the world might be saved.
You and I are expected to lift the light of Jesus up
Like a flag bearer in the Olympics or in battle
So that we will see So that everyone will see
The love that leads to eternal life.
As followers of Christ, we have to do so
Knowing fully well that it can be difficult
After all, the history shows
That flag bearers make great targets.