Serpents
Today we find ourselves in the fourth Sunday of Lent.
I had shared at the beginning of Lent that Lent would cover several covenants- we spoke of the Noahic covenant in Genesis 9; the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12; and last week I failed to mention the Mosaic Covenant which was found partly (though not explicitly in our text), in the giving of the law to Moses. The Mosaic covenant is found in Exodus 19-24, of which the 10 commandments is a part. The Mosaic Covenant was a covenant that God made with the people through Moses, though Moses was not a direct part of it. The covenant was a conditional covenant in that if the people obeyed the laws God had set before them and followed them they would be blessed, and if they did not obey and went following other Gods, God would turn His face from them.
This week we have no covenant but next week - the 5th Sunday of Lent - we will have the 4th covenant of Lent, and the 5th and final covenant. (The Davidic covenant, the 4th covenant is not included in our Lenten lectionary) Stay tuned.
So today, we have no covenant but what we do have are “SNAKES”! We find ourselves with the Israelites where they again speak against Moses and now against God, and cry, AGAIN, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.” (Number 21:5)
The Israelite people had a pattern of complaining against Moses, but they would repent or Moses would intervene and advocate for them, then they would be forgiven, but this time, they complained directly against God, and consequences were had.
The Lord we are told sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died.
[These Hebrew words meaning “fiery snakes” and “burning serpents” are the same word that appears as “seraphim” in Isaiah 6:2 where it refers to the beings that protect God’s throne. It has been suggested that this may indicate the snakes’ otherworldliness or that they are directly from God. Either way, the snakes bit the people and “many Israelites died”.]
In the book of Numbers, God seems to be increasingly impatient and angry with the people. The people continually complain, and there is a pattern of complaint and forgiveness. In Numbers 14, God had told them that “not one of you shall come into the land which I swore to settle you, except Caleb and Joshua.. (v.30).
This text (and the book of Numbers as a whole) causes us to wrestle with the knowledge that there are consequences for our actions - our actions impact God and God responds to them.
The story continues and the people go to Moses and confess that they have sinned and they ask Moses to pray to God for God to remove the snakes. Moses prays, and God instructs Moses to “make a poisonous snake and set it on a pole so everyone who is bitten can look at it and live” (21:8). Moses makes a snake from bronze and puts it on a pole. Those who then looked at the snake after they were bitten, look at it and live.
This is an unsettling passage. God sent poison snakes to kill people. God then commanded Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole when the making of idols was clearly forbidden. Later, Hezekiah sees the people’s devotion to this image as a violation of the Torah because they “burned incense to it” (2 Kings 18:4).
So this passage is a bit uncomfortable. It makes me uncomfortable and that is why I decided to preach on it this morning. Lent is a good time for us to stretch our knowledge and faith and to struggle with understanding God and our relationship with God. Lent is a good time to find ourselves a bit uncomfortable.
This passage helps us to be reminded of the freedom of God to act and that some of what God does may startle us and may make us uncomfortable. Also for us to be reminded that our actions impact God and others.
This text leaves us with many unanswered questions but what we do know is, is this is account is about God and God’s relationship with these people. They have challenged God again and again. They have been wandering into wasteland full of snakes and scorpions we are told in Deuteronomy, and they are discouraged. Though they have been freed from being Pharaoh’s slaves; their complete trust in God appears to be shaky (as some of us may exhibit in our own lives at times when things seem to be heading south). It can be hard to trust in those times.
Both our Old and New Testament readings are about God and God’s relationship with people.
While our Old Testament text today is about God and God’s trying relationship with the people, our New Testament text today reflects to us the depths of God’s love for God’s people.
The gospel passage that we are all so familiar with, “For 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.” John 3: 16 is found in our gospel today.
It brings us to salvation and the crux of Christianity.
God loved us so much he sent His only son to die for us so that we may live.
God loved us so much that he sent His only son, but even after this, even after witnessing and believing this, “… people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil…”
The gospel account shares that even after hearing the Gospel, even after witnessing and being aware of Christ’s death for us, even after believing it is true, we may choose evil rather than good.
We are in need of a saviour.
Lent is the season that reminds us of who delivers us from who we are. Lent is about reminding us of who delivers us from the snakes, the perils, the trials, the hardships, the sufferings of this world.
Lent is about looking closely at who we are and where we may need some tweaking or forgiveness.
In Ephesians, Paul tells us, “We are all dead in our trespasses and sins. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, made us alive together in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, it is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God —not the result of works.” (Ephesians 2: 1-10)
God’s gift of Christ on the cross - recalling the serpent lifted up by Moses- brings us salvation.
Lent calls us to turn from the darkness and into the light.
The rest of the passage in John, “For all who do evil hate the light and do not come into the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed,
But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”
This week focus on doing what is true. Do your deeds reflect that light that is in you? Is it clearly seen through you?
Part of our Lenten journey is leaving things behind, including those things in the darkness that may involve worldly things that are pleasant for us, but may not reflect the light of Christ to the world around us.
Look at things this week. Your giving, your time reflect where your heart is. Do your habits and the things you spend your time and money on reflect your love for God?
And if they don’t, what may you need to change?
Help us to love the light Lord. And as you lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, may we remember that you were lifted up.
For us.
Amen.
I had shared at the beginning of Lent that Lent would cover several covenants- we spoke of the Noahic covenant in Genesis 9; the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12; and last week I failed to mention the Mosaic Covenant which was found partly (though not explicitly in our text), in the giving of the law to Moses. The Mosaic covenant is found in Exodus 19-24, of which the 10 commandments is a part. The Mosaic Covenant was a covenant that God made with the people through Moses, though Moses was not a direct part of it. The covenant was a conditional covenant in that if the people obeyed the laws God had set before them and followed them they would be blessed, and if they did not obey and went following other Gods, God would turn His face from them.
This week we have no covenant but next week - the 5th Sunday of Lent - we will have the 4th covenant of Lent, and the 5th and final covenant. (The Davidic covenant, the 4th covenant is not included in our Lenten lectionary) Stay tuned.
So today, we have no covenant but what we do have are “SNAKES”! We find ourselves with the Israelites where they again speak against Moses and now against God, and cry, AGAIN, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.” (Number 21:5)
The Israelite people had a pattern of complaining against Moses, but they would repent or Moses would intervene and advocate for them, then they would be forgiven, but this time, they complained directly against God, and consequences were had.
The Lord we are told sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died.
[These Hebrew words meaning “fiery snakes” and “burning serpents” are the same word that appears as “seraphim” in Isaiah 6:2 where it refers to the beings that protect God’s throne. It has been suggested that this may indicate the snakes’ otherworldliness or that they are directly from God. Either way, the snakes bit the people and “many Israelites died”.]
In the book of Numbers, God seems to be increasingly impatient and angry with the people. The people continually complain, and there is a pattern of complaint and forgiveness. In Numbers 14, God had told them that “not one of you shall come into the land which I swore to settle you, except Caleb and Joshua.. (v.30).
This text (and the book of Numbers as a whole) causes us to wrestle with the knowledge that there are consequences for our actions - our actions impact God and God responds to them.
The story continues and the people go to Moses and confess that they have sinned and they ask Moses to pray to God for God to remove the snakes. Moses prays, and God instructs Moses to “make a poisonous snake and set it on a pole so everyone who is bitten can look at it and live” (21:8). Moses makes a snake from bronze and puts it on a pole. Those who then looked at the snake after they were bitten, look at it and live.
This is an unsettling passage. God sent poison snakes to kill people. God then commanded Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole when the making of idols was clearly forbidden. Later, Hezekiah sees the people’s devotion to this image as a violation of the Torah because they “burned incense to it” (2 Kings 18:4).
So this passage is a bit uncomfortable. It makes me uncomfortable and that is why I decided to preach on it this morning. Lent is a good time for us to stretch our knowledge and faith and to struggle with understanding God and our relationship with God. Lent is a good time to find ourselves a bit uncomfortable.
This passage helps us to be reminded of the freedom of God to act and that some of what God does may startle us and may make us uncomfortable. Also for us to be reminded that our actions impact God and others.
This text leaves us with many unanswered questions but what we do know is, is this is account is about God and God’s relationship with these people. They have challenged God again and again. They have been wandering into wasteland full of snakes and scorpions we are told in Deuteronomy, and they are discouraged. Though they have been freed from being Pharaoh’s slaves; their complete trust in God appears to be shaky (as some of us may exhibit in our own lives at times when things seem to be heading south). It can be hard to trust in those times.
Both our Old and New Testament readings are about God and God’s relationship with people.
While our Old Testament text today is about God and God’s trying relationship with the people, our New Testament text today reflects to us the depths of God’s love for God’s people.
The gospel passage that we are all so familiar with, “For 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.” John 3: 16 is found in our gospel today.
It brings us to salvation and the crux of Christianity.
God loved us so much he sent His only son to die for us so that we may live.
God loved us so much that he sent His only son, but even after this, even after witnessing and believing this, “… people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil…”
The gospel account shares that even after hearing the Gospel, even after witnessing and being aware of Christ’s death for us, even after believing it is true, we may choose evil rather than good.
We are in need of a saviour.
Lent is the season that reminds us of who delivers us from who we are. Lent is about reminding us of who delivers us from the snakes, the perils, the trials, the hardships, the sufferings of this world.
Lent is about looking closely at who we are and where we may need some tweaking or forgiveness.
In Ephesians, Paul tells us, “We are all dead in our trespasses and sins. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, made us alive together in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, it is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God —not the result of works.” (Ephesians 2: 1-10)
God’s gift of Christ on the cross - recalling the serpent lifted up by Moses- brings us salvation.
Lent calls us to turn from the darkness and into the light.
The rest of the passage in John, “For all who do evil hate the light and do not come into the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed,
But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”
This week focus on doing what is true. Do your deeds reflect that light that is in you? Is it clearly seen through you?
Part of our Lenten journey is leaving things behind, including those things in the darkness that may involve worldly things that are pleasant for us, but may not reflect the light of Christ to the world around us.
Look at things this week. Your giving, your time reflect where your heart is. Do your habits and the things you spend your time and money on reflect your love for God?
And if they don’t, what may you need to change?
Help us to love the light Lord. And as you lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, may we remember that you were lifted up.
For us.
Amen.