Christ Episcopal Church
March 18, 2012
4 Lent B
Last weekend, Don, Slocomb, Caldwell and I took a mini-vacation to Cincinnati. Since we only had two days, we did not want to spend a lot of time driving, and there is certainly plenty to see and do in Cincinnati. On Friday afternoon, we went to the Freedom Center-the Underground Railroad museum that chronicles the sin of slavery in this country and the efforts to move slaves by way of safe houses to freedom in Canada. The images and the stories were deeply disturbing as we were confronted with the cruelty one human can inflict upon another. The stories were also a testimony to tremendous hope and courage and the great trust people had in God and in each other as they made the very dangerous journey to their hoped for freedom.
On Saturday, we went to a museum of another sort. We went to the Creation Museum which depicts the Creation of the world in 7 days as told in the first chapter of Genesis as historical fact. Regardless of what we might think of that premise, the museum does bring the story alive and provides plenty of food for thought. After we had purchased our tickets, we were greeted at the entry to the first exhibit by a guide holding a very large snake. That is a very disconcerting way to enter a Creation museum. What kind of snake was this supposed to be? A Genesis Chapter 3 snake that tempted Adam and Eve? Or a Mark 16 snake where we are told that those who believe are able to handle snakes? I personally prefer not to handle snakes of any sort, but both of our grown children leapt at the chance to have a turn with the snake.
Today, however, we must do a bit of snake handling, scripturally if not literally, since the reading from Numbers is full of snakes, and in the gospel reading Jesus compares himself with one. The snake story in the book of Numbers is problematic on several fronts. First, when the people grumble against God and Moses, God sends poisonous serpents to bite the people and kill them. How many of us, when we find ourselves in a wilderness not of our own choosing, have never hurled a complaint or two towards God? And in the psalms, there are plenty of examples of complaints directed towards God. God’s response to the complaints of the Hebrews seems a bit drastic this morning. Secondly, we just heard the 10 commandments last week in the reading from Exodus, and the second commandment clearly prohibits the making of any idol. But in today’s reading from Numbers, God commands Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole so that anyone who looks at it shall live. That sounds a lot like an idol to me.
In God’s defense, we should probably note that this is not exactly the first time the Hebrew people have complained in the wilderness. Very early in their travels in the wilderness, the people complained that the water they had to drink was so bitter that they had nothing to drink. So God showed Moses a piece of wood he could throw in the water and make the water sweet to drink. Just ½ chapter later in the book of Exodus, the people complain to Moses that he has brought them out of Egypt, where at least they had food to eat, into the wilderness to starve to death. So, God gave them manna, bread from heaven, to satisfy their hunger. One chapter later, the people are thirsty again, and again accuse Moses of bringing them out of Egypt to kill them with thirst. And again, God provided the people with water, this time by telling Moses to strike a rock with his staff and water will come from the rock so the people can drink. Not long before our passage this morning, the people complain exceedingly about their lack of meat in the wilderness, and God does send a wind that brings them quails, but God also sends a plague along with the quails, so that doesn’t work out quite so well for the people. But for the most part, God has been exceedingly patient with the complaints of the Hebrew people. Until now.
Apparently God has had enough. This time, the people complain not just against Moses, but against God and Moses saying "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." This is the final complaint we hear from the people in the wilderness and understandably so. God sent poisonous serpents, or snakes, and the snakes bit the people and many people died, so that the remaining people realized the error of their ways. At which point, God told Moses to make a serpent, put it on a pole, lift it up before the people, and all who look at it shall live. And they do. This works so well that the people keep the bronze serpent long after they have arrived in the Promised Land and some 500 years later King Hezekiah broke it into pieces because the people have come to worship the serpent because of its healing power.
In the wilderness, the Hebrew people are forced to deal with their dependence on God for food, water, safety, and yes, for deliverance from poisonous snakes. Every single time, God comes through. In the wilderness, the people learn that they can trust God, even when God’s patience is sorely tested because of their lack of trust. The bronze serpent alone does nothing for the people. The serpent does not heal them. Idols have no real power. But when they see the serpent raised on the pole, God’s intent is for them to be reminded of God’s healing power and trust that God will save them. In our own wildernesses, whether a Lenten wilderness, or the wilderness of grief, sickness, heartbreak, or whatever that wilderness may be, we are forced to deal with our dependence on God for endurance, comfort, healing, or other relief and to learn to trust the God will save us, even if we don’t know what that salvation will look like. Over and over again in Scripture, faith is a matter of trust in God, not necessarily right belief about God.
In the gospel lesson this morning, we hear Jesus say "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." Jesus is not saying that whoever gets the best score on the correct belief test will be saved. The cross itself looked like the very essence of the wilderness-a place where God could not possibly be present and where the powers of death had done their worst. But Jesus is telling his disciples, and us, to look at the cross, to feel that wilderness, and trust that out of death, God will bring life. Then we can trust that, in the midst of the snakes in the wilderness of our own lives, God will also act to bring life.
Amen.
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