From the Pastor |
Numbers 21: 4-9 & John 3:14-21
Our gospel reading for this week is just a small part of a larger conversation that takes place late one night between Jesus and the Pharisee, Nicodemus. Jesus is explaining how… in order to enter the Kingdom of God… one MUST be born again. Now… Nicodemus just doesn’t understand how a person could possibly be born again… so Jesus tells him that being born again is not only possible but mandatory. To be born again is to be recreated in the spiritual sense through faith. Faith, after all, is what it is all about: But it is his illustration of this point in verses 14-15 that is really interesting: “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” This obscure reference might seem strange to us, but Nicodemus would have understood that Jesus was referring to the story from the Book of Numbers. And that backstory is crucial to understanding not only this one verse… but the whole idea behind what Jesus is telling Nicodemus… about how God deliver offers healing and new life through faith. The Israelites had been freed from Egypt and were now wondering through a desert where there is little or no food available. So God has provided… sending manna (what we refer to as bread from heaven) to sustain them through this journey. True to form… these people were complaining yet again… they grew impatient and spoke out against God and against Moses, “There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” [21: 5b] Needless to say… God was none too pleased by this so he sent a plague among the people… poisonous snakes… The very thought makes me shudder. Many died… many fell sick from the bites, and they realized they had messed up. The people went to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived. [21:7-9] It is an interesting story to say the least, but we have to look deeper into this to find the point that I believe Jesus was making. At first glance, this story might make us uncomfortable… especially after the whole “golden calf” fiasco… but when Moses made the bronze snake on a pole… it was not for the people to worship… it was a tool used to demonstrate the trust… the faith the people had in God. Think about it… there were thousands of Israelites there in the desert… THOUSANDS! They were not all lumped together in a tight cluster… they were spread out… in smaller groups… around numerous campfires. That snake Moses created would have had to have been massive for all the people to see. The group around Moses could have easily looked upon it and been healed, but everyone else? NO… several things had to happen before the healing could take place. First… the word had to go out among ALL the people. They had to be told to go to where Moses was… told to look upon the bronze snake on a pole because the Lord said that if they did so… they would be healed. Then… they had to believe… they had to put their trust in God’s word. You just know that as the story spread… there had to have been some who scoffed at ridiculousness of the very idea… probably some who were afraid… remembering God’s anger at the whole idol worship thing… afraid that maybe it was a test… or a trap. Finally… they had to… in faith and trusting in God… go to where they could actually look upon the bronze snake so that they could receive the healing God promised. It is the idea of acting in faith that Nicodemus would have understood from this story, and Jesus is telling… and us today… that it is this same faith that we must have in order to be born again so that we can truly be healed. “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” [3:14] Jesus… the Son of Man was indeed lifted up. He was lifted up on the cross for all to see. Just like when the Israelites looked at the bronze serpent and were healed, the cross has the power to heal and give life as well. The cross is not something that was created for us to worship… it, too, is a tool used to demonstrate the trust… the faith we have in God. For it is by gazing upon the cross in faith that we also find our healing, and the promise of life. Just as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on the pole in the desert It is by hearing the word of God… and then believing what you have heard… The Son of Man has been lifted up on the cross. The cross that was once a symbol of pain and death… has been remade into a symbol of forgiveness… healing and hope. The cross is now where we will find healing and wholeness… and through our faith we can be born again into a new and glorious life. Putting your faith and trust in the Lord is what this third chapter of John’s gospel is all about and is summed up in one of THE most famous verses: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. [John 3:16] The awesome message John provides is that God offers love and grace to a world that really only deserves condemnation. That is still the message today. Undeserved grace that is received by faith is the foundation of our salvation. As Paul wrote “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God…” [Ephesians 2:8] Such extravagant grace calls for a radical response. We accept God’s gift of grace when we commit ourselves to follow Christ through faith. God calls to a sinful world. Our response echoes God’s call of love, devotion, and forgiveness. The motto “Jesus Saves” is not just a slogan; it is a life-transforming reality. To find healing the Israelites had to “look up” to the bronze snake. This was an act of repentance, turning their eyes from the living snakes that plagued them to God and the promise of God’s healing grace. We, also, are saved by grace, reborn by faith and called to a new life in Christ. All of this means we face a decision today: Where are we looking? Are we looking up… keeping our eyes on the one who was lifted up to bring us healing and new life? OR are we focused on the plagues… the trials and darkness of this world? Have we truly put our faith in God and allowed the Spirit to re-create us... changing our hearts and minds to be more like Christ? To change our lives so that we become followers of Christ who bring God’s grace to others through our words and deeds? Look away from the snakes around you and look to the cross in faith… let God’s Holy Spirit enter in and bring you new life as you are born again this day. Amen.
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Yeon Shin
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