Lent
4, Yr. B, March 18, 2012
Numbers
21:4-9; Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22; Ephesians 2:1-10; John 3:14-21
Sermon
preached at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church
“From
its beginning, the narrative of the wilderness wandering of the escaped Hebrews
is rife with reports of trouble and suffering, accompanied by constant
complaining (KJV: “murmuring”) of the people against Moses and Aaron. The people did not like the bitter
water of Marah (Exod. 15:22-25), so the Lord showed Moses how to sweeten
it. They complained about the lack
of foor (Exod. 16:2-3), so the Lord gave them manna. They complained that they were thirsty (Exod. 17:3). Moses struck the rock at the Lord’s
command, and water gushed forth (see also Num. 20:1-13). When the march resumed after Sinai,
they were back at it again, asking for meat to eat (Num. 11:4-6). A wind from the Lord brought quails.”[1]
So
here they are again, complaining … murmuring in the wilderness. This time because they have to walk
around Edom and it’s taking too long.
It reminds me of family trips when I was a child. One by one from the backseats we would
each ask, “Are we there yet?” We’d
begin the recital within an hour after hitting the road even though we all knew
the trip to Grandma and Grandpa’s house was a good three hours without
stops. “Are we there yet? I’m hungry.” “Are we there yet?
I’m thirsty.” “Are we there
yet? It’s too hot in this car.” “He’s touching me. She’s kicking my seat. I’m tired of being in the car.” It just about drove my parents
crazy.
The Hebrews must have driven Moses
crazy. Their present impatience
brings up all their past discomforts.
They detest the food.
There’s not enough water. “Why
have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?” they say, as if
that was Moses’ intent all along … to finish them all off in the desert. They’re wading knee deep in self pity,
forgetting that God has helped them out of their fixes time after time after
time, forgetting that this time they have spoken against Moses AND God.
Instead of sending an instant fix like
God has done each time in the past, God sends the Hebrews serpents. The serpents bite them and many
die. Some Bibles translate the
word poisonous as fiery,
maybe signifying the sting that occurs at the site of the bite. It doesn’t take the people very long to
realize that they have made a big mistake. As so often happens in the Old Testament the people repent
and seek forgiveness. They want to
be put back into right relationship with God, so they beg Moses to pray for
them. Moses does. But instead of removing the serpents …
God instructs Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it at the top of a
pole. Whenever someone is bitten,
they can go look at the bronze serpent and be healed. So the serpents are still there. The people still get bit. The Hebrews can expect to feel the
fiery sting of those bites. But
now there is healing, instead of death.
How often do we fall into complaining
about something and forget how much better off we are than we were yesterday,
or a year ago or ten years ago?
How often do we let present complaints shadow our memories of the past
and how far we have come? How
often do we forget to be thankful when we’re in the midst of struggle? I was listening to the radio this week,
and the guest speaker was talking about how tricky Barack Obama’s campaign was
likely to be this year. The
economy is much better than it was three years ago, he said … but people won’t
remember that. They will focus on
the higher gas prices and rising cost of food facing them today. They won’t remember how close we were
to economic collapse three years ago.
How do you remind people how much worse things were without seeming to
belittle the struggles they’re facing today? We forget.
Maybe that’s why God left the serpents … to get us to look at what hurts
us … to face our pain … to accept our suffering … to remember and be healed.
I wonder if that isn’t what Jesus was
about as well. We tend to think of
warm and fuzzy things when we think of Jesus. We remember the healings, the feeding of the five thousand,
the beatitudes. We think of the
Jesus who says let the children come to me. We don’t think of the way Jesus often “stung” those he
met.
Like the lawyer in Matthew’s gospel who
asked “who is my neighbor”. Jesus
told him the parable of the good Samaritan. (Mt 10:25-37) The good neighbor was the Samaritan
man, and the lawyer was told to go and act just like him … behave like a man he
despised. Stung!
What about the rich young man who asks
what he must do to inherit eternal life?
(Mt 18:18-23) He’s followed
the law and the commandments all his life. Not enough, says Jesus, sell all you have and give it to the
poor. Stung!
How about Jesus’ cleansing of the
temple? He goes in there on a
regular business day and throws the tables over and tosses the coins to the
floor. My father’s house is a
house of prayer. Bitten!
A woman is accused of adultery, and the
crowds want to stone her. Jesus
stoops and writes in the dirt.
(John 8:1-11) He asks the
one without sin to throw the first stone.
Ouch!
Think about the woman at the well. She tells Jesus she has no husband, and
Jesus replies, you are right. You
have had four or five men and none was your husband. And didn’t we recently hear Jesus rebuke Peter. Get behind me Satan!, he said.
Jesus certainly had a tongue that could sting like the bite of a
serpent.
Jesus revealed the ugly truth … the truth
we might most like to keep hidden from ourselves. Jesus was all about reminding us who we are, and how we have
missed the point! Jesus was well
known for turning the tables, bringing people up short, questioning culturally
accepted behaviors and assumptions.
He didn’t seem concerned about making everyone feel good. Jesus was sent by God to help us see
ourselves as we really are … human, fallible, often greedy, sometimes self
righteous and self-centered with incredibly short memories. But he was also about reminding us that
we are forgiven and loved beyond measure.
Jesus says with his life, “I love you”. Be a good neighbor to all those in
need. I love you. Come follow me. I love you. Your sins are forgiven. I love you. God
is as close to you as I am. I love
you. Drink from the living water I
offer you. Accept your humanity
and your frailness. Love yourself
as God loves you … and be healed.
Remember who you are.
Don’t forget. 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. For God so loved the world
that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish
but have eternal life. Jesus returned to God, to live for
eternity in love’s full embrace.
We can too, by God’s grace.
God, who is rich in mercy, out of the
great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our
trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved –
and raised up with him. Grace saves us. Grace heals us. Grace makes us whole. It is a gift from God. A gift I hope we never forget.
Amen.
[1] Feasting on the Word:
Year B, Volume 2,
ed. Bartlett, David L. & Barbara Brown Taylor. Westminster John Knox press, Louisville, 2008, p. 99.
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