It is hard to believe that we are
over half way through Lent. It seems like it just started not that long ago. It
is our fourth Sunday and our fourth Covenant (another promise) that God made
with the people of Israel. They are out travelling, wandering in the wilderness
and they are getting pretty tired and hungry; until, they have had enough.
In today’s scripture of Numbers, we
read and hear of God’s chosen people complaining. They are complaining about
not enough food or water…then they don’t like the food (which can be
confusing). They are complaining about God and Moses. It is like a long road
trip with someone who complains about everything (are we there, I can’t find
anything to eat with a full cooler). It does not sound if there is anything
that would please these people. These people are mad at God for bringing them
out into this desolate place where there is scarcity, at best; not enough food,
water and this is where they feel they are going to linger and even die.
In the midst of their complaining,
“The Lord sent serpents into the group. The serpents begin biting the
Israelites and some of them die. When people are bitten and start dying, their
story changes quite fast. They go right to Moses and repent. They ask for
Moses’ and God’s forgiveness. They ask Moses to step in for them and ask God to
make it stop. I can imagine that they are pretty scared at that point. Who
could blame them? I think if we all saw something like that, we too would ask
for forgiveness as soon as possible.
Moses did pray to God and God’s
response was something that may seem confusing. God told Moses to build a
bronze serpent and put it on top of a staff so that when people were bitten
they would live. It might seem confusing because, would the easier fix have
been to take the serpents away? Would it have been better if God killed all the
serpents and then there is no need to build this bronze marker? We might want
to think so. But, God tells them to build this bronze statue and place it on a
staff.
I think there are a lot of questions
that could remain with this whole “serpent on a stick” thing. What is the
purpose of this? Is it because this could be a reminder to them of the awesome
power of God who sent the serpents in the first place? Is it that God has mercy
on these people and might be using this as a way of getting their trust back?
Or is it a way to show the Israelites the importance of believing a God who
leads, trust a God who can show mercy, and giving thanks to a God who will not
let them die in the wilderness?
I believe the answer to all these
questions is a resounding yes! God is revealing himself as a God who does not
want people to suffer. If he did, then God would have let the people continue
to die and that is not the God that is being revealed here. God is being
revealed as having compassion, mercy, and grace, despite the complaining and
thoughts that God is only leading people to die. God is being revealed as a
present God; in addition to not leading them or us out simply to die, but to be
able to look at the snake after being bitten and knowing that there is life,
abundant life and that the journey continues.
I cannot explain why God did not
take the serpents out. There are numerous possibilities of why those serpents
remained and I think that is one of those questions that we all can ask when
our time comes to be with Jesus. Nevertheless, God gives the Israelites the
second chance at life; the chance to seek forgiveness and repentance for their
mistakes. Moses creates this serpent as God commands to show and prove that the
snake is not the one who has the power over life and death but it is God who
has that power AND the last word.
Many years later, there is another
staff that is raised up. In a time when the people have gotten so caught up in
laws, purity, who is in and who is out, positions in society above everything
else. God sends His only Son into the world to re-establish a relationship with
God’s people, to reveal to all who will listen the compassion, grace and mercy
of God. God’s Son, Jesus Christ goes throughout the land of these chosen
people, the people that God delivered out of slavery in Egypt to reveal this
loving God, once again.
Instead of welcoming the Son of God
with open arms, there is testing. While some listen and follow, those in
positions of authority seek proof of Jesus, find ways to punish, and some might
say complain about him being like a serpent; because of his teachings,
healings, and treating outsiders as brothers and sisters as God’s children,
beloved and valuable.
This time was different. This time
the staff that was raised did not contain a serpent. This staff that was raised
was in the shape of a cross. This cross that was considered a place of shame
and humiliation did not contain a serpent, but contained the Savior of the
World. Jesus Christ. While the authorities looked at Jesus as a serpent and,
maybe, saw the end of their authority…their life in the way they knew; those
who follow Jesus know that they can look to this cross and have life. We know
that God is showing us once again that death does not have the last word, but
it is God who is the last word on everything.
As complainers that we know that we
are, God does not abandon us. We complain about a variety of things: from petty
things to things pretty significant BUT God who is patient, loving, gracious
and Merciful listens AND calls us to the foot of this cross to show us and
prove to us that we are not abandoned. To reveal to us that we are offered the
same second chances that were offered to the people of Israel in their time of
complaining and wandering. God calls us to this cross to say that when we feel
like we are wandering through the wilderness seeking God’s answers that we are
not abandoned, God is with us; when we make mistakes or say and do things that
may seem sneaky, believe it or not we can be like those serpents or bitten by
one. We can project the sting of anger or hatred for something or someone, just
as we can receive that same sting and be injured; sometimes irrepairably harmed
BUT we are called to come to the cross to see God’s only Son who gave himself
for us so that we may have everlasting life. We are called to come to the cross
with all our brokenness to seek God’s healing in our lives and to seek and ask
for forgiveness from those we have hurt and those who may have hurt us; because
it is at the foot of this cross where God’s healing and promises give us life.
TO be very clear, God did not
promise and easy road. Our lives may be full of those bite marks from others or
from everyday life. There are times when we might feel so beaten up by the
world. God calls us to this cross, God calls friends and family to reach out to
one another and walk together to this cross, to this cup of blessing and this
bread of life to hear how valuable and truly loved we all really are: AMEN!
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