Lent 4 03/26/06 Text: John 3:14-21 Title: Snake-bitten
Lent 4
03/26/06
Text: John 3:14-21
Title: Snake bitten
Please join me in prayer. Lord, we have gathered here today in your holy house to hear your words and to partake of your body and blood. You know how easily Satan can get us to focus on things other than your life-giving Word. We pray that you help us to stay focused on your words, so that we might be drawn ever closer to you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen
Our Old Testament reading for today has a lot to say about snakes. Now snakes are not your average lovable creature. As a general rule they inspire fear and that is why our Old Testament reading for today is, how can I say it? It is just strange, especially the part about looking to an image of a bronze snake to be healed.
As we read earlier we see that God is punishing the Israelites, for rebelling against him, by sending venomous snakes into their midst. As the snakes strike and the people start dying, they cry out to Moses to intercede for them, for they realize that he is their only hope, a natural expectation since God and Moses talked to each other on a regular basis.
Moses does intercede for them. God forgives them and then, here is the strange part. God tells Moses to form a bronze image of the same type of serpent that was biting the people, put it on a pole, and lift it up so that the people could see it. Those that looked upon it would be healed. I don’t know about you but that looks an awful like idol worship. It is a strange story indeed.
The Old Testament story reading for today takes place in the desert . The Israelites are there because of their lack of faith when they were at the edge of the Promised Land. They did not trust God to protect them and so they were condemned to wander in the desert for 40 years. The snakes are biting them because they are complaining of the lack of water and that they were tired of eating the same food, the food that God personally gave them fresh each morning.
Martin Luther writes that where the Israelites were there is a snake that is called an asp. When that particular snake bites a person, they swell up, they get a fever, one so high that their skin actually turns fiery red. They are quickly beyond help unless the part of the body that was bitten is amputated as soon as the serpent strikes. If that is not done the fever penetrates the whole body, and death is inevitable.
To save the people, Moses, as I mentioned earlier, was directed by God to make a form of the serpent out of bronze. In the Hebrew it is called a seraph. The word means a house which is aflame. It is the same word that is used in Isaiah 6:2 to describe the creatures having six wings that were praising God and then touched a life coal to Isaiah’s lips, symbolizing the start of his ministry.
Put yourself in the sandals of the people that had been bitten by the snake. You are going to die and then Moses lifts up the image of the same snake that bit you and tells you that if you just look at it you will not die.
What would you do? Why you would look at the image of course. That is, you would look at it, if you had faith in what Moses told you. It is indeed a strange remedy, but you have to do what you got to do when you are dying. When you think about it, it really isn’t that strange, for even today most people that are dying will grasp at anything they think will cure them and save their life.
Now they could have said, and I am sure some did say, “Ha, what a ridiculous thing it is to look upon an image of what is killing me. Moses, have you lost your senses? How are we to be helped by looking at this bronze serpent, which looks like those that bit us? We are so terrified that we cannot stand the sight of them! If only you would, instead, give us a cooling drink, salve for my skin, something to take away the venom and the fever! What good can mere words and looking up at a bronze serpent do? How can that dead and lifeless object up there benefit us?”
I am sure that there were many who refused to have faith in Moses and died in their unbelief. In fact I would say that only those that had faith in what Moses had said looked up at the serpent that day. The others very likely turned away from it, saying: “Who do you take me for, a fool? How could it help?” And they died, not only a bodily death, but an eternal death separated from God, all because of their lack of faith.
The bronze serpent did not cure anyone. It was the faith of those that believed in what God had told Moses that cured them, for without that faith they would not have looked up at the form of the serpent that God said would heal them. In all likelihood those that had faith in the promise of Moses probably said, “Moses is a servant of God. God commanded him to do this; therefore it must be as he said it is to be.”
It is a great story, full of drama, but I have to admit that until I started preparing for this sermon I can’t really say that I fully understood the connection when Jesus said, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
I understood that the event was a foreshadowing of Jesus and his death, but why a snake? That part has always confused me. Martin Luther did a paraphrase of the text that helped me to understand the connection. I want to share it with you this morning. He writes as if Jesus is speaking, “This is the bronze snake; I, however, am the Son of man. Those people were asked to look at the snake physically, but you must look at me spiritually and in faith. Those people were cured of bodily poisoning; but you, through me, will be delivered from eternal poison. They recovered from a physical ailment, but you will have eternal life because you believe in me.”
You see Jesus was using that Old Testament event to show that it was in fact a foreshadowing of his crucifixion, and in doing so he is telling us the proper way to interpret not only Moses, but all the prophets. He is teaching us that all the Old Testament and the New Testament stories and illustrations point towards him.
They point to him because you see, Jesus is the center of the Holy Scriptures. It might help to understand the concept if you would picture a circle with Jesus as the center, with line of the circle going around him, representing the Old and later the New Testament writers all focusing on him. If you have never thought of the scriptures in that manner it is a good way to picture them, for it shows that for us to say we have interpreted the scriptures rightly our eyes have to have been focused strictly on him, the center of all things.
That is why it is so important to read, in fact I would say it is critical to have a good understanding of all the scriptures, but particularly verses 16 and 17 of our Gospel reading. These verses are so important that I would like you to repeat them after me. Just echo the words I say. Are you ready?
"For God so loved the world" (people respond)
"that he gave his only Son" (people respond)
"so that everyone who believes in him" (people respond)
"may not perish" (people respond)
"but may have eternal life" (people respond)
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world” (people respond),
“but to save the world through him.” (People respond)
We love those verses, because it tells us that God loves us. It is a Good News verse -- a REALLY Good News verse. But we are tempted to ignore what comes next, because the next verse isn't so warm and fuzzy. It isn’t Good News. Please repeat after me.
"Those who believe in him are not condemned.” (people respond)
“but those who do not believe are condemned already.” (people respond)
“because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God" (people respond)
That verse, especially the last half of the verse, clearly tells us that if a person does not believe in Jesus as their Savior, they are going to hell. We are loath to tell others that mainly because society tells us that we can’t make that kind of judgment, and so we refuse to tell them of the antidote to the poison that is killing them.
I wonder though, could there be another reason, a reason we would not admit to. Could the reason be that somewhere in the deepest corner of our mind that we believe that God surely can’t condemn good people to hell and that he must have provided other ways for those that do not know of Jesus to be saved.
I hope that is not the problem, for I can’t imagine anyone that says they love someone letting them die of a poison when they have the antidote for it. I can’t imagine it, but it seems to be happening, and in all honesty we need to figure out what the problem is, so that we can change our ways.
We need to, for if we are truly followers of Jesus we are to do his will. We can you know, not on our own power, but with his help as he has promised us, have the courage or whatever it is that is stopping us, to tell others that their only hope is for them to look upon Jesus Christ. We must do that, otherwise all those who are snake-bitten by Satan and there are a lot of them, will die an eternal death. Amen
03/26/06
Text: John 3:14-21
Title: Snake bitten
Please join me in prayer. Lord, we have gathered here today in your holy house to hear your words and to partake of your body and blood. You know how easily Satan can get us to focus on things other than your life-giving Word. We pray that you help us to stay focused on your words, so that we might be drawn ever closer to you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen
Our Old Testament reading for today has a lot to say about snakes. Now snakes are not your average lovable creature. As a general rule they inspire fear and that is why our Old Testament reading for today is, how can I say it? It is just strange, especially the part about looking to an image of a bronze snake to be healed.
As we read earlier we see that God is punishing the Israelites, for rebelling against him, by sending venomous snakes into their midst. As the snakes strike and the people start dying, they cry out to Moses to intercede for them, for they realize that he is their only hope, a natural expectation since God and Moses talked to each other on a regular basis.
Moses does intercede for them. God forgives them and then, here is the strange part. God tells Moses to form a bronze image of the same type of serpent that was biting the people, put it on a pole, and lift it up so that the people could see it. Those that looked upon it would be healed. I don’t know about you but that looks an awful like idol worship. It is a strange story indeed.
The Old Testament story reading for today takes place in the desert . The Israelites are there because of their lack of faith when they were at the edge of the Promised Land. They did not trust God to protect them and so they were condemned to wander in the desert for 40 years. The snakes are biting them because they are complaining of the lack of water and that they were tired of eating the same food, the food that God personally gave them fresh each morning.
Martin Luther writes that where the Israelites were there is a snake that is called an asp. When that particular snake bites a person, they swell up, they get a fever, one so high that their skin actually turns fiery red. They are quickly beyond help unless the part of the body that was bitten is amputated as soon as the serpent strikes. If that is not done the fever penetrates the whole body, and death is inevitable.
To save the people, Moses, as I mentioned earlier, was directed by God to make a form of the serpent out of bronze. In the Hebrew it is called a seraph. The word means a house which is aflame. It is the same word that is used in Isaiah 6:2 to describe the creatures having six wings that were praising God and then touched a life coal to Isaiah’s lips, symbolizing the start of his ministry.
Put yourself in the sandals of the people that had been bitten by the snake. You are going to die and then Moses lifts up the image of the same snake that bit you and tells you that if you just look at it you will not die.
What would you do? Why you would look at the image of course. That is, you would look at it, if you had faith in what Moses told you. It is indeed a strange remedy, but you have to do what you got to do when you are dying. When you think about it, it really isn’t that strange, for even today most people that are dying will grasp at anything they think will cure them and save their life.
Now they could have said, and I am sure some did say, “Ha, what a ridiculous thing it is to look upon an image of what is killing me. Moses, have you lost your senses? How are we to be helped by looking at this bronze serpent, which looks like those that bit us? We are so terrified that we cannot stand the sight of them! If only you would, instead, give us a cooling drink, salve for my skin, something to take away the venom and the fever! What good can mere words and looking up at a bronze serpent do? How can that dead and lifeless object up there benefit us?”
I am sure that there were many who refused to have faith in Moses and died in their unbelief. In fact I would say that only those that had faith in what Moses had said looked up at the serpent that day. The others very likely turned away from it, saying: “Who do you take me for, a fool? How could it help?” And they died, not only a bodily death, but an eternal death separated from God, all because of their lack of faith.
The bronze serpent did not cure anyone. It was the faith of those that believed in what God had told Moses that cured them, for without that faith they would not have looked up at the form of the serpent that God said would heal them. In all likelihood those that had faith in the promise of Moses probably said, “Moses is a servant of God. God commanded him to do this; therefore it must be as he said it is to be.”
It is a great story, full of drama, but I have to admit that until I started preparing for this sermon I can’t really say that I fully understood the connection when Jesus said, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
I understood that the event was a foreshadowing of Jesus and his death, but why a snake? That part has always confused me. Martin Luther did a paraphrase of the text that helped me to understand the connection. I want to share it with you this morning. He writes as if Jesus is speaking, “This is the bronze snake; I, however, am the Son of man. Those people were asked to look at the snake physically, but you must look at me spiritually and in faith. Those people were cured of bodily poisoning; but you, through me, will be delivered from eternal poison. They recovered from a physical ailment, but you will have eternal life because you believe in me.”
You see Jesus was using that Old Testament event to show that it was in fact a foreshadowing of his crucifixion, and in doing so he is telling us the proper way to interpret not only Moses, but all the prophets. He is teaching us that all the Old Testament and the New Testament stories and illustrations point towards him.
They point to him because you see, Jesus is the center of the Holy Scriptures. It might help to understand the concept if you would picture a circle with Jesus as the center, with line of the circle going around him, representing the Old and later the New Testament writers all focusing on him. If you have never thought of the scriptures in that manner it is a good way to picture them, for it shows that for us to say we have interpreted the scriptures rightly our eyes have to have been focused strictly on him, the center of all things.
That is why it is so important to read, in fact I would say it is critical to have a good understanding of all the scriptures, but particularly verses 16 and 17 of our Gospel reading. These verses are so important that I would like you to repeat them after me. Just echo the words I say. Are you ready?
"For God so loved the world" (people respond)
"that he gave his only Son" (people respond)
"so that everyone who believes in him" (people respond)
"may not perish" (people respond)
"but may have eternal life" (people respond)
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world” (people respond),
“but to save the world through him.” (People respond)
We love those verses, because it tells us that God loves us. It is a Good News verse -- a REALLY Good News verse. But we are tempted to ignore what comes next, because the next verse isn't so warm and fuzzy. It isn’t Good News. Please repeat after me.
"Those who believe in him are not condemned.” (people respond)
“but those who do not believe are condemned already.” (people respond)
“because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God" (people respond)
That verse, especially the last half of the verse, clearly tells us that if a person does not believe in Jesus as their Savior, they are going to hell. We are loath to tell others that mainly because society tells us that we can’t make that kind of judgment, and so we refuse to tell them of the antidote to the poison that is killing them.
I wonder though, could there be another reason, a reason we would not admit to. Could the reason be that somewhere in the deepest corner of our mind that we believe that God surely can’t condemn good people to hell and that he must have provided other ways for those that do not know of Jesus to be saved.
I hope that is not the problem, for I can’t imagine anyone that says they love someone letting them die of a poison when they have the antidote for it. I can’t imagine it, but it seems to be happening, and in all honesty we need to figure out what the problem is, so that we can change our ways.
We need to, for if we are truly followers of Jesus we are to do his will. We can you know, not on our own power, but with his help as he has promised us, have the courage or whatever it is that is stopping us, to tell others that their only hope is for them to look upon Jesus Christ. We must do that, otherwise all those who are snake-bitten by Satan and there are a lot of them, will die an eternal death. Amen
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 4:56 PM
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