Community Church Sermons
March 26, 2006
Numbers 21:4-9
Margaret I. Manning, Associate Pastor
Imagine reading the
following news headlines: woman with debilitating heart conditions saved by
deadly, Sea snake venom; Poisonous venom from copperhead snake used in cure for
breast cancer. Or, how about this one:
Rattlesnake venom found to dramatically reverse the effects of stroke and
prevent future strokes! What would you
think? Would you believe that the same
deadly, poisonous snakes that harm and kill are now found to cure, heal, and
make whole? Naaaaah… these headlines
sound like they were pulled straight from the tabloid headlines of the National Enquirer, Star, or the Weekly World News! In fact, these headlines are pulled from
actual medical and scientific journals!
Researchers are discovering that enzymes from snake venom may hold the
keys to finding cures for many different diseases including Parkinson's
disease, Alzheimer's disease, and osteoporosis, in addition to curing certain
types of cancer, stroke, and heart conditions.
Can it really be true that the same venom that kills, also cures? Maybe those Appalachian snake handlers know
something we don’t know – which got me thinking that perhaps we ought to
incorporate some snake handling into our next worship service. What do you think, Tim and Bob?
I don’t know about
you, but I find it amazing that the same enzymatic venom used by snakes to
immobilize and kill prey contains curative properties as well.[1] And more and more scientists risk life and
limb to study venomous reptiles, arachnids, and mollusks in order to find cures
for many of our pressing health issues.
Isn’t it ironic that poisonous venom may also be used to save our
lives? I suppose we shouldn’t be
surprised to know that snakes and other poisonous creatures can be used for
good in this world. After all, even
though the ancients believed snakes were a sign of evil and destruction, they
also understood them as a sign of healing and creativity. This can be seen, for example, in the symbol
of the healing snake preserved in the physician’s seal, which shows a snake
entwined about the wand of Mercury.[2]
Despite all this
fascinating research, you still may be wondering how snakes are one of our Lenten signs this morning. I mean
what do creepy, crawly, scary, poisonous snakes have to do with Lent? Well, the Israelites’ encounter with the
fiery serpents in our passage from Numbers might help to shed some light on
snakes as a sign for us this season.
Now their close encounter with snakes occurs at the end of the
wilderness narratives, as recorded in the book of Numbers. These narratives were stories used to remind
the Hebrew people of their wilderness wandering. In addition, these narratives were used for teaching; to instruct
the Hebrew people about God’s faithfulness in the midst of their unfaithfulness
from the exodus out of Egypt through their seemingly endless journey in the
wilderness of the Sinai desert. So
important are these narratives in Israel’s history that many of the psalms used
in worship called the people to remember this period of wandering and to
remember God’s faithful lovingkindness which sustained them. Psalm 107, for example, retells their story:
They wandered in the wilderness in a desert
region; they were hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them. They cried out to the Lord in their trouble;
God saved them out of all their distresses.
Who is wise? Let that one give
heed to these things; and consider the lovingkindnesses of the Lord.[3]
Despite God’s
consistent faithfulness and lovingkindness, the people consistently complained
– in fact, the majority of the narrative in the book of Numbers is complaint
narrative; not enough food, not the right kind of food, not enough water, too
many enemies, too many obstacles to the Promised Land. If the Israelites could complain, they would
complain regardless of what God might be doing on their behalf, right in their
midst! Even though the text tells us
that God has just brought them to a triumphant military victory over the
Canaanites, we are told in our story early on that the people became impatient because of their journey. So, in their impatience they speak against
God and Moses saying, “Why have you and this god of yours brought us up out of
Egypt to die in the wilderness? Where
is our food, where is our water, and by the way, the food you’ve been feeding
us, that manna stuff – we loathe it!
And even though we were enslaved, the leeks, onions and food we ate in
Egypt were a heck of a lot better than all this wandering!
Now, this is not the
first record of the Israelites complaining against Moses; but this is the first
time the Israelites direct their complaint against God in addition to Moses[4]. The people accuse both God and Moses of
wanting to watch them suffer and die in that barren and dusty wilderness. Their memory short, they believe their
bondage and slavery in Egypt was the better alternative. But, more than this, their complaint calls
into question the very character and nature of God – rather than seeing God’s
faithful care throughout their exodus journey, the people only see what they do
not have – and blinded by their ungrateful and complaining spirit, they indict
this God of Moses as a god bent on torturing and killing them in the
wilderness.
Enter the
snakes! From out of that barren
wilderness, come fiery serpents – and
while historians aren’t certain what kind of snakes afflicted them, these
serpents had a killer bite! The text tells
us that many died as a result of these snakes. The text also tells us that God
sent the snakes as a form of judgment against the Israelites unfaithfulness;
and this is what we come to expect of God in the Old Testament narratives. People sin and God punishes sin, and with a
vengeance. After all God has done for
this people, you can understand why God might have gotten upset with them from
time to time! And yet, what God does next
seems pretty amazing to me. Let us give heed to these things; and consider
the lovingkindnesses of the Lord, the psalmist declared. In spite of their
constant complaint and unfaithfulness, God hears their cry. God instructs Moses to make a memorial snake
of sorts; a memorial snake that would represent healing in the midst of their
judgment. So the text tells us, “Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a
standard; and it came about that if a serpent bit anyone, when he/she looked to
the bronze serpent, he/she lived.” Now don’t you know that every time an Israelite encountered a
snake – the real ones crawling in and among their camp, and the bronze
memorial, lifted up on that standard - he or she was reminded of both
destruction and healing? But, more
important than that, and so much more crucial for us in our journey through the
wilderness of Lent, don’t you know they came face to face with the ugly reality
of sin, its judgment, and the healing power of God in the antidote of God’s
mercy and grace?
This is a familiar
story, is it not? For this is the story
of human nature, of you and me today.
We have our heads in the sand if we don’t acknowledge the pervasiveness
of sin and evil in our world and in our own lives. And despite all the goodness in human beings and in creation,
despite all of our abundance, despite all we enjoy, we grumble and complain, we
rail against God and make war with God and with one another. While God’s mercy and grace are consistent
towards us, our consistency in our commitment to God is intermittent at
best. And yet, in spite of all this – in
spite of our fickle, intermittent response to God, God remains faithful to
save, and enormously persistent in the pursuit of relationship with us. But, in order for us to be grasped by the
enormity of God’s grace, we must come face to face with the enormity of our own
sin. Just as the Israelites would have
to look at the evil serpent and see their own sin right before them – so we too
must grasp the enormity of our own sin in order to be grabbed hold of by God’s grace. In other times, Moses would simply pray for
the people as an intercessor, and they would be forgiven. But now, the people will be forgiven, only
after they look to the bronze snake – the snake which was both a symbol of the
sin that had brought about their separation from God, and the symbol of God’
healing grace.[5] The
Lenten season gives us this same opportunity – to evaluate our lives in light
of God’s grace. But, that grace will
only be meaningful to transform our lives to the extent to which we see our own
need for God’s grace, as we come face to face with our own sinful ways.
There is another
sign, like that of our snakes, which serves this same dual purpose –
illuminating our sin and God’s healing grace – and it is the sign of the
cross. Jesus saw his own purpose of
being “lifted up” in light of this story from Israel’s history. Our reading from John’s gospel makes this
comparison explicit – “And as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted
up, that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that God gave
God’s only begotten son, that whoever believes should not perish, but have
eternal life.” The cross would also
be the symbol of sin and grace; of destruction and healing, death and life,
just like the bronze serpent. And yet,
the cross can be ‘lifted up’ in exaltation because it is God’s antidote on our
behalf and in response to our human condition.
And this is the power and truth of this symbol – forgiveness and healing
are not found in our own penance, or in our trying to work our way towards
perfection, but in God’s cure for our mortal wound. Only in the confession or acknowledgement
of our sin, in light of the cross, in proclaiming our sin as a wrongful
choice and misdirection in light of the cross, and turning to look at
the healing of God for our sin, in the cross, do we find true
redemption, true healing, and true life.[6]
The Lenten season
asks us to look to the cross of Christ as we look at our own lives in light of
the Cross. Have we been grasped by
God’s grace? Have we experienced the
healing and life that comes as we acknowledge, surrender and respond to that
grace by offering our lives to God?
Have we, as we come face to face with our own fiery serpents of sin,
rebellion, self-centered independence, and unfaithfulness, turned to look to
God, ‘lifted up’ in Christ Jesus for our salvation? The dual nature of the cross, like the dual nature of the
serpents of old is our crucial sign in this Lenten season – and its dual nature
must be held in tandem. As Max Lucado
has said, “To see sin without grace is despair. To see grace without sin is arrogance. To see them in tandem is conversion.”[7] As we look to the cross, just as the
Israelites looked to the bronze serpent, may we sin our own sin in light of
God’s grace, and be converted in this season of Lent. Amen.
[2] The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, vol. 4. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1991, p. 291.
[3] Psalm 107: 4, 5, 6; 43.
[4] Homiletics Online, March 26, 2006. This is the first time in the book of Numbers the people complain uniquely against God.
[5] These ideas are from the lectionary commentary site, www.lectionary.sermons.com
[6] This idea about the three-fold nature of true conversion from www.homileticsonline.com
[7] Max Lucado. When God Whispers Your Name. Dallas, Texas: Word, 1994, p. 44.