Serpents and Grace: Numbers 21:4-9 - Fourth Sunday in Lent

4From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. 5The people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food." 6Then the LORD sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. 7The people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD to take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. 8And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live." 9So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live. (NRSV)

 


Image courtesy of darkkong / freedigitalimages.net

As a child, there were a few things we were never allowed to say…besides curse words. 

You never said “I’m starving”—because Mom or Dad would always answer, “No, you’re not!”

They knew that we really just wanted a candy bar—which we proved by our refusal to eat the fruits and vegetables they offered. 

In time, we came to understand what starvation really meant—as we began to notice the “Save the Children” commercials on TV…

But do we as adults truly get over this bad habit of childish whining?

Take the Israelites in the desert: they’re smack in the middle of their journey out of slavery in Egypt en route to the Promised Land.  Make no mistake—the journey was as grueling as it was perilous.  They faced the very real danger of death with each passing day.  But God was caring for them in very big ways: the Red Sea crossing; the manna and quail God provided for food; water gushing from rocks; and most recently—the destruction of a hostile enemy nation. 

Life wasn’t perfect; not by a long shot.  But God was taking care of his people.  Yet time and time again, the people grew restless; impatient; and mad.  Today we hear them complaining [to Moses]: “there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.”  Think about how foolish a statement that is… 

No one can blame them for growing tired of the manna—it’s like us eating Wonder bread three times a day, for years on end.  They weren’t starving—but they didn’t see it that way.

But their moment of discontent quickly grew into a moment of profound despair.  In that instant, the memory of everything God had done in the past was gone—along with everything that God promised for their future. 

Make no mistake about it—it would have been incredibly difficult to eat such meager food, and be totally dependent on God to provide the food and water they needed to survive—and to lead them in the right direction.  But the panic takes over.  The people lose their heads.  The way they saw it, God was no longer on their side.

Can you imagine how quickly things could have spiraled out of control for the Israelites had God not intervened?  The entire nation would’ve quickly perished as they wrestled one another for whatever meager scraps of food and water could be found.  They would have argued and fought over who was to blame for the crisis and who had the best plan to resolve it—kind of like Congress. 

Strangely enough—the poisonous snakes seem to be the one saving grace here.  Yes, people die—but God provides the deliverance not only from the snakes, but from the crisis the people created. 

“Gaze upon the bronze snake on a pole—and you will live.”  A rather bizarre gift of healing—but nonetheless, God has provided again.

God speaks truth to us today—because we know the wilderness all too well.  We know it as illness and grief; we know it as times of need; we know it as the struggle to keep the faith when everything upon which we had built our lives is gone from us.

We know what it’s like to be surrounded by snakes—as people trespass against us and we trespass against them.  We know it as the crisis brought about by our own bad decisions.  We know helplessness.

All these things would definitely destroy us—but God provides.  Right in the center of it all, our crucified Jesus is lifted up.  The cross confronts us with three realities…  It is the sum of all our trespasses against God and neighbor.  It is the sum of all our greatest fears.  And—it is the sum of God’s compassionate mercy.  By the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven.  We are set free from the powers of evil and death.  We are loved unconditionally; not by our own merits, but because this is who our God is.

Right there, in the wilderness of suffering—God provides what we need to live.  One of the most awesome mysteries of God’s mercy is that God can use the things we fear and loathe the most to bring us closer to God. 

It is inevitable that we’ll find ourselves in the wilderness; stinging with the venom of the power of death.  It is then when we must stop, look, and listen: the cross reveals God’s unconditional love for you.  Jesus takes on all your sins onto himself.  Jesus suffers death and evil at their worst.  But God uses the cross to bring salvation to the world.  “Look at the cross, see the Son of God, and live.”

And take time to look around your life, giving thanks for all the good gifts your loving God gives—the God who was faithful yesterday will be faithful today and tomorrow too!