John
3:14-21
Over
here at the bottom of the window nearest the pulpit is a picture of a snake
wrapped around a branch. Don’t you think
that’s an odd image for a church? Snakes
don’t have an especially good reputation in the Bible and I have to admit, for
myself, that I’m not very fond of them.
This image is a reminder of something that happened to the people of
Israel when they were wandering in the desert on their way to the Promised
Land, grumbling about what they were going through, and placing blame.
“The 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.’ Then the Lord sent
poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many
Israelites died. The 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. And
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.’ So 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.” [Numbers 21:5-9]
That’s
why this image is at the base of a window that shows some of Jesus’ miracles of
healing.
Right above it is the picture of a
woman who had been hemorrhaging for fifteen years who slipped up behind Jesus
in a crowd, because she had become convinced that if she could touch even the
edge of his clothing, she would be healed.
And she was. Then there is an
image in the middle that shows Jesus, having gone to Peter’s house right after
he had called Peter to follow him, meeting Peter’s mother-in-law, who was sick
with a fever. He took her hand and
helped her up, for she had immediately become better. (I love the way this window shows Peter and
his wife watching from the doorway.)
Then at the top is a blind man with his cane, kneeling in front of
Jesus. The clump of stuff you see over
Jesus’ right shoulder is a pile of dirt that Jesus used in the process, having
gathered it together and spat on it to make it wet enough to smear on the man’s
eyelids, he told him to go wash it off, and when the man did that, he was able
to see again.
Jesus spent a lot of time healing
people and making them well. These three
are emblematic of so very many more times that people reached out to him for
help, or to whom he extended his hand. Yet
the symbol of the bronze serpent goes beyond that, as Jesus’ understanding of what
it meant to heal went beyond that, because life is not just what we know here
and now. Life, in its fullness, is
unending.
“And 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.” [John
3:14-15]
There
are physical maladies, but there are also illnesses of the soul that also need
a physician, and Jesus is the one who comes to restore wholeness in those
situations, too.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his
only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have
eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the
world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” [John
3:16-17]
That’s one of those Bible verses that is so familiar we sometimes don’t
feel the punch behind them. If you put
it back into the context of snakebites, maybe a bit more of the wildness of the
proclamation will reappear, a bit more of the wonder at Jesus as the one who
returns our life to us when we are headed straight for oblivion.
Think of it this way: the world can
be a desert where you find yourself suddenly in a nest of rattlers, and the
chances that you can move left or right or just calmly back out without getting
bitten are slim to none. You can count
on it that you will be hurt, and that some of the poison is going to enter your
system. The people around you are not
going to be any help because they also are dealing with the same problems and,
in fact, may have been the ones who led you into the danger area to begin with.
I think of teenagers and young
adults who get caught up in a culture of binge drinking, who turn it into a
matter of boasting whenever they overdo it, and find their behavior being
reinforced or applauded by their friends’ laughter. I think of politicians who get drunk on power
and self-importance, who end up selling out their beliefs because they need
campaign contributions to hold onto their seats, and who become more and more
dependent on maintaining the system the better they become at working it. I think of athletes who put just a little bit
of an illegal steroid or two into their bloodstreams because everyone else is
doing it and they think they have to do that, too, just to keep the playing
field level. I think of parents who just
cannot bring themselves to say, “No,” and who learn ten years later what that
may mean to a child. I think of any
number of people in any number of situations where they find themselves trapped,
sometimes physically ruined, always sick in their heart and dead in their
souls, who just want that one, last hope, but who are convinced that there are
just no alternatives because the ways of the world are so well established.
Well, there is an alternative. Just as the snake-bitten Israelites were able
to look up and see the bronze serpent that Moses held up, the sin-sick soul can
look up and see Jesus on the cross, and know that there was one who willingly has
placed himself between us and death, and has become the source of eternal life. His ways may not lead to the same places of
power and glory that the world promises, but ask yourself how many who chase
those things actually reach them. On the
other hand, the lasting good that Jesus holds out, he holds out for everyone
who will have it.
George Herbert was born in Wales in 1593
and his family moved to London after his father died. He was a smart child and gained a lot of
attention for his scholarship, which led him to waver between academic and
political careers. Then everything began
going wrong. He had hitched his
political wagon to people who suddenly fell out of favor, and one of them went
into disgrace for accepting bribes. Then
his stepfather’s main investment, the Virginia Company that had settled
Jamestown, was dissolved by King Charles.
Soon afterward, he got caught in the middle of the fighting between King
and Parliament that would become the English Civil War. By “caught in the middle” I mean that he had
connections on both sides, which meant that nobody trusted him anymore because
they didn’t trust his friends. The
strange thing is that all of this ended up deepening his spiritual life and
making him more and more aware that his life did not come from any of the things
he had looked to sustain him and to make him prominent. He became more and more aware that the source
and meaning of his life was elsewhere.
He wrote a poem that we are about to sing as a hymn:
"Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life:
Such a Way, as gives us breath:
Such a Truth, as ends
all strife:
Such a Life, as killeth death.
Come, my Light,
my Feast, my Strength:
Such a Light, as shows a
feast:
Such a Feast, as mends
in length:
Such a Strength, as
makes his guest.
Come, my Joy, my Love,
my Heart:
Such a Joy, as none can
move:
Such a Love, as none can
part:
Such a Heart, as joyes
in love."
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