Sermon—March 11, 2018
Numbers 21:4-9
Ephesians 2:1-10
John 3:14-21
Today’s gospel reading begins with a reference to an obscure story from Numbers that is probably not in many children’s Bibles, and doesn’t have a fun chorus with cheesy hand-motions that go with it. It’s just…odd. The Israelites are in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land. They’ve just experienced a victory where God handed over the Canaanites. But they’re tired of the journey, fed up with “this detestable food,” it says, and they start complaining. So God responds by sending snakes who bite people, and people start dying. The people ask Moses to make it stop, so he prays, and God tells Moses to put a poisonous serpent on a pole, and when people look at the thing that is destroying them they experience healing.
See what I mean…it’s an odd story! For many people, Christians maybe more specifically, serpents are a symbol of temptation and destruction. But for many cultures, the serpent is a symbol of immortality or the main concerns of the subconscious. So the serpent doesn’t only symbolize evil, it also symbolizes your subconscious, or those things deep within you that you’re wrestling with but may not even know. If you are a nurse or a doctor, you might know more than I do about why the symbol for a hospital is often a snake on a pole. So the serpent can be a symbol of evil, but it can also be a symbol of self-discovery and healing. Because don’t you know that sometimes you’ve got to bring those things you keep in the shadows and in your subconscious out into the light and look at them directly before you can experience wholeness and healing?
So Jesus references this lifting up of the serpent and immediately draws a parallel to the Son of Man being lifted up on the cross. The cross is an instrument of death, and all the circumstances that lead to Jesus’ crucifixion reveal the reality of our brokenness as humans—power, betrayal, denial, vengeance and abandonment. But when we look at that son of man lifted up on the cross, when we allow the Light of the World to shine in our darkness, we experience healing and wholeness. Why would God do that? Why not just let us be destroyed by our own darkness? Why not leave us to our own devices to be bitten by poisonous snakes?
Because God so loved the world that God sent God’s son—God’s essence in human form—into the world. God’s love for the world—even a world full of darkness and brokenness—compels God to come towards the world in relationship through Jesus. Why would God do that?
Well, let me ask you this—how many of you lost electricity during Hurricane Irma this fall? If you lost electricity, did you move towards light, whether that was a hotel or a neighbor? And if you didn’t lose electricity, did you share your light with someone else? I grew up with electricity rationing, so losing power was nothing new for me. But experiencing the loss of light as a result of the storm was different than knowing the lights would go off at 8:00 pm every night. What struck me about the impact of the storms this fall is that I saw people realize the power of light and actively share it with those who didn’t have it. In the synod office we lost electricity, so a nearby congregation welcomed us into their fellowship hall to spend the day working, charging our devices, and having our staff meeting. People were not okay with how long others had to stay in darkness. As we stay attentive to the ongoing situation in Puerto Rico, hopefully we are at least a little bit bothered by the fact that electricity has still not yet been fully restored. Because when we have light and energy and power, and we see a neighbor or community that has lost its light or energy or power, we want to help. People who have light don’t want people to have to stay in darkness! And when light is turned on, what feels overwhelming and terrifying in the dark…like poisonous snakes…somehow just isn’t as powerful.
So why would God send Jesus into the world? Because God doesn’t just HAVE light, God IS light! And when God sees a world whose electricity has gone out because of storms and hurricanes, out of love and compassion, God shares the light with those whose power has not yet been restored.
Many of us may have memorized John 3:16 at some point in our lives. But I hope you keep reading and reflect on John 3:17-18 as well. Jesus goes on to say that God’s intention is not to condemn the world, but to create a way for the world to be saved. The word that gets translated ‘condemned’ actually means more like ‘separation’ or ‘division.’ So think about when you bring groceries home and decide where each item goes—you separate or condemn each item to where it belongs. It’s not a value statement on the bread to put it on the shelf…that’s just where it goes. So God didn’t send the Son to SEPARATE the world through value statements about those who are in darkness. God sent the Son so that there was a way for everybody to get their lights turned on again. Because when your lights are on and you see a neighbor who has lost their power, if you love that neighbor you won’t pull your shades down and leave them in darkness. You go over to them, take an extra lantern, help them figure out what’s causing the power outage, and help them get their lights back on.
God sent the son into the world not so that the division between light and dark could continue, but so that the light could shine in the dark and the dark would lose its power.
This passage in John is the second half of a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus about being born again. Nicodemus asks Jesus how a grown person can re-enter a mother’s womb. Jesus says, “no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and spirit.” Born of water and spirit…what does that sound like? In the waters of baptism, we are reborn children of God, and sealed with the Spirit. Through the waters of baptism, our light is restored. Not because we’ve earned it or deserve it. But because God loves the world and sent the Son into the world so that all those in darkness can be brought into the light. Light and Life are a gift, Ephesians reminds us, not a result of our works so that we get the credit, but a gift from the Source of Light and Life.
So what difference does that make for us? How are we responding to this gift of restored light and life? Are we looking out at a world still in darkness and pulling down our shades and celebrating that it’s a good thing we’re not like them? Or are we opening our doors, taking out an extra lantern, going next door to see what’s keeping our neighbor from accessing light, and through relationship moving towards others and sharing our light? When we collect items for backpacks so kids don’t go hungry over the weekend, we share the love and light of God with a world in darkness, and the serpents stop biting. When we collect and share food through a food pantry, and take time to hear stories from the people who we are feeding, we share the love and light of God with a world in darkness, and the serpents stop biting. When we create communities where all are welcomed, children, youth and the elderly are valued and respected, and we encourage each person to use their gifts as God has given them, we share the love and light of God with a world in darkness, and the serpents stop biting. When we come forward each week for a meal of forgiveness and remember that our light has been restored, the serpents stop biting.
God’s love for the world compelled God to send the Son into the world so that the world might be saved. This is pure gift, and not because of anything that we have done. As we are transformed by Water and the Spirit, we, too, are sent into the world to let those who live in darkness know they are not alone and the light we have is for them as well.
If we have lived in darkness, we know the power of light. Whether that darkness was physical, emotional, psychological or spiritual, we know that darkness can feel like being destroyed by poisonous snakes. And we might also know that sometimes the only way for those snakes to no longer destroy us is to turn the light on them and look at them more directly.
So, as you move through this season of Lent, what is the darkness within you or around you that you might invite the Light of the world to shine into? As a community that has experienced the gift of faith and of light being restored, how might you continue to join God in sharing light with others? And how can the love that God has for you strengthen the love you have for others?
Jesus is the light of the world. We have been gifted that light through water, word and Spirit. May we be so moved by this gift of light that we continue to share it with others, so that all may have their light restored.
Amen.