The Serpent in the Wilderness

Numbers 21: 4-9; John 3: 13-21
March 9, 1997
Fourth Sunday in Lent - Year B

© John Ewing Roberts, 03/09/97

INTRODUCTION - BACK TO BASICS

Two Sundays ago I got into a bit of trouble over a comparison between Lent and several things that happen every spring.

No one commented when I observed that this is the time of the year when baseball players in spring training go back to basics and drill on the fundamentals of their game.

But many of you had something to say about my remark that this is the time of the year when spring house cleaning takes place, when we clean up and spruce up. I did not mean to imply that any Woodbrook household was anything other than meticulously clean! Perhaps our ancestors lived in filth and squalor, but we surely are compulsively immaculate.

These "tongue in cheek" remarks are offered in support of my point - this is the time of the year when Christians go back to basics, journeying with Jesus toward Jerusalem for a fresh experience of the life changing events of Holy Week, climaxing in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.

Here at Woodbrook we have been going back to some basic, fundamental texts: the Ten Commandments and Psalm 19 last week; today it is John 3: 16, the gospel in summary, one of the first verses we learn by memory. It just about has to be read in the familiar, rhythmical cadences of the King James Version.

John 3: 16 is constantly before television viewers of athletic events. Who has not seen that omnipresent fellow in the multicolored Afro wig holding up the poster with John 3: 16 on it? John 3: 16 needs to be taken seriously. It should neither be abandoned to a strange person with a gift for getting on camera nor relegated to adult nostalgia for their childhood memory work in Sunday School.

We need to understand and to live John 3: 16. To do a proper job of understanding John 3: 16 let us go back for some essential background to the verses which precede it in John 3 and to Numbers 21, a Hebrew scripture text it cites.






THE BACKGROUND OF JOHN 3: 16

     (1) Nicodemus and Change

John 3: 16 is preceded by the famous exchange between Jesus and Nicodemus, a leader of the Jerusalem Jewish community who comes to visit Jesus by night. He probably visited Jesus in a lovely spot on the Jerusalem side of Mount of Olives. We call it the Garden of Gethsemane, the likely spot where Jesus and the disciples camped. Later he would stay just over the Mount of Olives at the home of his close friends, Mary, Martha and Lazarus.

Nicodemus came by night. I can't wait to hear the musical the boys and girls are learning about Nicodemus and his nocturnal visit to Jesus. With apologies to the evening schedule of the Nickelodeon cable TV channel, it's called "Nick at Night."

At any rate Nicodemus came by night, and night was a special time,
     the time for study - he was a scripture scholar;
     the time for leisure enterprises - as a member of the Sanhedrin he probably had the
means to support leisure activity, something only the wealthy could do in that culture;
     the time of caution - it was risky business associating with Jesus;
     and in the highly symbolic fourth gospel,
     the time of darkness - the arena of evil.

In this setting, Nicodemus asked the famous question, "How can a man be born again when he is old?" (John 3: 4)

How can one be born again, or as the Greek may also be translated, born from above, born from on high? It is a fundamental question of religion - Can we make a fresh start? Can we change?

Do you believe you can change? I am not asking if you think someone else here needs to change. I am asking each of us to think about our own lives. Do you believe you can teach an old dog new tricks? Maybe you have lived long enough to be set in your ways in some areas -the way you part your hair; the colors you prefer to wear. But in the essential arena of the human spirit can you change? When it comes to eternal life, we had better be ready to change if we are to inherit it. Jesus believed we could be born from on high, empowered by God to to make a fresh start. Jesus believed we could change.

Jesus' faith in the power of God to change us,
Jesus' faith in us to change with the help of God...
is tremendously important because there are people here today who need to change.



There are people here today who need to change, men and women, boys and girls,
who need
     to change the way they live,
     to change the way they think,
     to change the way they react.

There are people here today who need
     to change a habit,
     to change a consuming fantasy,
     to change a compulsive behavior.

There are
     people here today who need to change the entire direction of their lives,
     people who need to be born from on high by the power of God.

     (2) Numbers 21 and Lifting Up

To understand John 3: 16 we need to know not only about the interview with Nicodemus which precedes it, but also about Numbers 21: 4-9, the background of John 3: 14-15: "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."

"Lifting up" is a crucial expression in John's gospel, a reference to the cross, the crucifixion of Jesus, which is the lifting up of Jesus, which is the exaltation of Jesus. "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth will draw all people to myself." (John 12: 32)

It all goes back to the "lifting up" by Moses of a bronze serpent on a pole. To help us visualize Numbers 21, June Heintz has made a serpent on the pole and placed it on the Communion Table before us. Beside it is the cross she fashioned for our service several weeks ago when it was arranged by Maryan Brown and Sharon Brown Banks. We thank June for these aids in understanding our two scripture passages today.

The Bible tells how the people complained, "We detest this miserable food." (v. 5, NRSV). What do you think of when you hear the term "miserable food?" I think of my college cafeteria, which we nicknamed "ptomaine tavern."

For the children of Israel their so-called "miserable food" was actually manna from heaven, a term my father used to describe whatever especially wonderful food was at hand. I can still remember him popping into his mouth a hot biscuit filled with country ham, and somehow managing simultaneous to eat, smile, nod his head approvingly and mutter, "This surely is manna from heaven!" The ham was so good that he was not for a minute troubled when his wife and son jumped on him for overlooking the pork and kosher issues.

The point is that "manna from heaven" is not miserable food. It was created by God to feed his people! Someone said the King of Kings was also surely the Chef of Chefs who would not produce "miserable food!"

It is very risky business to reject food. The one preparing the food is liable to feel rejected as well. If the Pillsbury ads are right that nothing spells "lovin'" like something from the oven, then nothing spells trouble like rejecting the cook with cookies.

The children of Israel complained about manna from heaven cooked up by the Lord God Almighty. Big mistake. "The Lord sent poisonous serpents...and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died." (Numbers 21: 6)


SNAKES

The entire story is troublesome. God sending snakes? Healing by what appears to be sympathetic magic? And there are the snakes wherever they came from.

For most of us, snakes are not very uplifting. A Presbyterian pastor, Patrick J. Wilson, has done some research on snakes and these passages in Numbers and John. ("Snake on a Stick," Christian Century, March 2, 1994, p. 223)

The following quote from Lawrence of Arabia creates in most of us the typical "non-uplifting" reaction to snakes. (It sounds like a scene out of an Indiana Jones movie.) "The Valley...seemed creeping with horned vipers and puff-adders, cobras and black snakes. By night movement was dangerous; and at last we found it necessary to walk with sticks, beating the bushes...A strange thing was the snake's habit, at night, of lying beside us, probably for warmth, under or on the blanket."

The Jewish scholars had problems with these snakes in Numbers 21. They studied and thought and debated until someone came up with a possible solution: since Genesis 3: 14, the snake had been on his belly, eating dust. Yet the snake has accepted this lot without so much as a word of complaint.

You can see where this is going - if the snake can eat dust on its belly in silent humility, surely God's people can eat manna from heaven without grumbling!

That probably strikes us as a bit of a stretch, a noble effort, but not terribly convincing. When a snake comes slithering in, no one says, "Oh good! Here comes a snake! What a lovely example he is to us of humility and patience!" No, we climb on furniture or run the other way.

The scholars struggled more with another snake related problem in the text. What about that commandment not to make a graven image of anything (Exodus 20: 4)? And here was Moses, the very man who took down that commandment, making a snake and telling the people that the whole thing was all God's idea!

From II Kings 18: 4 we know that the snake on the stick was preserved by the children of Israel until the days of good king Hezekiah. The people not only were making offerings to it. They had even given it a name, Nehustan. Hezekiah cut it down and broke it up.

The scholars may have been relieved that Hezekiah got rid of the serpent, but its presence in Numbers 21 was still a problem. More study, thought and debate were applied to the troublesome snake. Then someone pointed out that it is in looking upward to the Father that the snake bitten people were healed. It was not so much the snake as it was the looking up in obedience and in faith that healed. And it was not so much the looking up that healed as it was the One to whom the people looked up. Now everyone breathes a little easier about that snake!

This kind of thinking was widespread in Jesus' time and provides the background to John 3: 14-16. In the same way as the people were healed by looking up in obedience and in faith beyond the snake to God, even so if we look to Jesus lifted up on the cross in obedience and in faith, and look to the Lord who lifts him up, we shall be saved!

Let me repeat that - it is the heart of the sermon, the link between the texts in Numbers and John. In the same way as the people were healed by looking up in obedience and in faith beyond the snake to God, even so if we look to Jesus lifted up on the cross in obedience and in faith, and look to the Lord who lifts him up, we shall be saved!

"Hidden in the crucifixion is the exaltation (lifting up) of the Son of Man and God's desire to heal the world. The Wisdom of Solomon speaks of this: 'Neither herb nor poultice (nor snake) cured them, but it was your word, O Lord that heals all people.'" (Ibid.)

The Word summons us to lift up our eyes to the One who is lifted up for us!


THE WORD

The Word bids us to look up and be lifted up.

There is a Jewish tradition about the Word of God, a tradition associated with a debate among scholars about which of the Ten Sayings was the most important.

"All ten are important," said one.

"Yes," said another, "but most important are the first two sayings: 'I am the Lord your God' and 'I brought you out of bondage in Egypt.'"

"Yes," said another, "but most important is the first saying: 'I am the Lord your God.'"

"Yes," said another, "but most important is the first word of the first saying, the word for God."

"Yes," said another, "but most important is the first letter of the first word of the first saying, the first letter for the word for God, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet."

"Yes," said another, "but most important is the first sound in the throat in order to make the first letter of the first word, the name of God, in the first saying, 'I am the Lord your God.'"

That story haunts me. The first sound in the throat, the beginning of articulate speech signals that the universe is not without a voice, that the creation has intelligence, that the Creator would address his creation and his creatures, that there is purpose, intentionality, communication, and the possibility of relationships.

The Word is the agent of creation. "And God said, Let there be....and it was so." This is the rhythmical refrain of the Word in Genesis 1.

The Word is the agent of our re-creation. "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth." This is the awesome affirmation of the Word in John 1.

The first inarticulate sound in the throat prompts us toward the articulate, creating Word. The articulate, creating Word becomes the Word fleshed out, dwelling among us, full of grace and truth. (John 1: 14)


HIGHLIGHTS IN JOHN 3: 16

So far this morning we have covered two important areas:
(1) the background of John 3 - Nicodemus and change, and
(2) the background of Numbers 21 - lifting up and the Word.

Now we are ready to experience four rich highlights in John 3: 16.

     (1) God takes the initiative.

God loves the world. He is not a remote deity, aloof, off on the other side of the universe, pouting and waiting for us to come groveling to him. He takes the initiative! He loves us. He comes looking for us! "We love him because he first loved us." (I John 4: 19)

     (2) God wants us to be with him for eternity.

He wants a restored relationship. He wants us to be saved. "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: 17). He wants us to come home - remember the homecoming party at the end of the parable of the prodigal son? God wants us to be together for everlasting life.


     (3) God loves the whole world

He loves the cosmos, all people, Gentiles and Jews, Greeks and barbarians, slaves and free, black and white, Serbs and Croatians, Irish and English, Palestinians and Israelis, sinners and saints, young and old, rich and poor.

How much each and all need the supreme expression of that love in Jesus the Christ! Augustine said, "God loves each one of us as if there was only one of us to love." And God loves the whole world like that!

     (4) We can perish or we can have everlasting life.

What a choice! It must be said with seriousness, with sincerity, and with sadness that we can perish. The Light has come to the world, but light creates shadows. We can choose the shadows, the dark side, or we can choose to walk in the Light.

We can choose to perish or choose to live. John 3: 16 teaches that this choice has eternal consequences. That is why we always end our service with an invitation, an invitation to make this serious choice with eternal consequences. The invitation is extended when we sing the last hymn. If a person is here who has never made public his or her choice to follow the Light of the World, to choose Jesus as Lord and Savior, then that person should willingly and joyfully come forward while we sing that hymn and make known the choice of life.


AUTHENTIC CHOICE

I pray that any one here who has not made this choice will do so today. But I pray that no one will ever come forward who does not on his or her own free will make the choice.

The African American poet Langston Hughes in his autobiography tells of his desire to have Jesus enter his life. His grandmother had told him Jesus would come into his heart and he would see the light. He found himself one night in a church, on the final evening of a protracted revival meeting. The focus was on the children, and the "little lambs" were all seated on the front pew, the mourner's bench, surrounded by adults who were praying and weeping for them to be saved. The sermon was on "the ninety and nine" and the one lost sheep. The Ninety and Nine was the invitation hymn as well. All the children went forward except for Langston Hughes and one other boy. The singing, praying and pleading continued. Finally the other boy whispered a curse to Langston Hughes, and said, "I'm tired of this; I want to go home and go to bed; I'm going forward."

In a moment he was seated in a chair on the pulpit platform, surrounded by the smiling adults. Langston Hughes could not bear the pressure. Although he had seen no light, and had not felt Jesus enter his heart, he went forward.

Later that night in bitter disappointment he pulled the covers over his head and sobbed because something that he hoped would be wonderful had been phony. The grown ups in the family opened his bedroom door, and hearing him, said, "Isn't it wonderful? He's crying because Jesus came into his heart."

The point is that we want everyone to welcome Jesus into his or her heart, but we want it to be authentic, at the right time and in the right way.


CONCLUSION

In a moment we are going to sing a hymn about the cross, and as we do so, I pray that those who are already Christians will revisit the moment when you made an authentic choice to become a follower of Jesus.

I hope that as we sing, it will be a time for those who need to make that choice to make it freely, joyfully and with strength, coming forward to tell me the good news of your decision.

I hope that as we sing, we will all know in every fiber of our being that...
- we can be born from above,
- we can make a fresh start,
- we can change and be changed,
- we do not have to choose the darkness,
- we do not have to perish,
- we can have everlasting life,
- we can look up at One who will lift us up and draw us to Himself,
- that we can at the right time in the right way respond to the Jesus of John 3: 16.

© John Ewing Roberts
Woodbrook Baptist Church
(Formerly Eutaw Place Baptist Church)
Baltimore, Maryland

[This sermon is for circulation within the Woodbrook congregation and may not be reproduced without permission.]