I hate snakes. I know, I know you shouldn’t use the word hate, but in this instance, I think it is an accurate description of how I feel. But if you insist, how about I loathe them, I detest them, I think they are really really icky. Just talking about snakes gives me the heebeegeebees; a shiver runs down my spine and my nose wrinkles. I have never been what you might call a fan, but, when I was younger, I was less abhorrent to the snake. Growing up in the state of Michigan there are 18 species of snakes and of the 18 species, only 1 species is venomous, and that one is reclusive and rare. The most common snake I experienced as a child was a garter or garden snake. My mom liked to have them in her garden because they ate slugs, grubs and bugs that damaged her vegetables. I was never one of those wierdos that wanted a snake as a pet but in general they didn’t bother me. That is until I moved to the south. Did you know, according to the Department of Natural Resources there are 46 snake species in the state of Georgia? 46! And of the 46, 6 of them are venomous. Now the snake people will tell you of the 6 there are really only 3 that are likely to kill you, but in my book that is 3 too many. The snake people say you can differentiate the so called “good” snakes from the obviously “bad” snakes by the shape of their heads. I have found the best way to examine the shape of a snake’s head is when it is severed from its slithering scaly body. But even then, you have to look into their cold black eyes and that forked tongue sometimes keeps flickering for a few minutes. I guess what I am trying to say is I am not a fan of snakes.
I used to go running through the banjo country of Alabama with this good ole’ boy who, when we ran across a snake on a trail, would scoop it up and run for miles with the disgusting creature’s tail wrapped around his forearm. Other than that hillbilly who was clearly what a polite southerner would call “touched in the head”, I don’t think I know anyone who actually likes snakes. Which is probably why when reading our gospel lesson for today, most people skip over verses 14 and 15 and jump right to John 3:16. If given the choice between talking about a plague of snakes or the giving of God’s Son, I think most of us prefer to hear how “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” However, today I am focusing our attention on the snake story that Jesus refers to in the two verses that precede John 3:16, not because (as I think I have clearly stated) I want to talk about snakes, but because I think it will enhance our appreciation of the Son.
The snake story Jesus referred to in our gospel lesson for today is found in Numbers 21:4-9. In verses 4-5 we read, “4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” As a result of their lack of faith, the Israelites had been wandering in the wilderness for nearly 40 years. Now at long last their wandering was coming to an end, and they were soon to enter the promised land. However, the most direct route to the promise land went through Edomite territory and, even though the Edomites were the descendants of Esau and therefor cousins to the Israelites, they denied the request. This denial forced the Israelites to head back into the wilderness and take the long rout to the promised land. This setback caused them to grow, I’ll say understandably, impatient. Where I think they crossed the line is when that impatience turned into ungrateful grumbling. God had brought them out of Egypt because the Egyptians were committing genocide against them. For the past 40 years God miraculously provided mana for them to eat. Very recently God had miraculously provided water from a rock for them to drink. They were about to enter the land flowing with milk and honey, but one thing went wrong and suddenly everything was awful. They accused God of trying to kill them, they acted like the purpose of the mana was to make them miserable, and suddenly they were too good for supernaturally filtered water.
I smile when I imagine the ungrateful grumbling of the Israelites, not because I think their sin is funny but because I see that same sin in myself. Don’t you? Something relatively insignificant goes wrong, a check engine light turns on, a kitchen appliance stops working, a vacation gets canceled, an application gets rejected, an essay gets returned, a stuffed animal rips and all of the sudden none of our stuff is good enough, our lives are not filled with as much joy and happiness as we believe they should be and we start to suspect the reason is either because our God does not want us to have good things or our God isn’t good. “Why me?” “Why do these bad things always happen to me?” “Why can’t I have what he has?” What can’t my life be more like her life?”, we ungratefully grumble.
You know how when you were little and you started acting up, pitching a fit, and were just being a brat one of your parents would say something like, “stop your belly aching or I’ll give you something to belly ache about.”? That is kind of how the heavenly Father resounds to the Israelite’s ungrateful grumbling. Except instead of giving them something, the Heavenly Father takes something away. God’s providence: His protecting hand had sheltered the Israelites as they wandered in the wilderness. But the Israelite’s sin (which separates us from God) had pushed the hand of providence away. In verses 6-7 we read, “6 Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.” Our God of grace (here identified with LORD) allowed the Israelite’s to suffer the consequences of their ungrateful grumbling. And that suffering had the desired results. With a refreshingly honest and specific confession, the Israelite’s repented of their sin, and asked Moses to pray that God would take the snakes away.
However, our God of grace had a better idea. In verses 8-9 we read, “8 The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.” Notice, the LORD did not take the snakes away. In fact He did the opposite. The LORD made the snake a focal point, He put the snake in front of their face. The LORD had Moses put a snake on a pole and told the people to look at it when they were bitten, and they would live.
Think about how that would have sounded to the Israelites when Moses told them the LORD’s solution to their sin. The last thing they wanted to look at was a snake. In addition to their overall ickiness, the snake was the thing that had caused them so much pain and suffering, and had even caused some of them to die. Additionally, someone had to be thinking to themselves, “how in the world is this lifeless manifestation of my rebellion and sin lifted up on a pole going to save me?” “Let’s find another solution, shall we?”. But the LORD wanted the Israelite’s to be reminded of their rebellion and sin; He forced them to look at it’s ugly face as both a warning and a deterrent. Then He told them to believe. Believe in the promise that the LORD had attached to the snake; believe and you will live.
In John 3:14-15 Jesus says, “14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life”. Just as. If He Himself had not done it, I don’t think any pious person would compare the Son of God with a snake. We don’t like to think of our Savior hung on a cross with nail pierced hands and feet and a thorn pierced brow; we don’t like to think of His face covered in blood, sweat, and tears. But even still, when we do think of Him that way, a reptilian representation of sin and rebellion does not come to mind. But Jesus says it should. The lifted-up Son should appear to us as ugly as the lifted-up snake appeared to the Israelites. For saint Paul tells us, “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us.”[1] Jesus became the physical manifestation of our rebellion and sin. The sight of Him was so hideous that the Heavenly Father was forced to look away from His one and only Son, to “forsake” His Son. The sight of the lifted-up Son is also ugly to us. Look at the lifted-up Son and you will see your ungrateful grumbling and all your other sins as well. You see your lustful desires, your petty jealousies, your callous attitudes, your glutenous indulgences, and your hypocrisy that seeks to see the sins of others up there instead of your own. Look at the lifted-up Son and you will see they are all there.
I know you don’t want to look at it. I know you would prefer there to be a more attractive solution to your sin, but there isn’t. So, look at it. The LORD wants you to look at the ugly face of the lifted-up Son and see the physical embodiment of your sin not only nailed to a cross but also hanging on a pole. It is worth noting that the kind of “pole” that was lifted up in the wilderness is the same kind of pole an army would use to rally, excite, or motivate the troops. When Jesus said He would be lifted up it was a known reference to crucifixion. However, by connecting His lifting up with the lifting up of the snake there is a not so subtle suggestion that the cross, which the Romans intended to humiliate and discouraged, would become for us a standard, an ensign, a banner of hope. Look at the ugly face of the lifted-up Son and you will see God’s solution to sin. Look at the ugly face of the lifted-up Son and believe. Believe in the promise that the LORD has attached to the Son. Believe His suffering and death on the cross paid for your ungrateful grumbling and all your other sins as well. Believe that His resurrection has secured your victory over death. Believe that His ascension into heaven safeguards your salvation. Believe in the promise the LORD attaches to the lifted-up Son, believe and you will live.
The story of the Israelites in the wilderness has done nothing to improve my opinion of snakes. But it has given me a greater appreciation for the Son, and I hope it has for you as well. I hope the next time you hear “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son”, you see the ugly manifestation of your sin and rebellion lifted-up on the cross. The next time you hear, “that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”. I hope you are reassured that the same God of grace who delivered the Israelites through a promise attached to a snake will deliver you through the promise He attached to His Son. The snake story Jesus referred to in our Gospel lesson reminds us God’s solution to sin is ugly. But, as Jesus promised in John 3:16, by believing in that ugly solution you are saved. Amen.
[1] 2 Corinthians 5:21