Loving God, you have given us an incredible gift in the life, death and resurrection of your Son. Teach us to recognize your grace, and help us by the power of the Holy Spirit to respond in love; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Today's gospel actually starts in the middle of a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee and a religious leader among his people. It also starts with a very curious comparison. Jesus compares the way in which he will be lifted up on the cross to the way in which Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness. Undoubtedly, there is more to this comparison than first meets the eye, and a knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures helps in understanding what Jesus is saying.

First of all, it helps to know what was going on when Moses made a bronze serpent and put it on a pole in the wilderness. Certainly, we know from today's first reading that the people were complaining at the time. However, what we might not know is that this is only one of a long series of complaints directed against God and against Moses. In fact, the complaints started not long after the people had been set free from their slavery in Egypt.

At the same time, the people had witnessed many miracles - often at the same times as their lack of faith was so evident in their complaining. They had seen the Red Sea divide in front of them in order to allow them to cross over. They had seen manna from heaven for bread and quails provided for meat. They had seen fresh water pour out of a rock in the wilderness in order to quench their thirst. They had seen God rescue them from enemies along the way. Yet, their response is still to complain against God and against Moses.

And so some poisonous serpents are allowed to bite the people in order to remind them that the power belongs to the Lord. In fact, God is the only one to whom the people can turn for help, and as they do so, they realize that they have sinned. And so, Moses makes a serpent out of bronze and places it on a pole so that the people can look at it, and live. The Wisdom of Solomon (16:5-7) later makes it clear that it was not the serpent itself that saved the people, but the power of God.

And so, when the serpent is lifted up in the wilderness, there are at least three things that happen as a result. First, the people recognize their own sinfulness. Second, they are reminded that salvation comes from God. And third, they are healed by looking up for help. Do the same things happen when we think about Jesus lifted up on the cross and look to him for healing?

Do we look at Jesus, nailed to the cross, and see in that action the weight and the depth of human sinfulness? Do we look at Jesus on the cross and recognize our own sinfulness and our need for forgiveness and salvation? Do we look at Jesus on the cross and know for a fact that salvation comes from God, and it is not our own doing? Do we look up for our health and our salvation, and in that turning towards God find healing?

These things are, in fact, a part of Jesus being lifted up on the cross. Yet, our gospel makes it clear that, unlike the people looking at the serpent in the wilderness, those who look upon Jesus and believe in him will not just find healing for this life, but will have eternal life. As well, it is interesting to compare the reason that is given for God doing this with the reasons given to explain the serpents in the wilderness. The serpents in the wilderness were an act of discipline, sent to turn a complaining and unfaithful people back to God and to remind them of God's law. Jesus also was sent in order to turn a complaining and unfaithful people back to God, but was not sent to condemn and to discipline. Rather, Jesus was sent out of the greatness of God's love in order to communicate God's love to an indifferent and uncaring world.

"God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him" (Jn. 3:17).

And so, all those who believe in Jesus are given the promise of eternal life. Yet, today's gospel also talks about those who do not believe in Jesus. We are reminded that "those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God" (Jn. 3:18). It is also implied that those who do not believe in Jesus are those who love the darkness and who do evil deeds.

The gospel of John probably speaks more than any other gospel about the importance of putting our faith in Jesus Christ. Yet, simply saying, "I believe," is never what is meant. In this gospel, believing in Jesus is always equated with obeying Jesus' commands. The opposite of faith is not doubt or even unbelief, but disobedience (Jn. 3:36). And so, there is no such thing as a believer who believes but doesn't bother to live in love for God and for other people. According to the gospel of John, such a person does not really believe in Jesus Christ.

Now, some of us might feel very much like the father who came to Jesus and said, "I believe; help my unbelief!" (Mk. 9:24). We know that we are not perfect. We know that we fail to love as Jesus loved, and that we fail to love God with our whole heart and soul and mind and strength. However, the key is in what Jesus had already told Nicodemus before we get to today's gospel reading. In that conversation, Jesus talks about being born from above - being born of water and the Spirit (Jn. 3). It is the Holy Spirit - the same Spirit that is given to us in baptism - who helps us to love as Jesus loved. We cannot do it on our own, no matter how hard we might try. And so it is the Holy Spirit who continues to help us to grow in our faith and in our love for God and for one another.

However, the Spirit does not do this without our consent. If we say, "I'd rather do it my way, thank you very much," then God is quite willing to oblige. But for those with open hearts who put their trust in Jesus Christ, the Spirit helps us to become more and more Christ-like, in spite of our failings along the way.

And so, for those who believe in Jesus Christ, there is no need to fear the light. The gospel reminds us that those whose deeds are evil love the darkness - an idea which is also found in the book of Job in the Old Testament. Job goes into more detail and talks about how murderers go out at night to kill the poor and the needy and how adulterers disguise their faces and hope that nobody will recognize them in the darkness (Job 24:13-17). However, those who believe in Jesus don't need to hang out in the darkness, because they have nothing to hide.

And so, what becomes of sin in the lives of those who put their trust in Jesus? Some would say that believers do not sin at all - in fact, they cannot because of the power of the Holy Spirit. There are certainly passages from the Bible that can be quoted to support this understanding. Yet, there are other passages that say things like this: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 Jn. 1:8). Certainly, the Lutheran understanding has always been that, in spite of the gift of salvation, we never live perfectly in this life and always need to repent and to seek God's forgiveness. Now, this is not to say that we intentionally sin. Repentance means that we stop doing whatever it is that we were doing. However, because of our human nature we might sin unintentionally, not only by what we have done, but by the good things that we have failed to do.

The good news is, though, that God knows our nature. God knows us through and through, and sent his Son to give us the salvation that we could never, ever, earn for ourselves. For our part, our job is to live in response to God's marvelous gift - allowing the Holy Spirit to work within us and through us - and to transform us into the image of God's Son. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God" (Eph. 2:8). Amen.

Lent 4(B) John 3:14-21
March 26, 2006 Numbers 21:4-9
St. Luke's Zion Lutheran Church Ephesians 2:1-10
Pastor Lynne Hutchison Moore
? 2006 Lynne Hutchison Moore All Rights Reserved