Loving God, you call us to look up, and to believe, and to be healed.  Grant us the kind of faith that holds fast through any trials, and teach us to look to our companions on the journey and to Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

            I don’t know about you, but the reading that we heard today from Numbers raises a very obvious question for me.  The question is this: If you had been bitten by a poisonous (or fiery) serpent, why would looking at a bronze serpent on a pole heal you?  Now, perhaps the “pat” answer would be that it healed people because God told them it would.  However, why this method of healing and not something else?

         Some commentators suggest that the ancient notion of “sympathetic magic” is present in the story.  Others suggest that “like cures like,” and wounds heal wounds.  One example that is given is this: 

In a small town in Maine there lived a young woman who, when a bitter grief came to her, shut herself off from her friends.  She refused to be consoled by anyone.  One day a saintly old man, also in deep sorrow, came to see her.  After they had a good cry together, her broken heart began to mend in an almost miraculous manner (Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 2, Num. 21:9).

In this case, like does cure like.

         Still, other passages that refer to the bronze serpent make it clear that the serpent itself didn’t heal anybody.  Rather, it was the power of God (Wisd. 16:5-7).  In fact, if you imagine people perhaps lying or crawling on the ground, suffering from their bites, perhaps the important thing is that they had to look up in order to be healed.  They had to look up, and thus turn to God, in order for their wounds to be healed.

         Of course, God could have chosen some other method in order to heal the people.  However, in the greater scheme of things, the bronze serpent becomes a symbol that helps us to understand why Jesus would have been lifted up on the cross.

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 (Jn. 3:14-15).

This passage, too, raises questions.

         When you think it through, you begin with the serpent in the wilderness.  Moses lifted up the serpent on a pole, and those who looked at it were healed.  So now Jesus is going to be lifted up on a cross, and people are not just to look at him but believe in him, and receive eternal life.  Doesn’t this lead you to ask how and why that would be true?  Jesus is put to death and we get life.  Jesus is whipped and wounded and suffers, and somehow we get healing (1 Pet. 2:24).  Jesus shares the fate of those who are cursed, and somehow this saves us from that same curse (Gal. 3:13).  How does this happen?

         A number of factors come into play here.  First of all, the fact that Jesus lived a sinless life becomes very important (1 Pet. 2:22).  Although Jesus was without sin, he accepted the consequences and the fury and the curse of sin which were placed upon him.  He freely offered himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world.  If any other person were to do the same thing, it would not have the same effect.  Me simply getting what I deserve would have no healing effect for anybody else.  Jesus was uniquely qualified to take the sins of the world upon himself.

         Another factor that comes into play is Jesus’ identity as both Son of God and Son of Man.  He is fully human and fully divine.  No other person could form a bridge between human beings and God.  No other person could have lived a sinless life.  No other person would have felt the separation from God experienced on the cross so acutely (Mt. 27:46).  Imagine going from heaven to living as a human being to feeling totally cut off from God.  A lot of love would be needed for that one!

         A final factor to consider is Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.  All of his suffering and his death on the cross would have been for nothing if the story had ended there.  The important thing was not just for Jesus to experience the consequences of sin, but to experience it and to come out victorious on the other side.  The resurrection confirms Jesus’ identity as the Son of God.  The resurrection confirms Jesus’ victory over sin and death.  The resurrection is our assurance of eternal life.

         Some might still wonder how Jesus’ death and resurrection translate into eternal life for us.  The apostle Paul describes what we might call the “great exchange” (2 Cor. 5:21).  Just as our sin was taken and placed upon Jesus on the cross, so Jesus’ righteousness is taken and placed upon us when we come to God in baptism and in faith.  Jesus receives our sin and death, and we receive his righteousness and eternal life.  It is the most unfair exchange that has ever been conceived, and we definitely do not receive what we deserve.  Instead, we receive so much more!

         At the same time, we have a Saviour who is now seated at the right hand of God and who intercedes with God on our behalf (Rom. 8:34).  When we come to God in prayer, we do not come to a God who has no knowledge of what we are going through.  Instead, we come knowing that Jesus has experienced the worst of everything that we are likely to experience.

         When we have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we have a constant companion on our journey through this world.  We have someone to look to for strength, for guidance, for healing, for understanding and for forgiveness.  And we have somebody who is there with us, especially when we are suffering or enduring trials.

         Some people might try to tell you that as soon as you believe in Jesus, you don’t have any problems or suffering or trials any more.  In reality, though, Jesus never promised a care-free life.  Instead, Jesus promised to be with us always, and to give us peace, and to give us the Holy Spirit, and to give us eternal life.  Trials indeed may come, but we have a companion through those trials who understands what we are going through.

         At the same time, God can use our own times of trial and suffering in order to help others who are going through the same thing.  Do you remember the idea of like curing like and the old man full of deep sorrow who was able to cry with the young woman who was also full of deep sorrow?  Sometimes there are other people who can help us to heal because they have been through the same thing.  Sometimes we are the people who can bring healing to others, simply because we know from experience what they are going through.

         This is one of the gifts that comes with being members of the body of Christ.  As Paul writes, “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together with it” (1 Cor. 12:26).  We have indeed been given the gift of Jesus Christ, but we have also been given the gift of one another.  And together we are invited to stand at the foot of the cross, and to look, and to believe, and to be healed.  Amen.

Lent 4(B)                                           Numbers 21:4-9

March 10, 2024                                John 3:14-21

St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2024 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved