The Fourth Sunday of Lent
March 22, 2009

GOSPEL LESSON: John 3:14-21
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.
¹⁶ "For 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. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. ¹⁹ This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

⁴From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. ⁵And the people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food." ⁶Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. ⁷And the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. ⁸And the Lord said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live." ⁹So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

We have been bitten. We have not been bitten by fiery, poisonous serpents. But we have been bitten by that first serpent, the devil. We are like the people of Israel in the wilderness. Even before the poisonous fiery serpents were sent, the people had already been bitten by Satan. The people had left Egypt, had encamped for a few months at Mt. Sinai, and then they started the journey toward the Promised Land. But then they heard the reports from the spies about how things were in Land of Canaan (Numbers 13). They were happy to hear about the abundant produce of the land, but they were afraid of the people who lived there who seemed like "giants" (Num.13:33). Many Israelites grumbled. Then they became impatient. There was little water in the wilderness. The only food was manna, which they became tired of. They rebelled again against Moses and against God. They said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food." God punished the people, in a special way in order to show them that he was indeed their God. The poisonous snakes bit many people and many people died, but that was to lead them to repentance and faith and to lead them to trust in God and in Moses. Moses prayed for the people, and God gave these instructions: "Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live." �e⁹So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.' This was not like magic or idol worship; I think that the snake on the pole was the image of a dead snake. It was a snake that had been defeated by God. So, when people looked at the bronze snake, they knew that the Lord God was the one who defeated the poisonous, fiery snakes. They knew that God would take care of them, give them water and food and eventually lead them to the Promised Land. It was this faith that healed them.

We have been bitten. We have not been bitten by fiery, poisonous serpents. But we have been bitten by that first serpent, the devil. We are like the people of Israel in the wilderness. We are happy that we were freed from the slavery of sin. John 3:16 is like music to our ears. It is filled with the promise of God to love us and save us. But often in our lives, before we get to the Promised Land of Heaven, our life seems to be lived in the wilderness. And this is when Satan bites us. This is when we get impatient. When life is rough, this is when we begin to doubt the love of God. When there are problems in the family, when there are economic hardships, when there is sickness and injury and death, when there are disappointments and failures and loses.

This is when we are bitten. Satan is like a fiery serpent. He poisons our thoughts and our feelings. He makes us doubt the love of God. He makes us doubt that we will get to the Promised Land. He makes us think that our problems are too big for God to handle. He makes us think we are too sinful to be forgiven. He makes us think that our sin is a rejection of God. The bite of the fiery serpent is like a consuming fire. We fight among ourselves. We fight within our own hearts and souls. It is a poison that weakens our faith. Rather than loving God, we love the darkness. The darkness is existence without God. Darkness is loving sin. Darkness is fear that our deeds will be exposed (John 3:20).

Jesus came as the Light of God. He is the Light of the World. He shines in the darkness. He reveals our sin. We know the truth. We know we are sinners. We know we are sinners when the Light of God shines in our hearts. And at that time, we discover the source of that light. That searchlight is the cross. But we discover that it is not so much shined at us, but rather that is shined at Jesus. The purpose of the Light of God is not so much that we are revealed as that Jesus is revealed. We know what we have done. So God has to reveal what He has done!

The light is focused on Jesus. Here we see Jesus on the cross. And then the miraculous healing is repeated. John 3:14-15 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." And so we look up to Jesus. This healing is not magic. It is faith and trust in God that heals us. It is knowing that God loves us always, even when we are in the wilderness of life. When even the essentials of life, water and food and love are scarce, knowing that God loves us.

Jesus was bitten by the serpent. After the Fall of Man, God curses the Serpent. Genesis 3:15 says, "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." It is the image of the continuous struggle between humans and the devil, the serpent biting the heel of the foot that tries to crush its head. But ultimately, it is the struggle between Jesus and the devil. Jesus will crush the head of the devil, but when that happens the devil will bite and the poison will kill Jesus on the cross. Sometimes this verse, Genesis 3:15, is called the "first gospel." It is "gospel" because it shows the supreme love of God who gives his Son to die in the battle with the devil. It is "gospel" because it proclaims final victory over the devil.

We have been bitten. But the antidote is John 3:16. "For 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." The antidote is to look upon Jesus on the cross who forgives us, who heals us, who brings us to the Promised Land.

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church

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