Rev Hugh Perry

Theme: Snakes and Darkness to the Light of Christ

Numbers 21: 4-9

This reading opens with a typical whinging in the wilderness prevalent in the Exodus saga and moves into a strange story that, Maurice Andrew says is not to be taken literally but, seeks to explain that the bronze serpent, which was to be found in the temple, was not a forbidden graven image.

The complaints arise in our reading because the Edomites refused to allow passage through their land so a detour had to be made.^[1]

The significance for us is the allusion to it in John’s Gospel where the image of the snake on the pole is substituted by the crucified Jesus.

Hear what the spirit is saying to the Church.

Thanks be to God.

John 3:14-21

This reading is part of the theological discourse given to Nicodemus which starts at the beginning of chapter 3 with Nicodemus coming in the night to Jesus.

From the opening of this sermon on, salvation by baptism, Jesus uses crucifixion as a saving symbol.  Just as the serpent, a symbol of evil from Genesis, becomes a symbol that heals those afflicted by snake bites so the symbol of evil in a cruel and tortuous death, becomes a symbol that gives life and, lifting up to die on the cross, becomes lifting up to resurrection.

In Numbers, God passes judgement on the people but in this passage the judgement is self-judgement in accepting the transforming light or ignoring it.

Bill Loader writes:

This sets the scene for 3:14-15 which belong closely with what precedes. The Son of Man must be ‘lifted up’. Like the ascent in 3:13 this refers to the event which begins at Jesus’ death. ‘Lifted up’ is wonderfully ambiguous. He will be lifted up on a cross. He will also be lifted up/exalted to God’s presence. John plays on the double meaning in typical fashion.  Here he uses what may have already been a traditional association between Jesus’ death and the snakes in the wilderness. A Crucified Jesus is like the bronze snake which Moses fashioned and put on a pole.

John is tending away from a picture of God who wants to punish people forever towards a picture of God who wants life for people.  Whatever our own solution to the issues of inclusion and exclusion, John’s Gospel asks us to recognise, that to reject the love, light and truth we see in Jesus, is to choose death.^[2]

Sermon

As a boy I used to listen to a radio programme called ‘My Word.’   You will not be surprised to learn that I liked it because of the way it manipulated words in a way that was funny.  In the introduction the listener was told that it was a programme about words by people whose business was words.

John the Gospel writer was obviously in the word business.  He manipulated words extracting meaning from them in the way he twisted and arranged them.  Many of the writers of what we call the Old Testament played the same games and if we could read ancient Hebrew, we would find that they used puns as well as allusion and quotations from older texts.

This twisting and turning of words and meaning is very apparent in today’s Gospel reading that contains layer upon layer of meaning as John passes on to us the passion he has for following Jesus, and his enthusiasm for encouraging others to also follow Jesus.

The interesting thing about the use of a snake as a symbol in today’s readings is that it is an image that twists and turns through scripture in a very snake like way.

Beginning in Genesis it is the serpent that tempts humanity away from the limitations God imposes.  The snake therefore becomes the symbol of the evil side of humanity that turns away from God.

Therefore, it is logical that image is picked up in our Numbers reading where snakes are the punishment for complaining about the freedom God has given the people.

Complaining about freedom’, or as I like to call it, ‘whinging in the wilderness’ is a constant theme that runs through the Exodus saga and highlights the reality that to be truly free means to live off the resources of the journey.

We have recently remembered the devastating damage Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle inflicted on the North Island bring floods and loss of life to Auckland and isolating parts of the East Coast around Gisborne.

As the stories of those isolated communities emerged, we not only learned of acts of heroism but also people who did what they could with what they had.  People who had bulldozers and people who had inflatable boats who cleared paths and recued people off roofs.  Surf lifesavers that took their IRBs up rivers instead of out to sea.  People who accepted the journey and made the most of what they had.

But complaining about adversity and inconvenience is also alive and well in Aotearoa.  We recently lived through the first and most deadly wave of a pandemic.  Our death rate was lower than most nations in the world.  But just like Moses’ people folk had to divert their journey to avoid conflict.  There was a cost to avoiding a potentially deadly pandemic.  Closed boarders enforced quarantine, and compulsory vaccination for those employed caring for people interfered with a lot of peoples’ individual journeys and personal beliefs.  So, they not only complained bitterly but made up alternative facts.

Recently real estate agent Janet Dickson has taken legal action against her professional body because she is facing five-year ban for refusing a Māori values course.  In one news item I saw, one of her colleagues said the course took about half an hour which he thoroughly enjoyed and was enriched by it.

To be a Presbyterian Minister I had to spend a week at the Presbyterian Marae in Ōhope.  Certainly, we had to sleep on the floor but we got shown through significant sights in Te Urewera.  Admittedly that was a bit scary, because Tame Iti had signs up announcing that ‘trespassers would be eaten’.

Time and time again the small inconveniences that divert the journey enrich our experience and add value to life itself.

The freed slaves of the Exodus journey continually had to face the reality that they had lost security in their search for freedom.

Their present dilemma was the result of being denied passage through the Edomites territory.  Because of that diversion the Israelites appear to have travelled through a more arid and difficult terrain better suited to snakes than people, with predictable results.

In the world of art and symbolism the snakes are both a plausible reality and a perceived evil sent as a punishment for a universal malady of all humanity.

People complain about the effort required to live in the freedom humanity was created for.  The image of the bronze serpent symbolises just how lifeless and inconsequential such seeming impediments can be.  The very real threat of snake bite and humanities power over it is expressed in a piece of art that becomes the symbol of healing and freedom from disease for thousands of years.

Certainly, the Decalogue proclaims that people of the burning bush do not worship any idol in the form of anything that is in heaven or on earth and they don’t bow down to them. (Exodus 20:4,5)

But the image of a snake on a pole is simply a lifeless piece of art that uses a snake as a symbol of evil to make the point that evil is lifeless.  Evil only has power if people give it power.

Certainly, holding up a bronze snake on a pole to cure snake bite might seem a bit farfetched.  But it does parallel reality.  Anti-venom used to cure snake bites is made from venom milked from the very snake that inflicted the pain and potential death.  There is science hidden in the metaphor of the bronze snake.

In our reading from John’s Gospel the writer alludes to the transformation of the snake as a symbol of all evil to an image that heals.  He then substitutes that image for the crucified Christ.  In so doing he reminds us of the mythical snake in the garden of Eden that supposedly introduces evil into the human condition.  John then suggests it is human evil manifested in imperialism and exploiting of marginalised people that crucifies Jesus.  He then has Jesus claim that as he is lifted up on a pole like the brass snake, he too becomes a healing symbol.

And 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.  (John 3:14,15)

The crucifixion also has the obvious implication of self-sacrifice for the good of others which is stressed in Jesus’ farewell speech.  ‘No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends’ (John 15:13)

But today’s episode is all about symbolism and is part of the sermon to Nicodemus who comes to the light of Jesus from the darkness of night.  Nicodemus then returns, enlightened by his dialogue with Jesus to the world of darkness.

So, the symbolism in today’s reading sits within the context of the imagery of coming to the light of Christ from the darkness of the world.  Then the light of Christ must be taken back into the dark world to share that light with others.

The comparison with the bronze snake and the dying Jesus gives detail of how that light is shared through symbolism.

Both Jesus and the snake are raised on poles.  We can imagine them having similar silhouettes.  Very similar imagery to what John Steinbeck wrote of in his book To a God Unknown. [3]

Christ nailed up might be more than a symbol of all pain. He might. in very truth contain all pain.  And a man standing on a hilltop with his arms outstretched, a symbol of a symbol, he too might be a reservoir of all the pain that ever was.

The healing serpent and the healing Christ are not only symbols of all the pain and death that ever was but also symbols of infinite love and healing, a reminder of the Christ who lays down his life for his friends.

As part of his sermon to Nicodemus Jesus drew on an image from his religious tradition that is a symbol of the evil within humanity that transforms into a healing power.

Jesus identifies with that serpent symbol in predicting his death at the hands of people gripped by a disempowering imperial system.  But he adds double meaning to the lifted up on a pole, or cross, to also mean lifted up for all time through a love that values others greater than self.

Christ on the cross symbolises a love for all humanity that challenges people to confront evil and value humanity as a greater good than personal salvation.

It is a challenging text that calls us to follow a Jesus who lays down his life for his friends.  A text that has very little to do with a theology that suggests worshiping Jesus as our lord and saviour will guarantee us prosperity in this life and an eternal life of bliss in the next.

This text, and many others, inform us that the way of Christ is the way of the cross.  To follow Jesus is a risky business.  Following Jesus involves giving our life to gain a greater life for others.  It is a way of life that gives healing now and enhances the human community for generations to come.

To lay down one’s life for others is counterintuitive because to protect our own existence is a vital survival skill that is built into our DNA.

But to have greater care for other than ourselves, is divine.

It not only lifts us up to a new level of humanity but brings ongoing life to future generations.

[1] Maurice Andrew The Old Testament in Aotearoa New Zealand  (Wellington: DEFT 1999) pp.147,148.

[2] http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/MkLent4.htm

[3] John Steinbeck, To a God Unknown. (United States: Robert O. Ballou, 1933)