March 28, 2023
The Bronze Serpent
They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea,[a] 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 wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”
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.
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, they lived.
Numbers 21:4-9
This ancient story sounds as strange to my modern ears as any contained in the Holy Scriptures! Despite the strangeness it has much to teach, especially in this Lenten season - for this is a story of sin, of repentance, and of healing.
First of sin. Verses 4 and 5 remind us that sin almost always starts with a sense of dissatisfaction with our lot. Being dissatisfied is not in and of itself sinful, sometimes dissatisfaction can be helpful. The question is, what will we do with that dissatisfaction? The children of Israel used it as an occasion to revolt against God. As it says elsewhere in scripture, they put God to the test. Each of us, when we experience dissatisfaction, can use it as an opportunity to draw close to God, or as an excuse to distance ourselves from him.
Next, this is a story about repentance. It reminds us that the first thing we must do when we repent is to look up – to have the courage to take our eyes off the mess we have created, the pressures, struggles, frustrations and look for God. But it was not enough to simply look up, they had to look at the snake on the staff. Once again, this is difficult for them. If you are suffering from a snake bite, the very last think on earth you want to look at is another snake. But the act of looking at the snake, was, in a way, a reminder of both their need and of their culpability in that need. While there is much I don’t understand about this passage, I think it wants us to notice that for these wilderness wanderers, looking at the bronze serpent was a way of owning their own disobedience. Repentance is all about acknowledging the pain of our own sin. To be clear, just because we are in pain does not necessarily mean we have sinned. Sometimes, our pain is caused by the sin of others. But sometimes there is a correlation between my sin and my pain. In those cases, my healing is dependent on being willing to acknowledge that connection.
Finally, there is a lesson about healing. Did you notice how easy it was to be healed in this story? All they had to do was look. They didn’t have to say anything, they didn’t have to sign anything, they didn’t have to do anything. The moment they looked up at the snake, they were healed. This is how our healing begins too. When we reach out to God, God always meets us way more than halfway.
This is the news a repentant person longs to hear. And this is the offer Jesus makes to Nicodemus in John 3:14
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,[f] 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.
Jesus says “I will be lifted up – not on a staff, but on a cross.” In being lifted up he became a powerful reminder of the mess that humankind has created. The violence, the abuse of power, the anger, the fear, the ungratefulness. When we look at him on the cross, we can’t help but see the sin that put him there. And we can’t help but see our own sin. It is in that very moment that our healing comes.
At Mt. Nebo in modern day Jordan, there is a large sculpture of a snake on a pole – an homage to this ancient story. But it is not simply a pole, it is a pole that looks suspiciously like a cross. It stands as a reminder that God’s grace abounds for all who look up.
Thanks be to God.
- The Rev. Steve Bateman
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