Lent
March 10, 2015
Scripture Reading: Numbers 21:4-9
Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.’ So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live. — Numbers 21:6-9
We probably practice too little cause and effect thinking today, but our spiritual ancestors may have practiced too much. For example to our own peril today, we may not relate our patterns of eating and exercise to our health. My guess is those Israelites who were tired of the same old food day after day probably knew all along that God and Moses were meeting their needs not their wants. So when the snakes came they assumed it was God’s punishment and repented of their griping.
My mother was a town girl who married a farmer. Mom had always been an avid gardener so she adapted rather quickly, but she was deathly afraid of snakes. When one lives in the country one obtains an early education regarding snakes, both the good kind that provide natural control for rodents and the poison ones.
Rattlesnakes were prevalent where I lived. So my Dad, the farmer, bought my Mom, the town girl, a pistol to deal with the snakes. He even thought he had taught her how to shoot. He learned he had not, when she emptied the entire load of bullets in the gun into the red earth around a large snake and never hit the snake once. If I remember correctly, my brother killed the snake with a hoe and thereafter, a hoe was what my mother used when called on to deal with a poison snake.
Our scripture today was most likely included in the readings for Lent because Jesus is quoted as mentioning it in John 3:14-15. Snakes in the ancient world were a symbol of both death and danger and fertility, life, and healing.* Symbols remain important reminders of our source of faith. We now look to the empty cross as a symbol of Christ’s death and resurrection. I think it is interesting that these two verses in John lead up to another verse in which we all rest our hope:
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.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. (John 3:14-16)
Prayer: Lord, we thank you for the gift of your Son Jesus Christ and the promise of eternal life. We pray that our lives reflect your love well. Amen.
*The New Interpreter’s Study Bible, New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha: Abingdon Press 2003, page 221, Special Note.