Lent 4: The Venom & The Antidote

From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way.  ⁵ 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 detest this miserable food.”  ⁶ Then the LORD sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died.  ⁷ 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.  ⁸ 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.”  ⁹ 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 21:4-10

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,  ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.  ¹⁶ “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.  ¹⁷ “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  ¹⁸ Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.  ¹⁹ And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.  ²⁰ For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.  ²¹ But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.” – John 3:14-21

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Welcome to the fourth week of Lent and our theme for today: “The Venom and the Antidote”. It’s an odd title for a sermon, and it immediately raises questions. So I’ll start off by saying, yes, we actually are talking about real snake venom… and yes we are actually talking about a real cure. But these are obviously also meant to be metaphors, a way of describing the life of faith in Jesus.

So I’d like to start with Jesus today, and our reading from the Gospel of John.

This passage includes one of the most famous verses in the Bible: John 3:16.  Something many of us memorized in Sunday School. This verse has gained worldwide fame thanks to a man named Rollen Stewart, who spent amazing amounts of time and money attending sports events around the world – and buying seats where he knew the TV cameras would be (like behind home plate or behind the end zone) – and holding up a sign reading “John 3:16”. (Full disclosure: this guy is a bit nuts and is currently in prison) but during the latter part of the previous century he brought this verse to everyone’s attention…

… including some people I used to work with back in the early 1990s. One evening when a group of us were out having dinner at a local bar, a football game came on the TV, and this John 3:16 sign made an appearance. And one of my co-workers looked at me – as the one churchgoer at the table – and said, “what does that mean?”

I said, “it’s a Bible verse.”

“But you know what it is, right preacher-lady?” (mind you I had not even started seminary yet – but I had a reputation)

I said “Yes, I know what it is.”

And he said “Well??”

“You want me to actually say it right here in this bar?”

“Yeah!”

“OK then!”

So I did:

“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.”

And he thought that over for a second and he said “Cool!” And all his buddies at the table said “cool!” too. And they carried on with their conversations.

So John 3:16 is cool. I have it on good authority.

But this is not all there is to the passage. In fact John 3:16 is not even really the main point of Jesus’ conversation.

In this passage, we are listening in on a conversation between Jesus and a Pharisee named Nicodemus. Nicodemus is one of my favorite people in the Bible because he’s an honest Pharisee. He is a member of the Sanhedrin, the body of religious rulers in Jerusalem; but he’s not a hypocrite.  Nicodemus thinks for himself; and where it comes to Jesus, he is honestly curious. He wants to know what Jesus is teaching, and he wants to ask questions.

Nicodemus is also, at this point in time, aware that many of his co-Pharisees are conspiring to kill Jesus – and he wants to give Jesus a heads-up about this. So he does something very risky: he comes to where the disciples are staying, in person, at night, and asks to have a word alone with Jesus.

Nicodemus starts the conversation by saying,

“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do the signs that you do apart from the presence of God.”

This is a stunning confession! By saying “we” – as in, “we know” – Nicodemus makes clear the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. The Pharisees know – they know! – that Jesus is from God; but this doesn’t stop them plotting and planning. They can’t face the truth of what Jesus teaches; but Nicodemus has decided to be different.

Jesus is very up-front with Nicodemus from the very start; but he takes the conversation in a direction that Nicodemus doesn’t expect.  Jesus says: “no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” And the conversation continues for a while along the lines of what it means to be ‘born again’ or ‘born from above’ or ‘born of the Spirit’. Bottom line, Jesus says, salvation from God is not about keeping rules; salvation is a miracle by which God’s Spirit – the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity – comes into a person and lives in the heart of a person who is willing to worship and follow God.

This sounds like a new teaching to the people in Jesus’ time, but it’s actually a new presentation of ancient truths; and Nicodemus is a bit confused. Jesus scolds him gently saying, “you’re a teacher of Israel and you don’t know these things?” Jesus goes on to explain that, while God loves the world and God loves the people in it, people love darkness because what they do is evil. But while this was all still going on, God sent the Son as a savior. Jesus says:

“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

Why? Because God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not die but have eternal life. In fact, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world could be saved through him. BUT this is the judgement: the light of God came into the world but people loved darkness more, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:16-19, edited)

Nicodemus, being the well-educated Pharisee that he was, immediately recognized and remembered the story of the serpent in the wilderness that Jesus was talking about. His mind would have gone back to the book of Numbers and that last segment of Israel’s journey in the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land.

The people of Israel at that time had been traveling through the wilderness for almost forty years. Many of the people who had been freed from slavery in Egypt had grown old and passed away; others were elderly; and most likely the majority of the people in the tribe of Israel no longer remembered Egypt. All they had ever known was life on a journey – and the leadership of Moses.

At this point, the people of Israel were setting out from Mount Hor to go around the land of Edom. And it looked like they were going in the wrong direction: the Promised Land was to the north, but their path turned south to go around Edom. The people were impatient and they complained against both Moses and God; and their complaints were full of lies: they accused Moses of bringing them into the wilderness to die. They accused God of starving them to death; but then they say “…and we detest this miserable food” (so there actually is food – they are not starving – and in fact the food they have is manna, which has sometimes been called the ‘bread of angels’… wonderful stuff that tasted like wafers with honey.)

And they accused the Lord of Life of trying to starve them and kill them.

First, it is not wise for mere human beings to cop an attitude with God, the Creator of the Universe. Not a good idea.

Second, as one theologian writes, the accusations against God were serpentine in nature: poisonous, bitter, and self-contradictory.

God needs to confront this rebellion. If God does not confront the evil, it will grow and spread, and will result in the deaths of many people, perhaps the entire tribe of Israel. On this journey through the wilderness, the people still need God every step of the way. They need God’s direction and God’s insight; but the people think otherwise. So God sends poisonous snakes into the camp; and the snakes bite some of the people; and the people who are bitten die.

In reaction to this, the people say to Moses, “we have sinned; pray to God to take the snakes away.” Why it is that the people interpret the snakes as having been sent by God to confront them about their sins, I don’t fully understand; although it probably points to some guilty consciences. Apart from this, it seems like in the history of the human race people turn to God more quickly in times of trouble than when things are going well.

That’s what happens here. But God does not take the snakes away. Instead God says to Moses, “make a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and whoever looks at the bronze serpent will live.” This is not idol-worship: God does not say to bow down to the bronze serpent or to pray to the serpent. God only says “look at it” and you will be healed.

Side note: This symbol of a snake wrapped around a pole became the symbol of medicine and healing in the ancient world. The symbol has been found dating as far back as 400 BC in ancient Greece; and most likely the Greeks borrowed the story from Israel’s history, because they were aware of the history. [End of side note.]

Back to our story: God tells Moses to put the bronze serpent where everyone can see it; BUT people who are bitten must still be willing to look at it – to do what God said to do. The bronze serpent by itself does nothing. The fact that there’s a bronze serpent in the camp means nothing. If your brother or sister looks at the bronze serpent, it won’t help you if you’re the one who’s been bitten. And in fact the bronze serpent means nothing at all to people who haven’t been bitten. But for those who have been bitten, looking at the bronze serpent will heal them and they will live.

Notice the double conditional: If you aren’t sick, the bronze serpent means nothing to you. But if you are sick, only looking at the bronze serpent would heal you. Believing that a bronze serpent might heal you is not enough; you actually had to look at it. Head knowledge was not enough; the belief had to be acted on.

The snake bite represents sin. And Jesus says to Nicodemus: the same thing is happening here and now. Just like that bronze snake in the wilderness, Jesus is about to be lifted up on the Cross. Anyone who thinks they’ve never sinned doesn’t need the cross. But anyone who has been bitten by sin and rebellion of this world can look at Jesus on the Cross and be healed.

Notice there are no go-betweens. In Jesus, God is reaching out to each individual person. Each person needs to have the faith to look at the Cross. There is no priest or rabbi or pastor, not even Moses, who can look at the Cross for someone else, on someone else’s behalf. Each person must trust God for themselves in order to be healed, and each person must look to Jesus for that healing.

One other side note: I think this kind of trust is very difficult for people who have come from rough backgrounds: people who have been abused or neglected or kept down or prejudiced against; or people who suffer from PTSD.  People like the Israelites who had suffered from generations of slavery and pain and hardship. It is difficult for people who have experienced these things to trust. I think that’s where a lot of the griping came from in ancient Israel; I think that’s why it was so hard for many of them to look at the snake and believe. And I think that’s why it’s so hard for many people in our world today, who have suffered through trauma and tragedy, homelessness or hunger, to look on the Cross and believe and trust God.

On the other hand, the God we are asked to trust knows our pain.  The Cross makes that very clear. When we suffer we are not alone. God does not leave us alone. God has entered into our pain; and all we have to do is look at the Son of God on the Cross… and trust.

The Bible doesn’t tell us whether Nicodemus walked home that night as a believing Christian. But Jesus gave him the truth, and gave him a lot to think about. Nicodemus ended up being one of two men who stood by Jesus on the day Jesus died. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were the two men who had the courage to ask Pilate for the body of Jesus in order to give him a proper burial. Somewhere in between that nighttime conversation and Jesus’ crucifixion, Nicodemus became a believer. And he did for Jesus what no-one else could have done.

For us today, just like back then, our health and our well-being depends on the man on the Cross: the Son of God, lifted up for us.  We have all been bitten by sin, and we all need to look to Jesus for our healing. Just like God said “look at the snake” to be cured, God says “look at the Cross” to be healed. And all of this is possible because God loves us, and because God is leading us to the Promised Land. AMEN.

Read Full Post »

Jesus Confronts Evil

The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet.  ¹⁶ This is what you requested of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said: “If I hear the voice of the LORD my God any more, or ever again see this great fire, I will die.”  ¹⁷ Then the LORD replied to me: “They are right in what they have said – Deuteronomy 18:15-20

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Praise the LORD! I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation.  ² Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them.  ³ Full of honor and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever.  ⁴ He has gained renown by his wonderful deeds; the LORD is gracious and merciful.  ⁵ He provides food for those who fear him; he is ever mindful of his covenant.  ⁶ He has shown his people the power of his works, in giving them the heritage of the nations.  ⁷ The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy.  ⁸ They are established forever and ever, to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.  ⁹ He sent redemption to his people; he has commanded his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is his name.  ¹⁰ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever. – Psalm 111:1-10

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught.  ²² They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.  ²³ Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit,  ²⁴ and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”  ²⁵ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!”  ²⁶ And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.  ²⁷ They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching– with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”  ²⁸ At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee. – Mark 1:21-28

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our readings today focus on a battle we’re all involved in: the battle between good and evil.

There are some people in the world who believe that ‘good’ and ‘evil’ depends on how you define them, that it’s a matter of opinion.  This is NOT what the Bible teaches. And when we get down to it, it’s not really what any of us believes. We may disagree over which things are right and wrong, but we all believe that there is such a thing as right and wrong. When we look at the world around us, we can see so many things that are wrong: over 100 million people homeless right now, displaced by war or famine; in many parts of the world it is difficult to find drinkable water, and yet in other parts of the world people are recovering from floods; in many parts of the world, rape has become a weapon of war – while in other parts of the world men are proclaiming themselves ‘appointed by God’ while they organize the deaths of millions… I could go on. There is no denying there is evil in this world.

In fact, when non-religious people are asked why they don’t believe in God, the most frequently-given answer is because there’s evil in the world and God isn’t stopping it. People say, “I can’t believe in a God who would let such things happen.”

What our scriptures tell us today is that God IS doing something about it. They also tell us God is including human beings in the work of setting things right.

Scripture tells us that evil came into the world when the first human beings were deceived into thinking they knew better than God what was right and what was wrong. From that point on we see people trying to do things their own way, committing murder and robbery and violence. But there were also people who loved God and wanted to live in a world where God’s love was the gold standard.

It’s not long before the Bible introduces us to Moses. Moses was a man who talked with God face-to-face. We all know his story: how he was saved from the Nile River by Pharoah’s daughter, and raised in the palace, but was then called by God to lead Israel out of slavery and into the Promised Land.

Now, as today’s scripture reading from Deuteronomy begins, the people of Israel are about to enter the Promised Land; but Moses won’t be going with them. It’s time now for Moses to rest – to go home and be with God, to be “gathered to his people” as it says in the scriptures.

The people of Israel were terrified at the thought of losing Moses. Forty years Moses has been leading them: two generations. Most of the people can’t remember a time when Moses wasn’t there for them.

I imagine it’s kind of how people in England felt when Queen Elizabeth passed. Most Brits can’t remember a time when Elizabeth wasn’t queen, and they’re almost feeling like “King who?”  But it was also clear, for those of us who watched, that Queen Elizabeth planned her own funeral down to the last detail. She even picked the hymns that were sung.

In a similar way, Moses needs to get God’s people ready to move on without him. He needs to plan those final details. He tells the people that he’s going to be dying. He tells them that God will still be there and will be faithful to them, and that God will support them along the way.

Most importantly, Moses tells them there will be another – another leader like Moses. God will provide someone who will be a “shepherd of the people”. He will be one of the people, and he will be a prophet who will teach God’s word faithfully, and the people will be accountable to follow his teachings.

In a way, God fulfilled this promise through Joshua, Moses’ successor. But God will also fulfill this promise a second time, in a much broader context, when the Messiah comes. This Messiah would be someone who:

• Is from the Jewish people
• Is a good shepherd
• Is a redeemer
• Is a miracle worker
• Is a teacher of the Law
• Who challenges the kings of the earth
• Who is mediator between God and human beings

As it happens, the name Joshua and the name Jesus mean the same thing in Hebrew: “God is our deliverer” – or to put it more succinctly, “Saviour”.

This reading from Deuteronomy is not only a comfort to the people of Israel: it is also a prophecy of someone else who is coming, whose arrival will signal the beginning of a new age – which leads us directly into today’s reading from the Gospel of Mark.

Let me set the scene:

We find ourselves in the synagogue in Capernaum on the Sabbath Day. It is a breathtakingly beautiful location: warm and sunny, at the top of a gentle hill, with the village of Capernaum surrounding on three sides. As we sit in the synagogue, we can hear the waves of the Sea of Galilee lapping on the shore. The scent of flowers drifts in between the pillars of the synagogue. As we look around at those pillars, we are reminded of what our neighbors have told us: that the local Roman centurion built this synagogue for us, for our town. The local centurion is a Gentile believer in God, and this synagogue is here because of him.  (The people don’t know it yet, but that same centurion will one day ask Jesus to heal his servant, and he will say, “Lord I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but say the word and my servant will be healed…” And Jesus will answer he has not found such faith even among the people of Israel. But that day is still in the future…)

Today, in the synagogue, the local rabbi gets up and leads us in prayer. Then he motions to any young men who would like to share a thought, and Jesus gets up and comes to the front. Mark doesn’t say which scripture Jesus was teaching on that morning, but he says the people were captivated, because Jesus taught them with authority “and not like the scribes”. (I don’t think that Mark meant to slam the scribes; I think what he was meant was that, in Jesus’ day, Jewish scribes and teachers frequently taught by quoting other teachers – a technique still used today.)

But Jesus didn’t need this. Jesus teaches God’s word directly. He had no need to quote anyone else because he was the authority. And the people are enjoying his teaching immensely! They’re loving every moment of listening to him.

Suddenly a deranged man, who Mark tells us ‘had an unclean spirit’ breaks in to Jesus’ teaching. The gentle voice of the Savior is interrupted by a man with a harsher voice, and an attitude that has none of God’s love in it. And he says:

“What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”

Imagine how troubling this would have been to Jesus’ listeners – first, for Jesus to be interrupted; and second to hear Jesus accused of wrongdoing – in a voice that is so sure of the accusation.

I’d like us to step back for a moment and notice how clever this accusation is. It’s in three parts. Part one: a rude and accusatory question: “What do you have to do with us?” There is no right way to respond to a question like that, because it’s not really a question; it’s an accusation.

Part two: “Have you come to destroy us?” Why would this question even make sense? Anybody who’s listening to Jesus can feel the life that’s in his words. Listening to Jesus speaks to something deep within each person and brings life. The question is posed to cast doubt on a man who is not only innocent of the charge but is in fact working to do exactly the opposite of destroying life – he is bringing life.

So we have a rude and accusatory question, followed by an outright lie. Then part three: a truth: “I know who you are – the Holy One of God.” God’s enemies know exactly who Jesus is, and they will even admit it if it works to their advantage.

So again the progression is: accusatory question – outright lie – absolute truth. The intended result is confusion, disarray, and questioning on the part of the listeners… and eventually, if people listen long enough, a loss of faith; a loss of trust. It’s impossible to mix truth with lies and be faithful to God.

This same progression can be seen in the temptation of God’s first people in the Garden of Eden. The snake leads off with an accusatory question: “Did God say ‘you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’” Followed by an outright lie: “you will not die”. Followed by an absolute truth: “you will be like God, knowing good and evil”.

Same progression, same technique!  Watch for this pattern – accusation, lie, truth – in conversations, at work, in politics, watching the news, you name it. Watch for this.

Back to the synagogue in Capernaum… Mark tells us this man who is speaking ‘had an evil spirit’.  We in the 21^st century in America don’t usually put much stock in talk about evil spirits and things like that. We see movies like The Exorcist as entertainment, as fantasy – not as fact. And there are a lot of good reasons for that.

But I can also tell you that our Christian brothers and sisters in Africa often see things differently. I suspect that’s because they’ve been eyewitnesses to more in-your-face evil than we have. They have seen, some of them, with their own eyes, the violence in Darfur, the burning of villages in South Sudan, the genocide in Rwanda, the decades-long civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They know that pure evil exists; and they know that sometimes people give in to it.

Not that I recommend going and reading up on evil spirits – I do not! – but there might be something more to the subject than we are typically led to believe. And let’s face it – even without evil spirits there are plenty of death-dealing forces in our world: addiction, racism, xenophobia, uncontrollable anger, envy, pollution of our air and water, and so much more. One scholar writes that these things:

“move through the world as though by a kind of cunning. They resist, sidestep, or co-opt our best attempts to overcome them. [Trying to solve these problems is] less like figuring out a puzzle and more like wrestling with a beast.”[1]

It would be too easy to throw up our hands and say “What can we do?” But we follow a God who is greater than all of that. And God calls us to share in the daunting task of restoring this world – bit by bit, acre by acre, neighborhood by neighborhood.

Going back to that morning in the synagogue… notice how Jesus handles the situation. He doesn’t argue with this man. He doesn’t try to reason with him, or make him feel better about the situation. He doesn’t try to find some middle ground. There are times when listening and asking questions are the right things to do – but not when evil is right up in your face.

Instead, Jesus says: “Be silent and come out of him!”

Jesus isn’t even speaking to the man; he’s speaking to the spirit inside the man. What we are witnessing here is a healing. The evil spirit is gone and the man is free! And the people in the synagogue have just witnessed Jesus’ first healing miracle.

We were talking at Bible study this past week about the gifts of the Holy Spirit – the miraculous ones, that is – things like speaking in tongues, or healing, or prophecy. There are some churches where these things seem to happen all the time, like everyday occurrences. But in other churches, like the one I was raised in, people don’t quite know what to make of the gifts of the Spirit. Are they really for real? Do miracles really happen? Have you ever seen one?

For me the answers to these questions are: yes, yes, and I’ve seen evidence of it. Yes, the gifts of the Spirit are real. Yes, miracles really happen. And I’ve never actually witnessed one (that I know of) but I know a woman whose eyes were healed – after the healing she never wore glasses again. The spiritual world is real, and spiritual gifts are real.

As we read this passage in Mark, the first spiritual gift that Jesus uses on this day is teaching. A lot of people in the world teach – but teaching in the Spirit, as a spiritual gift, comes with a power and authority that is otherworldly. Mark comments that the people were: “astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority.” This is evidence of the Holy Spirit’s presence.

The second gift of the Spirit Jesus displays is the gift of Discernment – sometimes called Prophecy. It’s ability to know something with absolute certainty, that you couldn’t possibly know unless God told you. Jesus uses this gift when he perceives that the man is being held captive by an evil spirit. He does not see the man as evil; he sees the man being held captive by something stronger than himself. Jesus perceives the evil spirit, and he speaks to it directly.

The third gift of the Spirit Jesus displays is Healing – which in this case might also be called Exorcism. He commands the evil spirit to leave; and the man is free. He is healed, forgiven, and no longer enslaved by evil.

The people who were there that day, as Jesus said these things, would have felt deep within themselves a sense of both the rightness of his words, and the compassion in his words. They would have sensed within the synagogue a feeling of peace and well-being – shalom. And when this man interrupted the teaching, it would have been so jarring people would have immediately known something was wrong; but they see Jesus confront the evil spirit and dismiss it with just a few words. Jesus brings a new reality: a reality in which people who are deeply ill can be healed; in which people who are deeply sinful can be forgiven; in which people – all people – are deeply loved by God.

Ruins of the ancient great Jewish synagogue at Capernaum or Kfar Nahum at the shore of Galilee lake northern Israel

Needless to say, back in Capernaum, word got around. As Jesus once said, you can’t light a lamp and put it under a bushel. Jesus – just by being who he is – is fulfilling the promises Moses made all those years ago. By the next morning, all of Capernaum and the surrounding area had heard what Jesus had done.

For us today, to follow Jesus means to trust that he is who he said he is; and to join Jesus in confronting evil wherever we may find it. This is also why we pray: to bring Jesus’ healing power into those parts of the world that touch our lives. This is also why we worship: because it is impossible to witness what Jesus does, in love and in power, without talking about it! We worship a God who answers prayers, and who sets prisoners free.

Wherever we see needs in this world, we are called to bring them to Jesus; and listen to see if Jesus would like us to help set things right. But wherever we see evil in this world, whatever it may be, bring it to Jesus in prayer. As the people in Capernaum learned that morning, Jesus’ power is real and his love never ends. AMEN

[1] SALT

Read Full Post »

Transfiguration

The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.”  ¹³ So Moses set out with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God.  ¹⁴ To the elders he had said, “Wait here for us, until we come to you again; for Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute may go to them.”

¹⁵ Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.  ¹⁶ The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud.  ¹⁷ Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel.  ¹⁸ Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights. – Exodus 24:12-18

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves.  ² And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.  ³ Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.  ⁴ Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”  ⁵ While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”  ⁶ When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear.  ⁷ But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.”  ⁸ And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

[⁹ As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”  ¹⁰ And the disciples asked him, “Why, then, do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”  ¹¹ He replied, “Elijah is indeed coming and will restore all things;  ¹² but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but they did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man is about to suffer at their hands.”  ¹³ Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.] – Matthew 17:1-8, [9-13]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We are heading into Lent this week – already! It seems like we just put the Christmas stuff away.

But before we head full steam into Lent and Easter we have one more special day to observe: Transfiguration, which is today.

So far this year we have been in the season of Epiphany, that time in the church year when the Messiah is ‘revealed’ to the world and to us. In the season of Epiphany we get to know Jesus: first as a child, and then as a young man at his baptism; we see his first miracles; we hear his first teachings.  We’ve seen how the crowds have taken to Jesus and follow him everywhere. Meanwhile Jesus is teaching his disciples so that they will be able to share what they’ve learned with others.

Now, as our calendar turns to Lent, in Jesus’ life there’s a darkness looming on the horizon. The disciples are still living in the spirit of Epiphany: Jesus is still being revealed to them, and they are still learning; but Jesus’ message has taken a darker turn. The focus now turns to sin and evil in the world, and how God is going to deal with it.  Jesus has just told his disciples that he is going to die and then rise again. But the disciples seem to have missed the ‘rise again’ part, and they are troubled and confused about what Jesus means when he says he’s going to die. After all, how can the Messiah die? But they’re afraid to ask, especially after Jesus chews Peter out for saying “no way Lord!”

It’s exactly at this point in time – this juncture of events – that the mysterious event called Transfiguration takes place.

Before we dig into the reading from Matthew, I’d like to share some background from our other scripture reading. The events of the Transfiguration parallel another mountain top event, which we read about in Exodus.

The Exodus story took place about 1500 years before Jesus was born. I’d like to look at these two mountaintop events side by side so we can see the similarities and differences:

1. In both cases God chooses specific people and invites them to the top of a mountain:
   • In Exodus, God invites Moses and Joshua – Joshua, who will become Moses’ successor at the end of Deuteronomy.
   • In Matthew, Jesus invites Peter, James, and John – all three of whom will be leaders in the early Christian church
2. On both mountains God is represented visually by the presence of a cloud at the top of the mountain.
3. In both cases, when a human being goes inside the cloud, that person is transformed; they glow or shine.
   • In Exodus, Moses had to wear a veil over his face from that time onward to keep from frightening the Israelites.
   • In Matthew, the glow comes onto Jesus, Moses, and Elijah – but only for the time they were on top of the mountain.
   • Side note: in New Testament times, Christians believed that the righteous would receive new, glorified bodies in heaven; so this transformation of Moses and of Jesus is considered a foretaste of heaven.
4. On both mountains, God has a message to give to the people.
   • In Exodus, the message is the Ten Commandments along with the rest of the Jewish Law.
   • In Matthew, the message is a confirmation that Jesus is God’s beloved son, the Messiah, and the disciples need to listen to him.
5. On both mountains, God’s message includes law and prophecy, commandments and teaching.
6. On both mountains “heaven and earth are overlapping on the mountaintop”. The Hebrew word for what’s happening in the cloud is mishkan, which can also be translated “the Lord’s dwelling place”.

In addition to all this, in Matthew, the disciples are met by Moses and Elijah, representing the law and the prophets. They are there to talk to Jesus “about his departure” – that is, about Jesus’ death – which will happen just a few days later in Jerusalem.

Jesus was in a unique position: he was God in the flesh, and at the same time completely human, so he had to learn (the way we all learn) by reading and by talking to people and by praying. Jesus was not born knowing everything. So at this point in his life, he has direction about the next steps of his mission from scripture and from prayer; but with the cross in sight, certainty becomes crucial. And the people who know the Law and the Prophets best would be Moses and Elijah. It must have been quite a comfort to Jesus to talk to these two men who knew God and walked with God, and to hear them confirm that he was indeed on the right path.

That path would lead Jesus down the Via Dolorosa, the Way of Sorrow, to torture and to death on the cross. So today, as we come to the mountain of Transfiguration, we turn away from the joy of Christmas and the light of Epiphany into the darkness of Lent.

But we’re not in total darkness yet. Today, on this day, we see a brilliant light – a light so bright that it is actually a foretaste of what is to come after Calvary.  The way we see Jesus at the Transfiguration, in this overwhelming light, is a dazzling glimpse of the new world to come.

~~~~~~~~~~~

So what exactly happened on this mountain top?  Jesus starts the day by inviting three disciples to come with him – the three men who, after his resurrection and ascension, would become the leaders of the first Christian churches. These three men needed to know beyond any doubt what Jesus is called to do and what his mission is.

The four of them walk up the mountain to the very top, which was not an easy hike; and suddenly Jesus’ appearance is changed: his face shines like the sun and his clothes became dazzling white – “bright as a flash of lightning” is how Luke describes it in his gospel. And then they were joined by Moses and Elijah, who are also shining brightly, and they are having a conversation with Jesus about Jesus’ departure.

Then just as the conversation was winding down, Peter offers to build shelters (or dwellings or booths, depending on your translation) for Jesus and his guests. But while Peter is still speaking, a cloud covers the top of the mountain and God’s voice is heard saying “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”  Hearing this, the disciples fall facedown on the ground in fear; but Jesus touches them and says “get up; don’t be afraid” – and they get up and look around, and everything looks normal. Just like that. Jesus is back to his everyday self.

That’s where our reading ends today, but there is a little bit more to the story in Matthew. On the way down the mountain, Jesus tells his disciples not to tell anyone what they’ve just seen until after his resurrection. Hearing this, the disciples ask him, “Why do the scribes say Elijah must come first?”

To our ears this sounds like an odd question – but the disciples are referring to ancient prophecies of the coming of the Messiah, and the prophecies of the coming of God’s Kingdom. From their point of view in time, the disciples can’t see what we see today, namely that God’s Kingdom arrives over a period of time and not all at once. From their point of view, when Jesus rises from the dead, history should stop right there and the reckoning should begin. But God chose to let history continue, until all of us (including you and me) were present and accounted for. So we now live in a world where Jesus’ Kingdom is both now and not yet. Jesus is king but has not yet been crowned. It’s kind of like King Charles over in England in that sense – he is legally king but his coronation hasn’t happened yet.

At any rate, Jesus answers their question by saying: “Elijah is indeed coming and will restore all things; but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but they did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man is about to suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that Jesus was speaking to them about John the Baptist.” (Matt 17:11-13)

So John the Baptist came before Jesus; and when Jesus returns again, someone like Elijah, someone like John the Baptist, will come before him. This is something we can be watching for.

~~~~~~~~~~~

So what does the Transfiguration mean for us today?

1. We can be confident that Jesus is the Messiah. The apostle Peter, in his second letter to the churches, says:

“…we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father… saying, ‘This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’ We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.” (II Peter 1:16-18)

What Peter and the other disciples saw was just a glimpse of the glory to come at the end of time. Peter says that this “was not a mystical experience but a flesh and blood reality in the presence of witnesses” – in other words, there were enough eyewitnesses to the Transfiguration and to Jesus’ glory that it would stand up legally in court.

We can be confident that what we read here is true and is guaranteed by witnesses.

2. Focus on Jesus. That day on the mountain Peter raised a lot of eyebrows for his suggestion about building booths for Jesus and his guests. Many writers and theologians have poked fun at Peter for this, or criticized him, and I think this criticism is unfair. There are many good reasons why Peter might have suggested building booths. For starters this heavenly vision would have reminded any Jewish person of the “feast of Tabernacles” which was a holiday that looked forward to life in heaven. It might also have been a way to honor Jesus’ guests – and in that culture it would have been rude not to offer hospitality.

God does not scold Peter for his words. God basically just shifts the focus: God says, “this is my beloved son, listen to him” which puts the focus back on Jesus. So that’s #2 – focus on Jesus.

3. We can carry the glory of the Transfiguration into the season of Lent. The Transfiguration holds a promise for the future for all of us – the glory of the Kingdom of God to come. Carry this light into the darkness.

4. Find hope in our Lord Jesus and in his glory. We can find hope in the knowledge that God and Jesus do not avoid suffering or sorrow, and they are not ashamed of it as they enter into our world and our lives. In our sorrows and in our struggles, from day to day, God and Jesus are on our side. We can find hope in this

5. Remember that this is the beginning of the victory over sin and death. Jesus’ death was horrific, but it’s the beginning of the final victory. As Paul sings in I Corinthians: “Oh death, where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory? For death is swallowed up in victory…”

6. Finally, and always, God says: “Listen to him”. Listen to Jesus.

1. • God is faithful
   • God is working out his plans through us
   • God’s kingdom is surely coming – so we keep our ears open.

Let’s pray together: “Lord, During this upcoming Lent, grant that we, seeing by faith the light of Jesus’ face, may be strengthened to bear our own cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory… Amen.” – Fleming Rutledge

Preached at Carnegie UMC and Hill Top UMC, 2/19/23

Read Full Post »

Exodus, Moses, the Tabernacle: God Welcomes Us

It’s not often the description of the specs for building the Tabernacle in the book of Exodus make for inspiring reading. But God’s word has a way of being a blessing regardless, and that happened today, and I wanted to share it.

First off, I have no idea how long a “cubit” is. When Exodus describes one of the tent curtains as “twenty-eight cubits long and four cubits wide” (Ex 26:2) I am clueless. Google tells us a cubit was around 18 inches long but even that doesn’t really help me: my husband the carpenter would be able to visualize it, but my brain simply doesn’t work this way. If you said to me “seven times the height of a man” I might get a vague idea.

But understanding the exactness of measurement isn’t necessary to grasp what God is getting at.

God takes seven chapters – Exodus 25-31 – describing to Moses in great detail how the tabernacle should be created. And in the final chapter God appoints workers specially gifted for the work, whose job will be to create all the pieces and put them together.

As soon as the Lord is finished speaking, in chapter 32, the people waiting for Moses at the bottom of the mountain decide they’ve waited long enough and they’d like to make a golden calf and worship it instead. This starts a whole string of unpleasant events, but that’s not the point of today’s reading.

Here’s the blessing: what God gives is So.Much.Better.

In chapters 25-31, even without the construction details, I can catch a glimpse of what the Tabernacle would have been like:

• The tabernacle would have been very tall and wide. Big. Like God.
• With all the animal hides and layers of coverings, it would have been cozy warm inside, even in the cold of desert nights. Like the heart of God.
• The inside of the tabernacle would have been stunningly beautiful: decorated in gold, silver and bronze, with scenes from nature in blue, purple, and scarlet woven into the fabric of the tent. Beautiful like God and like God’s creation.
• God’s promises and God’s covenant were kept there, in a golden ark, and on top of the ark was a mercy seat. God’s covenant is rich in mercy.
• In front of the ark was a golden table on which was the Bread of the Presence – the promise that God was always there – and a prophecy of the Bread of Heaven to come. Always with us – like God.
• The tabernacle was lit by golden lampstands that had branches like almond trees, burning scented olive oil – a light to inspire and guide. Like God.
• There was an altar for burnt offerings. The whole place would have smelled like either steak or lamb BBQ all the time. The offerings were made to God, but some were for people to share. Forgiveness of sin was celebrated with God.
• There was an altar of incense, representing the prayers of the people. Aaron and the priests were to burn incense on it every morning and every evening, a special mix of herbs and spices specified by God for this purpose only, to represent the prayers of God’s people. God was always listening for the people’s prayers.
• There was a basin for washing – to purify the priests before they performed the various sacrifices. God knew even the clergy needed cleansing, and God provided.
• There was anointing oil – again made with a mix of spices only to be used for God’s holy purposes – for anointing everything in the tabernacle, making everything holy.
• And the final command in Chapter 31 was to remember the Sabbath: don’t forget to observe one day a week with no work. Remember God, who rested on the seventh day, and do the same. A foretaste of God’s Kingdom to come, when we all will rest from our work and enjoy God’s presence.

When a person walked into a place like this, they would have been overwhelmed with warmth, rich beauty, the sparkle of gold and silver, and smells he or she would quickly come to associate with God. The feeling would be one of warmth, acceptance, and joyful celebration.

Contrast this with the scene in Chapter 32: the Golden Calf. This is what false gods and false beliefs are like. False gods have to be created by human hands (v 4). They are costly (v 2-3, 6). They do nothing but sit there. They are hard and cold. There is nothing beautiful about them, other than a gold façade. There is no home with them. There is no prayer. There is no light, no incense, no scented oil – no comfort. Those who worship them have no purpose or direction (v. 23, 25). And the idol ends up being fuel for fire (v. 20).

God invites and welcomes us into the Tabernacle of fellowship and belonging… welcomes us home. Why settle for anything less?

Read Full Post »