Our scriptures this morning are a great insight into the human condition…. Good days and bad, God is with us. And our context as people of God, as Christians, needs to be ALWAYS that we know, we proclaim, we rejoice that GOD IS WITH US.
And yet… despite this, we complain. We grumble, we groan,
And despite the assurance of health, salvation, spiritual wholeness: we are resistant to the hard work of healing. How very human!
We first see this in the reading from Numbers. The folks are out for the biblical equivalent of Gilligan’s 3-hour tour, and it’s taking longer than they wanted. So: grumble. We start hearing “I don’t like this. This isn’t what I had imagined. I didn’t want to eat THAT. I’m not happy.”
Despite being liberated from literal slavery and abuse, nothing is good enough for them. Hmm. They no longer worry about their sense of community, their cohesive togetherness in overcoming adversity; instead they just focus on their own sense of loss. It’s what they personally feel is being denied, not what the whole of
And this, at the height of their individualistic moaning and groaning, is when we hear that snakes come out. Now - - anyone who knows me known that I generally try to avoid snakes. Thinking about them, seeing them, everything. Snakes: not my thing.
Also… not the thing for the folks following Moses. These are things causing pain and suffering; literal death and further division of community.
And – as we humans tend to do – when we experience suffering and challenge, we suddenly re-turn to God.
And: God is with us. God is always with us.
Yet… like a great parent, God’s journey with us calls for us to do some healing and growing.
For the folks in the wilderness, they needed to look at the image of the snake – the very thing that hurt them.
And it’s not just a snake: it’s a Brazen snake.
I like the play-on-words here – for a brazen snake means it could have been formed from the metal brass. Okay – easy.
Or, it could mean that the snake is a bit… audacious. Bold. Brazen.
What a message, then: look upon the bold and audacious thing that has caused you pain; and see in it that it is cold and hard and impersonal.
Hmm.
And from this, from this shift of perspectives, from this recognition of facing the source of pain, comes the beginning of healing.
Which, of course, brings us to Nicodemus.
Wait – Nicodemus? Why?
Because the Gospel passage today is a part of a private conversation that is happening between Jesus and Nicodemus. It’s not a public discourse, it’s not some grand declaration: Nicodemus has come to Jesus, privately, secretly almost, at night – under the cover of darkness so that the folks in society don’t see him. Nicodemus wants this discussion to be unknown by his friends, neighbours, colleagues.
And Jesus speaks of long-term spiritual healing. The power of baptism and the change that makes for life. The benefit of community in prayer and fellowship. The strength of faith which sustains and supports as people make the choice to focus on God. And then, as the passage moves more to a monologue than a dialogue, we hear what is possibly the best-known line of scripture.
So: John 3.16: 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.
Context is important. It’s important for Nicodemus to hear this message – as they sit there alone in conversation, he is invited to apply the reality of this offering into his life.
Jesus is reminding Nicodemus of the way that God walks with us where we are – but that healing is a process that can be painful – but worth it.
And so we recognise that it’s not a coincidence or a casual commentary that has Jesus bring up the snake issue from the first passage we heard today.
He is telling Nicodemus, in this very clear way, that there is a need for healing in the community. That there is a need to face what is causing illness. But especially that they are not doing this work alone; that God is with them. That salvation – a spiritual salve – is being entirely offered to all of creation, through the person of Jesus.
John 3.16 was not intended by God to be used as a sign to hold up at sporting events, or as a mantra for promoting or continuing judgement or criticism.
It was intended as a mirror into which society can look at itself – and consider if we like what we see.
It was a private comment to a person who worked within a corrupt system to examine his own role in the hurts that society was feeling.
It is recorded as a reminder to all who hear it – who read it – who proclaim it – as individuals, as families, and as communities. We are reminded that there are hurts in our midst. That there is suffering in our midst. That we have need for God – or healing – for wholeness.
And our health and wholeness is possible! Because – context – God is with us!
But the God who walks with us, who gave us Jesus, who offers the unimaginable gift of salvation and redemption –
This God also calls for us to look around. To look at what is hurting us. Not to grumble or gossip or be part of continuing a problem. But to come together: with God, with each other, with ourselves: and look upon the cross as a source of healing for ourselves. To dwell in the promise articulated in the letter to the Ephesians: by grace you have been saved.
And sometimes, life happens in a way that takes our attention away from that. And when we fall into that trap – as we all do –when we focus only on ourselves, and we get stuck in our greed, our egos, our individualistic me-first mentality
… and we forget that God is with us.
Because when we remember that God is with us, we see that God is with ALL of us: inviting us all to health. To wholeness. To salvation.
And so - - we are reminded. Over and over and over again. God is with us. God is always with us. THAT is the context of our lives. That is the context of our faith. That is the foundation that upholds our being: God is with us. On our good days, on our bad days: God is with us.
Because God loves us: SO much that God gave us the gift of Jesus: the healer, the comforter, the teacher.
And when we can keep our eyes turned toward Jesus, we receive the blessing of connection and communion with God and with all of God’s creation. Holding us, encouraging us, inspiring us, leading us.
And healing us.
May we journey forward this week, not as the complaining dessert-wanderers, but as the truth-seekers, the sojourners, the spiritual companions that God has called us to be.
Let us journey forward this week delighting in the truth of our context:
That God is with us.
Now and always.
Amen!
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