Looking...Prayerfully

Today, John tells us more about Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus; the church leader who came to Jesus in the dark.

 The story includes the well-known verse 3:16 - “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”. This encouragement follows Nicodemus asking “how can a fully grown person be born again?”

The part of the story we heard today begins “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.”   This is one of the places where John makes really clever use of word play. There’s a double meaning to “the Son of Man must be lifted up”. One meaning is “lifted up on the cross” and the other meaning is “lifted up in praise - exalted -glorified”.

Nicodemus would have recognized the connection here to our First Testament reading, Numbers 21. The plague of snakes in the wilderness came when people once more rebelled against God and Moses in yet another time of grumbling and murmuring. However, the people had a change of heart and came to Moses asking for forgiveness and confessing that they were wrong. Moses forgives and prays for the people who had cursed him. Moses who had been the person who told the people of Israel about God’s prohibition on making images, was now given instructions to make a graven image of a snake. A big ask!!!

God would keep alive those who were prepared to do as he demanded. God’s message was that, if bitten, the people should look at the serpent on the pole and be well. Obedience and trust were required.

So, in Numbers 21, we have a story of sin; this impatient nation again rebelled against God and had to be punished. The people wanted God to take away the serpents but God chose not to. A lesson that God’s way is not our way. It is also a story of grace; Moses interceded and God provided the remedy. The serpents were not removed. They were left as a means to chastise and to test the faith and obedience of the people.

The big picture is that this is a story of faith. When the people looked by faith they were saved. It was not the sight of the serpent that saved them; but in looking up to the snake on the pole, they looked to God.

Adherents of the Cao Dai religion in Vietnam have a snake on a pole at their Holy See in Tay Ninh. The image of a snake or serpent curling around a staff has been a symbol of healing since before Jesus.

Well, what is the connection between Moses who lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, and the lifting up of the Son of Man? The ancient Israelites were guilty of disobedience and had a grumbling and unthankful spirit. They were unable to rescue themselves from the deadly poison. They were urged to look at the serpent on a pole in order to receive life. Salvation is a gift received only by believing God for it.

Is the connection that, just as a plague of snakes is remedied by one snake on a pole, the plague of human beings on earth is remedied by one man on a pole?

Jesus became the “uplifted serpent”. The serpent in Moses’ day brought physical life to dying Israelites. Jesus Christ gives eternal life to anyone who trusts (looks at) him. The whole world is bitten by sin. How is a person born from above? How is he or she saved from eternal perishing? The Gospel says by believing on Jesus and by looking to him in faith.

Is the connection the lifting up; the looking in obedience and trust? Is there a connection between the wilderness which the people of God past and the people of God present are journeying through? Where do we fit into the story?

These are important questions. Eternal life is at stake – John says “everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life”.

It seems that the good news of God’s love offers only two options. Believe or perish! Encouragement comes in John 3:17 - “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”.

The eternal life granted to believers refers not only to duration of existence but to quality of life contrasted with futility. Eternal life is a deepening and growing experience which doesn’t have an end. Eternal life is not restricted to the future; it’s very much related to current living.

The eternal life accepted by believing is a gift of God and brings with it the fullest blessings that God can give. Perish doesn’t mean to cease to exist; it means to experience utter failure, futility and loss of all that makes existence worthwhile.

All this leads to the most important question of all. How should we believe in the Son of Man? Belief isn’t stagnant. Belief is not something you can reach or grasp; it’s something you work at and you find has always more to achieve.

Now, what about our Lenten Study - the “Way of Love”?

On Ash Wednesday the first message was TURN. Then in the last three Sundays the focus was on REST, LEARN and WORSHIP. Today, the subject is PRAY. Prayer is a difficult topic which most people acknowledge is a concern for them.  Methods of prayer are very different and very personal. In the Gospels, we often read that Jesus went to a quiet place to pray. I like to think that Jesus did not have a list of requests and questions when he went to pray. Perhaps for Jesus alone in a quiet place, prayer was not words but being intentionally in the presence of God.

The section in our “Way of Life” notes seems to agree as it has the heading “PRAY: Dwell intentionally with God daily”.  These notes go on to say “Jesus teaches us to come before God with humble hearts, boldly offering our thanksgivings and concerns to God or simply listening for God’s voice in our lives and in the world. Whether in thought, word or deed, individually or corporately, when we pray, we invite and dwell in God’s loving presence”.

Here is a link with our Bible lessons today. How do we know we are dwelling in God’s presence?  Perhaps the answer is to be looking for God. As the people who were bothered by the snakes in the wilderness chose to look at the bronze serpent on the pole, so we choose to focus our minds.

We LOOK to Jesus “lifted up”. We look in faith and trust. Looking to Jesus is lifegiving…and looking to Jesus is a prayer.