|
First
Reading
|
Psalm |
Epistle |
Gospel |
| Numbers
21: 4-9 |
107:1-3,
17-22 |
Ephesians
2:1-10 |
John
3:14-21 |
Things
were not going well for Moses and the tribes of Israel. They had
been wandering in the desert far too long. Surrounding kings had
denied Israel a peaceful passage through their lands. There were
perennial shortages of water and pasture as the tribes sought to
find a safe passage to a permanent homeland. Aaron had just died,
leaving Moses shorthanded. As the first lesson notes, the people
began losing patience. I suspect they were also losing their faith
and losing their hope. Small grumbling and annoyances became vocal
outrage and visible hostility. Tired, angry, and snapping at each
other, the tribes camped near a rocky outcrop that offered protection
from the sandstorms and heat. As so often when we are worn out or
distracted, and we neglect look carefully around us, Israel forgot
that rocky outcrops in the middle of the desert might also harbor
large colonies of snakes.
Most Biblical history inevitably involves
interpretation and serpents were powerful symbols, both of danger
and of healing in the religious culture that surrounded ancient
Israel. A staff with two serpents curved around it is still the
symbol of the modern medical profession. Ancient people sensed that
there was a connection between one's state of mind and what befell
a person. While we might object to assigning the plague of poisonous
snakes to the intention of God, the more important insight from
the story is that Israel was honest enough to accept responsibility
and recognized that there were consequences to their actions. They
were in deep trouble and they knew it. They knew that their past
behavior played a part in their getting into these dire straights.
They had ceased to trust the goodwill
of God. Doubt set in, and infected everyone with suspicion and
resentment. That, in effect, was the real problem and it affected
their judgment of a campsite, and all sorts of other daily decisions
and performance of life's tasks. The writers who interpreted the
history of Israel’s wanderings likely suspected that there
wasn't necessarily always a direct link between affliction and
sin, but out of their own experience they knew that the derivatives
of sin invited misfortune and tragedy, even on the innocent. A
continued state of cursing or denying God does not lead to health,
but spreads the fatal infection of distrust to everyone.
To their credit, the tribes of Israel
‘fessed up. They admitted that they could not survive all
on their own. They needed God; they needed each other. Everyone
for one's own self would not work. When they confessed their need,
and began to trust God, Moses, and each other a little more, they
were healed and able to move on.
One of the most serious threats to health,
physical or spiritual, is to deny that we might ever be sick or
need assistance. A physician cannot treat someone who refuses
a medical exam. A community of faith can offer various resources
of assistance, but it can’t force one to accept it. Those
who seek to treat their wounds all by themselves or to pretend
they will never be wounded are not doing themselves any favor.
Some
days ago a local news report showed the base commander at Ft Drum
in Watertown, saying some words of final farewell to some of his
troops right before they were to board their plane to be deployed:
“You've been well trained, but always remember to look out
for each other out there. You need each other; you can't go it
alone. Keep looking out for one another.”
I would not have chosen to mention snakes
today if they were not such a prominent part of today’s readings.
I’m glad for a second look behind this incident in the desert.
While we have learned that misfortune is not necessarily a sign
of God’s displeasure, too often we tend to blame all adversity
on outside forces. “It’s not our fault!” is a common
plaint of our society. This ancient story helps to restore a sense
of balance to our lives. We need to ‘fess up and to admit
we need healing. We need the insights and the larger stabilizing
presence of the Holy Spirit among us. Trying to go it alone in
today's world often leads to putting ourselves and those we love
in great danger. If we distrust God, it is highly unlikely we
will develop or sustain a deeply committed trust to look out for
each other. That is the history lesson the tribes of ancient Israel
pass on to us today.
And
I offer this to you in the name of the Living God, Amen.
