“What Do Snakes Have To Do With It!

Rev Cathie Lambert 14/03/2021

Readings -  Numbers 21: 4-9, John 3: 14-21

I’ve never been bitten by a snake. I’ve come close a couple of times when walking along the beach and nearly stepped on one while it was sunbathing on a rock, but never actually been bitten. I wouldn’t say that I am scared of snakes. I am more than happy to stay out of their way and they out of mine, but if I do come across them I just give them their space.

The wilderness- the desert – would have presented the Israelites with many challenges. A lack of water and food would certainly have been a cause for concern. It is not unlikely, however, that they would also have been faced with wildlife – and almost certainly snakes.

Many people shy away from the Old Testament because of passages like this one we have heard today. How could our God of love set vicious snakes upon his own beloved people just because they whinged a little bit. This God of wrath, anger and punishment doesn’t sit well with us. That is why we need to be careful how we read some of these stories from the Old Testament. They are the stories of the people and their relationship to God. I have heard people in my time in ministry share stories about their life, and I have heard things like that was a really low time in my life, but now I am back with God everything is fine. The writers of some of these early texts had a view that their situation in life was a direct result of their relationship with God. So, if there was a plague of snakes that injured and killed people, it must be because they were not right with God.

So do we just dismiss these stories and say that we have a different idea about God now and so the Old Testament is not relevant. Absolutely not!! I am a great lover of the Old Testament. I believe it has a richness to share with us, including this passage we hear today. In fact, when we turn to our Gospel reading which contains the most popular verse perhaps of the Bible, it begins with a direct reference to this strange snakey story from Numbers. So, what is this all about?

As I said, I have never been bitten by a snake, but I do have my wounds. I have a large scar on each knee from a basketball accident when I was about 11. I was training on a rough bitumen court and tripped and skidded along the court taking all the flesh off both knee caps. I could see the bone. I couldn’t bend my knees for about 6 weeks. I have a nice neat scar on my finger from a wart I caught from an old boyfriend and then struggled to get rid of for about 3 years. I have a nice big scar where my appendix was taken out. I am sure we could all have a lovely session comparing our scars and war wounds. Life takes its toll on us.

I wonder, however, if we would be willing to laugh and carry on about those inner wounds, the things that really hurt in life. Broken relationships, cutting words, betrayal of trust, living with oppression and abuse – those things are not so easy. But these are our wounds – this is our life. We are all wounded. 

When we look back to our desert story, the image that God holds up before the people to heal them is the very thing that has wounded them. The brass serpent seems like some kind of sick joke. But it is only when we come face to face with our woundedness and our brokenness that we can be healed. We must face the scars of our own life, not push them aside. When we push them aside they only fester and we tend to blame others for our broken lives. We become victims and allow ourselves to be raised up because of our victim status. Facing that brass serpent in our lives becomes the place of healing.

In John, we hear the reference to Moses holding high the brass serpent and it is linked with the cross. It is important to note that this section that we have heard today is a continuation of the encounter with Nicodemus who came in the night to Jesus. He comes in the shadows, hiding from the reality of his own life. Jesus sets out the way of the cross, the way that brings people out into the light. He is urging Nicodemus and us, to step out of the shadows and into the light that exposes all that we are. The way of the cross is not to avoid our brokenness, but to face them and it is in facing them that we are healed.

I don’t know how many of you have had the experience of being on the stage. Elleni, as many of you know, is right into her dancing. I used to get a little fidgety when I had to plaster her with makeup at the end of the year to do her concert. Thick foundation, thick eyeliner, thick eye shadow, bright red lipstick – it all seemed a bit much for a little girl. But when they are there on stage, I can understand the teacher’s desire. Those bright lights are not forgiving at all. They wash out people’s faces and expose everything. And there are some toilets where the lights are particularly bright. I often find myself walking away thinking, do I really look that tired, or that sunburnt, or whatever. When we step into the spotlight of God, nothing is left to the imagination. Everything is exposed.

We are all wounded. We have all been bitten by the snakes of our own lives. But Jesus is beckoning us to step into the light, out of the shadows and face our brokenness. For it is in facing our wounds that we will be healed. This requires us to do deep inner work, not just hold our brass serpent or our cross like a trophy. In fact, that brass serpent was destroyed many years later by King Hezekiah for precisely that reason. The serpent had become a trophy or an idol, rather than being a reminder of the woundedness within.

I have just spent the week with a small group of people training to be spiritual directors with the Dayspring program. It was a heavy week, with sessions talking about emotional wounding, spiritual abuse, masculine and feminine spirituality and much more. It was a week in which the participants did a great deal of inner work and touched many wounds in their own lives. The joy, however, is to see the healing that begins to happen in engaging in this way. One man discovered that he had cut himself off from his emotions and was not making eye contact with others in the group easily. By the end of the week, he was looking us in the eye and talking about his feelings. Another woman who lacked confidence in her own voice, after many tears, was able to share what had happened for her during the week. By touching their wounds, being real with their brokenness, the participants began to see healing and wholeness in different parts of their life.

Stepping into the spotlight makes us vulnerable, it exposes us and reveals the true self. This is a scary place to be. But we can take comfort from the Gospel. God so loved the world. Jesus did not come to condemn, but to love. And so, if and when you decide to step into that spotlight, expecting the judgement of the world and God to be heaped on you - all you will receive is the love, the grace and the healing of God. And that is a wonderful gift!