Sept 14, 2003
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Mindekirken September 14, 2003 Look and live John 3.13-17 and Numbers 21.4-9 The sun rises over a dry desert landscape. There is sand as far as one can see. It’s going to get hot…. What is this? A tent here in the middle of the desert? There are a lot of tents. Do they belong to Boy Scouts? Let’s go into one of them and see what we find… Here young Joshua is lying asleep. Now he wakes up. He is excited, what will this day bring? Yesterday there was a riot at the camp. People complained. They couldn’t stand to follow Moses any more. Here in the desert they had poor food and hardly any water: Let’s go back to the flesh pots in Egypt. To slave for the pharaoh was better than this… Joshua goes out of the tent. He sees something wriggle along the tent, it’s a snake. If I had been there I would have screamed. Some days ago I jogged along the Minnesota River, and I had to jump over three snakes. I screamed. Afterwards I screamed at a lot at tree roots as well. Joshua, however, is not afraid. One can play with snakes. Suddenly he sees one more, and then several more. The camp ground is full of snakes. All in a sudden he feels a bite in his foot. A numb feeling spreads in his body. He’s been bitten. Will he die? Joshua drags himself to the marketplace in the middle of the camp. It’s packed. People are afraid. Yesterday they had cursed Moses. Today they’re praying intensely for help. Moses is standing among them. He has already prayed to God for mercy for his people. What does he lift up on a stick at the marketplace? A poisonous serpent. Look at it and you will live, Moses says. Some poke fun at Moses. They would rather fight against the snake than doing this silly thing, but many of them die. Others believe in Moses. They look at the serpent and survive even if they are bitten. This strange story was repeated by Jesus in a nightly conversation with Nicodemus: 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. But we're not bitten by snakes? The snake is the temptation of the Garden of Eden. It represents sin. And due to the fact that none of us manage to keep God’s commandments, we all deserve to die. The wages of sin is death, Rom 6.23. To fight against the snakes, that means to try to avoid sinning. That’s as difficult as pulling oneself up by the hair. It simply doesn’t work to try to save oneself. Salvation comes when we look at Jesus. See the cross. ..He made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Cor 5.21. To believe is to see Jesus. ..All who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life.. John 6.40. |
The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church · 924 E. 21st St, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2952 · (612)874-0716 |
