The Bronze Serpent
Numbers 21:4-9
“…look at the serpent of bronze and live.” v. 9
One of the realities of life is that life is fragile. That has come home to us now with the COVID-19 pandemic. We do fear the evil that follows us through the valley of the shadow of death. The forces of death are strong. Disease, disaster, predators, plagues, depressions, and defeats dog us throughout our lives. From the moment we are born, we are in the process of dying.
Though we often complain (sometimes even to God) about our lot in life, about how good things used to be, we don’t find ourselves facing a plague of poisonous snakes like the people of the Exodus. Not literally at least, though the snake might represent anything that sneaks up on us, disrupts our life, and, in fact, threatens our life. Slithering along close to the ground, the snake surprises and startles as it strikes. We know those things outside of ourselves that are like that including the current virus.
In this Exodus story, the snakes are God’s punishment on those who complain. The presence and power of the snakes also drive people back into the strong arms of God. God provides the escape from the plague, the action that will bring healing. Moses is to fashion a bronze serpent. Instead of slithering on the ground, the bronze fixture is lifted up so that all can see and in seeing be healed.
It’s troublesome in this reading that God is the source of the trouble, of the snakes. Should we share that worldview that God is the author of evil? That bad things are somehow punishment for our sin, our wrongdoing? While that question is left unanswered here, what is made abundantly clear is that God desires wholeness and health. There is inevitable trouble and evil, but it is God’s will to rescue and thwart that trouble and evil. God’s strength can and does do that. God provides healing and wholeness to life.
In the gospel of John chapter 3, Jesus compares his crucifixion to this incident in the wilderness. “ For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” John 3:17 God desires fullness of life for all of us.
Pray: O God the giver of health and wholeness, we give thanks for our bodies in which you take delight. We honor you for you have indeed created us with gifts and powers. You have made us a little lower than the angels and breathed into us the breath of life. Sustain that breath in us every day. Amen.
Fast: By resolving to eat healthily today.
Act: Collect items for Health kits for LWR. (Towels, washcloth, 2 bars of soap, toothbrush, comb, nail clippers)
OR set aside $1 for the ELCA World Hunger medical projects.
...the least of these... 