Wednesday of Easter 6

As Moses Lifted Up the Serpent...

Numbers 21:4–9 (ESV) From Mount Hor Israel set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

After the Exodus a pattern of grumbling had formed among the Israelites: "We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic, but now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna" (Numbers 11:5-6). In that case, the people’s grumbling is first answered by fire that killed some and later a plague that struck down others.

A bit later: “All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron” (Numbers 14:2) and "Why have you made us come up from Egypt, to bring us in to this wretched place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, nor is there water to drink." (Numbers 20:5). In Numbers 14 and 20, the Lord does not directly smite the Israelites as we might expect but withholds temporal judgment. As Numbers 14:18 points out, “The LORD is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression.”

However, by the next time the Israelites grumble, God’s slowness to anger has reached its end. In our Old Testament reading for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, God smites the Israelites with many fiery serpents. Many die. But God’s willingness to forgive iniquity has not ended, as He relents and shows mercy through the bronze serpent. After the Israelites come to Moses in repentance, he intercedes on their behalf. God commands Moses to fashion a bronze serpent and hold it up for the people to see. Whoever looks up at the serpent has his life spared. While God punishes sin, He also shows mercy!

The reason this event happened, however, is much greater and more profound than might first be suspected, since later Jesus will say: “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. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:14–17).

John 3:16, “the Gospel in a nutshell,” has the story of the bronze serpent as its Old Testament background! Who’d a thunk it? I’ll delve deeper into this theme in my upcoming sermon on June 7, when the Gospel reading for Holy Trinity Sunday is John 3:1-17. But for now, rejoice and marvel that God’s own Son was lifted up on the cross like an accursed serpent so you may look at Him through faith and have everlasting life in His name!

Prayer: Almighty and gracious God, You want all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Magnify the power of the Gospel in the hearts of Your faithful people that Your Church may spread the good news of salvation. Protect, encourage, and bless all who proclaim the saving cross that Christ, being lifted up, may draw all people to Himself, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.