Sermons:
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Snakes and Faith
based on John 3:14-21, Numbers 21:4-9
Rev. Karen A. Goltz
By and large I’m a fan of the three-year lectionary. Those who developed
it did a fairly decent job of including a large part of the bible, and of
organizing the narratives around the seasons of the church year in a way that
encourages greater depth of understanding and contemplation. It provides
the average church-goer a good exposure to the breadth of the Word of God, and
it forces us preachers to wrestle with difficult texts we probably wouldn’t
choose on our own, and not just preach over and over again on our six favorite
passages.
But there are some choices the lectionary people made that were just
ill-conceived. Today’s gospel lesson, the way it’s presented, is one of
them.
Many pre-printed bulletins begin this reading with the words, “Jesus said” in
brackets. OK, fair enough to indicate who’s speaking if the verse you’re
starting with doesn’t specify it. But what
isn’t fair is suggesting that the first verse of today’s reading is the
beginning of something. In fact, the word that the bracketed “Jesus said”
replaces is “and.” Our reading actually begins, “And just as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.”
Who begins a sentence with the word “and?” Someone who is in the middle of
saying something important. Today’s gospel lesson begins in the middle of
a conversation between Jesus and a Pharisee named Nicodemus. But you’d
never know that from the way the lesson is presented.
Nicodemus came to Jesus by night with some questions. Unlike most of the
exchanges between Jesus and the Pharisees, Nicodemus isn’t trying to test or
trap Jesus in his words, and he’s not trying to challenge Jesus in any way.
He acknowledges that Jesus is a teacher who has come from God, reasoning,
correctly, that no one can do what Jesus is doing apart from God. Jesus
tells him that no one can see the kingdom of God without being born an-o-then,
which can be translated as ‘from above’ or ‘again.’ Nicodemus understands
this literally and questions how this can be possible, given that a person
cannot re-enter his mother’s womb and be born a second time. So Jesus
clarifies and tells him that no one can enter the kingdom of God without being
born of water and the Spirit. He goes on to say, “What is born of the
flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be
astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind
blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where
it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the
Spirit.” [John 3:6-8] Nicodemus is confused, and asks how these things can be.
Jesus answers him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand
these things? Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify
to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told
you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell
you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one
who has descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And 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 not perish, but may have eternal life.” [John
3:10-15] Our gospel reading for today picks up just as Jesus is getting to the
crux of what he’s trying to explain to Nicodemus. [continue]
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