Lifted Up

Welcome to the Knox Talks blog. Here you can find recent and past sermons relating scripture to a wide variety of topics. I would like to thank Shelley Rose for transcribing my notes into text for the blog.

Lifted Up

Scriptures: Numbers 21:4-9; John 3:14-21

I would like to begin by acknowledging the help I received from Lori in considering how to interpret this week’s readings. The more inspired bits are all hers.

When I first looked at the readings for today I was struck by the way John used the image of the bronze serpent on the pole to compare it to Jesus and I grumbled to myself that if I were marking this as a student paper in an English class, I would have given John a low mark for such a superficial comparison.

Sure, the “raising up” to save people is comparable, but the rest of it is really problematic: comparing Jesus to a poisonous serpent? Sorry, that image really doesn’t work. By the way, this serpent image has nothing to do with the modern medical image of serpents twined on the staff of Aesculapius. This is a fascinating example of parallel imagery developing across very different cultures but it’s not anything very profound. That’s the kind of stuff I planned to talk about.

Then, the next day we were all told of the dreadful murders of almost a whole family in Barrhaven and I realized that these passages would have to speak to this terrifying situation.

The first thing I would like to address is the way that some Christians take John’s passage about the way “God so loved the world” and try to turn it into something exclusive, suggesting that if you don’t have some kind of explicit faith in Jesus, you won’t have eternal life.

The fact that this family was Buddhist may be concerning some Christians and this kind of exclusive theology might be causing folks real pain and sorrow.

Let me be clear: I don’t believe John meant that exclusive interpretation when he wrote this gospel.

John was emphasizing the love of God for the world and demonstrating how easy it is for people to be rescued from the evils of the world. The way to live after being bitten by the poisonous snakes was as simple as looking at the snake raised up on a pole. The way to live after experiencing the darkness of the world is as simple as looking at Jesus raised up on the cross.

It’s intended as a message of hope, a welcoming and inviting statement based in and wrapped up by God’s love for the world. John even goes on to clarify what he means and it’s not about what someone believes. It is about how someone lives: John points out that what we do demonstrates whether we are drawn to the truth of God’s love; whether we live lives of truth and light or deceit and darkness. To use this passage to narrowly define belief as a way to salvation is to condemn the world – exactly the opposite of what John says God intended.

This family was doing their best. Working hard. They were making their way in a new country. They were sharing their house with someone from their homeland and by all reports they were good people. They did not deserve what happened to them and it’s hard to see any kind of justice here, or even to imagine what justice might look like.

It feels a lot like being in a space you thought was safe and discovering you are surrounded by poisonous serpents. People are dying for no good reason and the phrase “stranger danger” just isn’t enough to describe the fear of bringing someone into your home who then murders you and your children.

We see this image of good people living good lives who are repaid with violence and death and it is tempting to huddle in fear, to cut ourselves off and protect ourselves, to avoid the risk of showing God’s love to strangers because something horrible has happened.

Some parts of this will take time to be revealed or may never be known to us. Is this man evil? Did he have some kind of psychotic break? Were there any kinds of extremist politics or religion involved in this?

We can’t say. I’m not sure that knowing would make it feel any better, although putting labels on problems can help us feel like there is still some sense in the world. Placing labels, all by itself, is something we have to avoid: labelling this as a problem with immigration; blaming the foreigners or new immigrants; identifying this as something that doesn’t normally happen here but has been brought here from the outside. We must avoid all the fear-based prejudice that can emerge when a tragedy like this happens.

The serpent raised up on a pole became a symbol of healing for those who had been bitten. John shows us the image of Jesus raised up on the cross as a symbol of love, of hope, a declaration that violence and power can be overcome by love and vulnerability. His raising up is a symbol of healing for the world and a declaration of love by God.

Jesus on the cross reminds us of his teachings and challenges us. Jesus still tells us to welcome strangers; to show love to others; even to go so far as loving our enemies. Jesus would not want this murder to build fear in us and cause us to turn our backs on his teachings, his example of love, of welcome, the way his life represented God’s love for all the people of the world.

The hope of eternal life is something we cling to when young lives are cut short by tragedy. No kind of justice or vengeance can restore the lives taken or give them the chance to grow up, go to school, realize their potential in this life.

The hope of eternal life, offered out of the depths of God’s love for the world isn’t about justice, or vengeance, or trying to undo the violent wrongs that have happened here.

The hope of eternal life is what gives us the sense that God’s love carries us beyond the evils of this world and keeps us safe, even after someone has done their worst.

In this sad time when we feel outrage and shock, when we hang on the edge of fear, when it would feel natural to turn away from the extravagant demands of God’s love; in this sad time let us remember what John said about the meaning of Jesus on the cross: he was lifted up to demonstrate God’s love; a violent death turned into a symbol of love and grace.

Let us cling to God’s love and grace with all our might and refuse to give in to fear.

Amen.