(Using the print feature in your browser will print the sermon without the navigation menu on the left.)
In our Old Testament lesson, Moses interceded on behalf of the people. He prayed to God for the sake of the people. He was like a mediator between God and his people. The Epistle lesson calls us to pray for “all men, for kings and all who are in authority” (v. 2). In our Holy Gospel for today, Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”
Yesterday, during our confirmation questioning, I asked the question, “What is prayer?” The answer was given: “Prayer is asking God to help us according to the promises of His Word.” For example, God promises to be our refuge and strength. So, when we are in trouble, we ask in prayer for His refuge and strength. God has promised to give us daily bread. So, when we are hungry, we ask in prayer for the daily bread He has promised. God has promised to forgive our sin on account of His Son. So, when we sin, we ask God to be merciful to us and to forgive us, and He answers this prayer.
We will learn today that, just as Moses interceded for the Israelites, so also, Jesus intercedes for us. Just as the Israelites cried out for mercy, so also as sinners, we cry out for mercy. The good news is that Jesus is the answer to our cry for mercy.
The children of Israel are coming closer and closer to the promised land. They are almost there. But the Edomites will not let Israel pass through their territory. This means that Israel must back track and go around Edom. This meant that their journey will take a few more days longer.
The Israelites lost it. They became impatient. They got angry and mad. And who do they blame? They blame God and Moses. They grumble and complain saying, “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.”
This was the wrong thing to say. God has been good to them. He delivered them from slavery in Egypt. He parted the Red Sea and had them cross over on dry ground. He made the waters of Marah drinkable. He fed them with mana and quail. He gave them victory over the Amalekites. He provided water from a rock. He forgave their sins, and God dwelt among them by means of the tabernacle. Plus, He is about to bring them into the promised land. What more could God do for them?
God has not brought the Israelites up out of Egypt in order to die in the wilderness. God is not their enemy. God has been good to them. And they complain against the food and the water which God gives them? This isn't the first time they have grumbled and complained. This has happened over and over again.
Yesterday, during our confirmation questioning, I also asked the question, “The Ninth and Ten Commandments forbid coveting. What is coveting?” The answer was given, “Coveting is having a sinful desire for a person or a thing.” I also asked, “What does God require of us in the Ninth and Tenth Commandments?”, and the answer was given, “He requires us to be content with what He has given us.”
The Israelites did not see the mercy and blessings from God. They were not thankful for what He did for them. They were impatient and they complained.
Woe to us when we do not see the mercy of God toward us. Woe to us when we are not thankful for simply things such as daily bread and the forgiveness of sins. Woe to us when we despise the good things which God gives us. We are no different from the Israelites. We are impatient with God and want things now. We often complain in the way He does things. Lord, have mercy upon us.
So, the Israelites were impatient, and they grumbled and complained. If you were in God's shoes what would you do? What would you say?
God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Rather, He wants to wicked to turn from their ways and live. God wants the Israelites to recognize their sin. He wants them to live a life of repentance and faith in the goodness and mercy of God. So, God sent venomous snakes which bit the people.
Like the Israelites in the wilderness, we have been bitten with a deadly venom. It happened in the Garden of Eden. The shrewd and subtle serpent tempted Eve and injected the poison of his lie. The lie that God is not true to His Word. The lie that God doesn't mean what He says. The lie that we can be gods in place of God. The lie that we can experience good and evil on our own terms. The lie that we can be masters of our own destiny. The lie that we won't die as a result of eating the fruit.
Eve bit and Adam bit. The serpent bit, and his deadly poison invaded our humanity leaving no part undamaged. Humanity died that day. They were dead to God and to each other — hiding, ashamed, blaming, and self–justifying.
The poison not only invaded them, it was passed on to their children. Every son and daughter is infected with the serpent's venom. No generation is skipped. It has affected you and me. We are not merely sin sick and weak. Saint Paul says, “You were dead in your transgressions and sins.” The wages of the serpent's bite will be death for you and me. Lord, have mercy upon us.
The Israelites recognized their sin. They recognized the seriousness of the situation. They confessed to God saying, “We have sinned.”
Do you recognize your sin? Do you recognize the seriousness of your situation? It's important for us to confess every Sunday, “I have sinned. Lord, have mercy upon us.”
What do the Israelites want? They want the snakes removed. God does not remove the snakes. He keeps the snakes there, but God provides a way of escape. It's good that the Israelites prayed. God heard their prayer, but He answered it according to His own way and time.
Jesus says in our Holy Gospel for today, “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33). We suffer in a fallen world. Things don't go our way. It's good that we call upon God in the day of trouble. It's good that we pray to Him in the midst of trouble. Be assured that God hears your prayer and that He will answer it in the best possible way. It's good that our will be conformed
It was God's will not to remove the snakes but to provide a way of escape. What was God's solution to the problem? He told Moses to make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, will live. There is nothing magical in the fake serpent. God simply attached His promise of life to the fake serpent. The cure looks like the disease itself.
Scripture doesn't say, but I'm sure there were some that said, “No way. How can looking at a fake snake on a pole provide life?” Our human reason will also say, “How can the water of Baptism do such great things? How can the pastor standing up there forgive sins? How can Christ's body and blood be in the bread and wine? Unbelief will attack God's Word and Sacraments. Unbelief will doubt what God has spoken. Unbelief will question God's Word.
I'm sure if you were one of them that looked at the snake up on the pole and lived, you would tell others saying, “Come, look at the snake on the pole and live. Look, I was bitten but now I am alive. Looking at the serpent on the pole is the only way to live.”
What is our cure from our snake bite of sin and death? We cry out for mercy. What is God's solution to our dilemma of sin?
Believe it or not, God's solution is for Jesus, the Son of Man, to be lifted up on the cross, and everyone who looks to Him shall live. Jesus came from the Father and has come into the world. Just as the snake on the pole looked like a real snake but did not have any venom in it, so also, Jesus was like us with flesh and blood, but He did not have any sin in Him. But God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. Jesus took the venom of our sin into His own body.
Jesus was the sacrificial lamb sent to suffer and die for the sin of the whole world. The cross was His goal, and so on Good Friday, He was nailed to the cross, and it was lifted up high for everyone to see. There on the cross, Jesus' heel was bitten by Satan. There on the cross, Jesus absorbed the fiery wrath of God into Himself. The cure is in the disease itself. The bloody crucified body on a pole of a cross is the solution to our problem of sin and death.
Jesus is the answer to our cry for mercy. This is God's definition of love. We see a God who loved us so much that He suffered in our place and bore the wrath of God against sin for our sake.
Our human reason says, “Outrageous! How can a man on a cross do anything?” Many people in unbelief reject the cross. They reject the notion that Jesus is the only way of salvation.
Dearly beloved, fix your eyes on Jesus. Look to the cross and to the open tomb and to your baptism as the power of salvation. Believe in the promises that God gave you in your baptism and in the forgiveness of sins spoken in absolution and given here from the altar.
Many of you have seen the common symbols on medical buildings: a serpent on a pole or two winged serpents on a pole. This is actually taken from Greek mythology. But they are signs of the modern practice of medicine. If someone is bitten by a snake today, he or she will receive a shot of anti–venom.
The medicine for the wages of our sin and death is not found in a hospital, but it is found in Christ's church. Our church fathers called the Lord's Supper “the medicine of immortality”. The cure for death and the curse of sin is found in our Lord's body and blood giving and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Our cure is found from the very one who was crucified.
The Israelites eventually crossed the Jordan river into the promised land. Someday, we will cross over the valley of the shadow of death into our promised land of heaven. But until that day comes, we will have tribulation here on earth during our wilderness journey. But Jesus says, “Take heart; I have overcome the world.” Jesus rose from the dead and crushed the head of Satan. You are forgiven on account of Christ. The Father himself loves you. If you are ever in need, ask, and you will receive. He is your refuge and strength a very present help in trouble. Amen.
( TOP )