2 Easter, Year B

“TEARING DOWN – AND BUILDING UP”
Acts 3: 12a, 13 – 15, 17 – 26; Psalm 111; I John 5: 1 – 6; John 20: 19 – 31
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at St. Stephen’s Church, Harrisburg, IL; Sunday, April 23rd, 2006


Back when I was in the Army, many times we used to close our programs with a cute little song (which actually came from a 1930s Broadway musical), part of which went like this:

I wouldn’t give a bean, to be a fancy-pants Marine,
I’d rather be a Dogface Soldier like I am.
I wouldn’t trade my old ODs[1] for all the Navy’s dungarees,
For I’m the walkin’ pride of Uncle Sam.
On all the posters that I read, it says “the Army builds men”,
So they’re tearing me down to build me over again…..

Now despite the fact that it was fun to sing that song to an audience that might have had Marines and Navy personnel in it, the reason I began this sermon with those lyrics was because of the last line, “so, they’re tearing me down to build me over again.”

Every person who’s ever been in the military remembers their initial training, where the person who came to boot camp begins to be reshaped into a useful member of the organization.

Actually, most every human organization operates pretty much in the same way: new members are trained and indoctrinated so that they can become effective members of the team. In the process, some old stuff within the individual is removed, only to be replaced by something new and more useful. That way, the mission can be accomplished.

So, my premise is that, in today’s Gospel reading about the familiar encounter “Doubting Thomas” had with the risen Jesus, Our Lord is “tearing something down” that’s within Thomas, only to turn around and “build him up again” into something new and useful for the Kingdom of God.

Furthermore, what was an issue for Thomas is also an issue for us: the issue of the reality of the resurrection.

So, we should begin with a look at the Gospel reading itself….

It’s clear that Thomas has an issue: the issue is that he demands physical proof that Jesus is alive: “unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in His side, I will not believe.” Thomas’ demand isn’t all that much different than the demands the Jews made of Jesus, especially in the first 11 chapters of John’s Gospel account,[2] when they demanded to know “by what authority He was doing these things”, demanding a “sign” to prove what He was saying is true.

Thomas’ issue is our issue: we want proof!...we want proof that the resurrection is real. We want proof in scientific terms. But, I am getting ahead of myself.

So, let’s return to the Gospel account….eight days later, gathered in the same place as they were earlier, we see that Jesus gives Thomas exactly what he demands, saying, “put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt, but believe.”

Now, note a couple of things about this story:

1. Jesus gives Thomas exactly what he needs in order to believe: Notice the wording of Jesus’ instructions to Thomas in their encounter….they answer exactly the demands that Thomas made.
   
   
2. Jesus answers Thomas’ demands in Jesus’ timeframe: No doubt, Thomas had an agonizing time between the time that he made his demand to the other disciples, and that encounter with Jesus behind those locked doors. It’s probably safe to say that Thomas wondered if he would have the proof he needed in order to become an effective Apostle.

Now, let’s turn to our situation, applying some of the lessons from Thomas’ encounter to ourselves….

First of all, it was the transforming encounter that each disciple had with the risen Christ that empowered them to become Apostles,[3] We can see this most clearly in the case of Peter, whose bumbling ways were torn out by his encounter with the risen Jesus, only to be built up into a powerful and persuasive preacher…see Peter’s sermon from Acts, chapter three, read today, as proof.

Secondly, each disciple, in order to become an apostle, had to have the power of the Holy Spirit working within him….In today’s Gospel, Jesus breathes on the disciples and says, “receive the Holy Spirit.” In connection with that sending, He then says, “as the Father has sent me, so I send you.” The Holy Spirit’s work is to tear out of us what is unhelpful to the work of the gospel, that which might even totally block the work the Lord has for us to do, in the same way that Thomas’ doubts may well have prevented him from every becoming an Apostle.

We began with a military analogy, that of a person entering boot camp to have some old things torn out, only to have them be built up into something useful for the organization.

If the person entering the military had training that only consisted of reading histories of the army they’d joined, then they wouldn’t be ready for the battles that are to come…..No, the training they receive as a new recruit consists not only of learning the history of the army they are now a part of, but of the training they receive now, which has a lot in common with the training that might have existed a 100 years ago or more, yet which has the battles of today in mind as well.

Scripture functions in this way: John reminds us in our reading today, that “Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in His name.”

As we read Holy Scripture, the proof of the transforming power of the risen Christ to change the lives of those early disciples, building them up in order to be sent out as Apostles, comes alive with the aid of the Holy Spirit.

And so, we have a face – to – face encounter with the risen Jesus, as the Holy Spirit aids us to see Him in all His fullness. To each believer, the story ceases to be only a story of something that happened 2,000 years ago, as it is replaced by the upbuilding experience of Jesus Christ, risen from the dead and now ascended into Heaven.

Thanks be to God!

AMEN.


[1] “ODs” were an early form of fatigues, which were Olive Drab in color.
[2] The first 11 chapters of John are often nicknamed by Biblical scholars “The Book of Signs”, since the things that Jesus did were intended to be signs to those who saw them.
[3] The title “Apostle” comes from the Greek word for “sent out”…”apo + stello” = “away + sent”.

Good Friday, Year B

“A BLOOD SACRIFICE FOR SIN”
Isaiah 52: 13 – 53: 12; Psalm 22: 1 - 21;Hebrews 10: 1 – 25; John 18: 1- 19: 37
A homily by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at St. Mark’s Church, West Frankfort, IL; and at St. Stephen’s Church, Harrisburg, IL; Friday, April 14th, 2006

“Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9: 22 NRSV)

On this Good Friday, when we remember our Lord Jesus Christ’s sacrifice for our sins, His precious blood spilled on the hard wood of the cross, it might be well for us to reflect a little on the meaning of that sacrifice, made once for all time on this day.

“The life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you for making atonement for your lives on the altar, for, as life, it is the blood that makes atonement.” (Leviticus 17: 11 NRSV)

Why is shedding blood necessary to cleanse us from sin? The pattern is very clear in the Old Testament, as we can see in the passage from Leviticus, quoted above. And the New Testament picks up the theme, particularly in Hebrews, beginning at Chapter nine, and continuing into the passage we heard tonight.

The Leviticus passage makes clear that a life is given up (in Leviticus, the life of an animal – for Christians, the life of Jesus Christ) in order to restore another life to full life , lived according to God’s purposes.

There’s a clue as to the reason for the shedding of blood: that sin destroys life.

So, let’s reflect briefly on the nature of sin, and how it destroys life:

We should begin by saying that sin is often quite attractive, appealing in some way to one or more of our natural senses, or to one or more of the basic needs that we all have in order to be able to continue living….Look, for example, at the Temptation in the Garden of Eden: The Tempter came, saying, “did God say ‘you shall not eat from any tree in the garden?’”[1] Then, having been led to the forbidden tree, Eve notices that it was “good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise.”[2] Sin is often just like that….it looks mighty good at the beginning.

Sad to say, we are all “fully trained sinners”. We know how to sin very easily, and most of us need absolutely no coaching in being able to be very good at sinning.

But where does sin lead us? Beyond the surface attraction or pleasure, what then?

That’s what a blood sacrifice – animals in the Old Testament, Jesus Christ in the New Testament – was designed to do:

1. To remind us that life is fragile. The animal whose blood was spilled on the altar of the Temple in Jerusalem died quickly, its lifeblood pouring out over the great stone altar. Likewise, Jesus’ blood poured from His body, and His breath with it, and in just six hours on the cross, He was dead.[3]
   
   
2. Secondly, the shedding of blood reminds us that sin leads to death. The dying animal became the substitute for the deadly effects of sin in the ancient Israelites. Jesus’ death becomes the substitute, done once for all time on the cross, as a substitute for our sins. Jesus died so that we don’t have to, if we accept the benefits that flow from His passion, death and resurrection.

The events of this day ask us to reflect on the ways in which our own sins destroy life….They destroy life by alienating us from God, and from each other. Alone in our sinful isolation, we become easy prey for the Prince of Darkness, who seeks to claim us as his victim in the ongoing struggle of good with evil.

May the blood of Jesus Christ stand between us and our sins, restoring us to God by the death and sacrifice of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

AMEN.

[1] Genesis 3: 1
[2] Genesis 3: 6
[3] Contemporary accounts of crucifixions tell us that victims often were on the cross for a day – and in some cases, up to three days – before death ensued. Jesus’ death in just six hours was a short length of time, by comparison (see Pilate’s reaction to the Centurion’s report that Jesus was dead – Mark 15: 44 – 45).

Maundy Thursday, Year B

“PRESENT WITH US”
Exodus 12: 1 – 14a; Psalm 78: 14 – 20, 23 – 25; I Corinthians 11: 23 – 32; Luke 22: 14 – 30
A homily by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Church of the Redeemer, Cairo, IL; and at St. James’ Memorial Church, Marion, IL; Thursday, April 13th, 2006


Have you ever thought about the Sacrament of Holy Communion? Have you ever wondered about what actually is going on during this service, which we celebrate because our Lord commanded us to? Since it was on the evening of this day that Our Lord instituted this Sacrament, it is particularly appropriate that we pause for a few minutes to reflect more deeply on our communion with the Lord in this service.

Christians down through the centuries, and especially ever since the Reformation of the 16th Century, have pondered just what the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist[1] signifies.

And, they have come down on various positions, in response to their reflections….

For example, following the teachings of the great Swiss reformer, Ulrich Zwingli, some believe that the Lord’s Supper (as they would generally call communion) is simply a memorial to Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. So, coming to the Lord’s Supper is merely a response to Jesus’ command to “do this in remembrance of me.” It’s probably fair to say that Baptists, Methodists, and others, take this view of Communion.

Others take the position that the bread actually becomes the body of Christ, and the wine actually becomes the blood of Christ. Somehow, the appearance of the two elements doesn’t change, at least as far as our eyes can see, but there is a true change in the substance of the elements, even as the accidents[2]have not changed. This process is called Transsubstantiation, and is reflected in the Eucharistic theology of the Roman Catholic Church.

Quite naturally, we Anglicans take a “middle road”. Simply put, we don’t believe that Communion is something that we do merely to remember Jesus by. Jesus’ own words, recorded in their earliest written form by St. Paul in Chapter 11 of First Corinthians,[3] seems to indicate that something more than a simple memory is indicated…Otherwise, why would Jesus say “this is my body…this is my blood” as He distributed the elements to His disciples on that first Last Supper? We Anglicans believe in something called real presence[4], that is that, in Holy Communion, Jesus is actually present with us in a way that is unique to any and all of the other ways He is present with us in our lives. But, we don’t believe that the bread actually changes into His body, nor do we believe that the wine actually changes into His blood. As a friend of mine once said, “if we try to explain what actually happens too carefully, we get into trouble.” Yet, Christ is present with us, actually present just as if His physical self were in the room with us, in the Sacrament. Jesus’ own words seem to indicate that real presence is the correct way to regard the Last Supper, the Holy Communion, the Mass.

So, if Jesus is “really present” with us as we eat and drink, what might the implications be for us as we do so?

Two thoughts come to mind:

1. The past, present and future are all collapsed into one: time disappears as we unite with the Saints down through the ages, from those first disciples down to the newest Christian, in sharing Jesus’ body and blood. Furthermore, since Jesus took on our flesh and blood, and arose with a resurrection body, taking the tokens of our humanness with Him when He ascended into heaven, we are united outside of time with those who will come to know the Lord in the years to come. We share in the heavenly banquet that the saints of old now have a part in as they see the Lord face-to-face in heaven. Isn’t that awesome?
   
   
2. “We are what we eat”: If Jesus is really present with us in this Sacrament, then, as we partake of Him, our whole self is transformed, slowly but surely, more and more into His likeness. Just as the physical food we eat directly determines what sort of a physical body we have, so does the spiritual food that Jesus offers us in the Communion of His body and blood transform us more and more into His likeness. It is food that sustains us in the wilderness of this life, just as the Chosen People were sustained by manna in the wilderness during their 40 years of wandering.[5]

Jesus said to His disciples, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the ages.”[6] One of the ways Jesus is with us, “wherever two or three are gathered together in His name”,[7] is in His gift of Himself to us in Holy Communion.

Thanks be to God!

AMEN.

[1] Eucharist comes from the Greek word for “thanks”. Note how many times the word “thanks” appears in the Eucharistic prayers.
[2] Accidents is the technical terms which refers to the actual bread and the actual wine.
[3] Most scholars agree that the first letter to the Church in Corinth was written in the early 50s, AD.
[4] Other Christians also accept the concept of the Real Presence. Lutherans are an example.
[5] John Chapter six makes an excellent comparison of manna to the living bread that Jesus offers.
[6] Matthew 28: 20
[7] Matthew 18: 20

4 Lent, Year B

"MYSTERIES"
Jeremiah 31: 31 - 34; Psalm 51;Hebrews 5: 1 – 10; John 12: 20 – 33
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker given at St. Mark’s Church, West Frankfort, IL; and at St. James’ Memorial Church, Marion, IL; Sunday, April 2nd, 2006

Have you ever thought about the mysteries we encounter in life every day? Sometimes, we experience things we think we really understand, but when we think about it a little, we see that we really don’t know all that much about them at all.

For example, growing up in Nebraska farm country, I used to stand as a young boy by the windmill that pumped water up from the ground into the tank where the cattle came to drink. I would watch the stiff Nebraska wind drive the windmill’s fan around and around, raising and lowering the shaft that made the pump work.

Now, even at that early age, I knew about the force of the wind, and I think I even knew a little about air molecules and so forth. But to tell you the truth, I don’t think I know, even today, much about how the wind is created, and how the various high and low pressure systems interact with one another to create wind. Even the most knowledgeable scientists will admit that there are still many mysteries to be unraveled about the wind and the weather.

But, even if we don’t understand all the deep mysteries that surround us, we can observe enough to know that something works the way it does. We can see the effects, even if we don’t know why or how of it. Going back to the illustration of the wind, we may not understand everything about the wind, but we can see very well what the wind can do.

That is a very basic definition of a mystery: “something that’s true, but we don’t know exactly why.”

Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins is a truth that we Christians proclaim in our faith….Sunday by Sunday, we say so in the Nicene Creed, which we will say in a few minutes this morning. But, we don’t know everything there is to know about the “ why” and the “how” of Jesus’ passion, as it relates to our salvation. Hold onto that idea for a minute, and let’s turn our attention now to our Gospel reading from John, chapter 12….

Jesus describes His coming death, now just a few days away (we are near the beginning of Holy Week), by offering two examples that will describe something about the reason for Jesus’ death, and the effects this death will have on the world….

Using the example of a seed which is planted in the ground, Jesus makes it clear that the reason for His death is the same as the function of a seed: the seed’s entire reason for being is to be planted, to give up its own identity and its own life in order to give new life to the world. So, Jesus’ entire reason for coming to this earth is to give up His life, in order that new life may come into the world.

Turning to the effects that Jesus’ death will have on the world, He makes a mysterious comment, saying, “I, when I am lifted up, will draw all people to myself.”

This is not the first time Jesus has used this phrase, “lifted up.” Back in John, chapter three, verses 14 – 15, in speaking to Nicodemus, Jesus says, “just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.”

Jesus is making a very clear connection to an incident that happened during the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. Since it may help us to understand the effects that Jesus’ death will have, let’s remind ourselves about this incident, as we read it in The Book of Numbers, chapter 21….

The Israelites were being attacked by poisonous snakes. So God told Moses to make a snake out of bronze and put it on a pole. Anyone who had been bitten would be saved from the effects of the bite and from certain death if they only looked at the bronze snake.

Having to look at the snake on the pole produced several effects on the Israelites:

1. They were driven by their need for deliverance…As we used to say in the Army, “there are no atheists in foxholes.” If the danger is great enough, people will overcome their natural tendency to doubt.
   
   
2. But that wasn’t the only thing they had to do: having been driven by their extreme circumstances, they then had to have faith that this piece of metal on a stick could deliver them. Although Scripture doesn’t tell us so, it’s reasonable to think that the Israelites probably thought to themselves, “what sort of a nutty thing is this?....that piece of bronze can’t possibly save anyone who’s in need of deliverance from the bite of a snake.” And, no doubt, that line of thinking prevailed until someone got bitten, and, in the extreme distress of feeling the snake’s poison beginning to work on their body, they decided to look at the bronze snake on the pole. It was then that they knew that looking at the pole worked….One by one, as they saw a person, and then another person, and then another being delivered, they knew it worked just as God had told them it would.
   
   
3. Finally, as the effects of the snake-on-a-pole’s ability to save spread throughout the camp, this bronze symbol became the focal point for the entire camp. People could be saved only if they could see the pole, and only if they remained in visual contact with it. The pole not only gathered the people around it, but it also unified them in the process.

One final note before we leave this story: it’s worth noting that the symbol that had the power to save was in itself a reminder of the very thing that was destroying the people.

What lessons can we draw from this Old Testament account, so as to understand Jesus’ death? Since He connects the two so clearly, and since John records not only the Nicodemus conversation where Jesus used the phrase, “lifted up”, but also another incident in chapter eight, verse 28, where the phrase appears again, there must be something significant to the image, “lifted up”, especially since, in today’s reading, Jesus begins to use the first person, saying, “I, when I am lifted up, will draw all people to myself.”

To answer that question,, it seems sensible to apply the lessons from the Wilderness experience to Jesus’ death and to its effects on us:

1. Many times, we are driven to the cross of Jesus and to a realization of our own need for deliverance, by extreme danger that threatens not only our physical life, but our immortal soul, as well….”There are no atheists in foxholes”, remember? Many persons have come to a personal faith in Jesus Christ after a lifetime of running away from Him….Often, these conversions come after a life of crime, or addiction to some destructive lifestyle or another. Failure after failure mounts us, threatening to poison us into physical death and into eternal separation from God.
   
   We would do well to pause here for a moment to acknowledge a widespread belief that permeates the society in which we live. It even permeates the church: it is the idea that “we really don’t need saving.” “We really aren’t all that bad, and certainly not bad enough to need redeeming from anything.” Surely, if we are honest about it, human history proves that we are all “fully trained sinners”, who cannot save ourselves from our own wicked and destructive ways.
   
   
2. We might be tempted to look at Jesus on the cross, and react just the same way the ancient Israelites did when they were told to look at the bronze snake: “how can a man on a cross save anyone?”, we might ask…..It makes about as much sense as a bronze snake on a pole being able to deliver someone from the venom of a poisonous snake. At this point, we return to the issue of mystery, the mystery of Jesus’ death on a cross being able to save….The reason it does save is because that is God’s design. We don’t completely understand it, but we know it’s true, because we can see it working….working in people’s lives.
   
   Now the deliverance that Jesus offers is not just for the eternal life that is ours
   when we accept Christ as Savior. It isn’t just “pie-in-the-sky, someday”. The salvation that comes through Christ begins in the here-and-the-now. It changes people from the inside out, in ways that no Dale Carnegie Course or etiquette school ever could. There is a marked change in every person who genuinely comes to faith in Christ.
   
   
3. Jesus’ cross becomes the focus of our faith life, just as that snake-on-a-pole drew the Hebrew people those thousands of years ago. No wonder Jesus said, “I, when I am lifted up, will draw all people to myself.” Every church is a group of people who have gathered around the cross of Christ, each one in direct relation to Christ and to His cross, passion, death and resurrection. Church unity is dependent on each member of the church being unified around that cross. Whatever convictions we might have on any number of issues, all of them must take second place to our primary relationship to Jesus Christ, lifted high on the cross to take away our sins in order to give us new life.

And so, we come full circle, realizing we are dealing with the mystery of God’s plan for salvation, for delivering us from ourselves and from the power of sin. We don’t know all the “whys” and “hows”, but we know Jesus delivers us by the effects of His working in people’s lives. Seeing God work in another person’s life through the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we become united in gratitude to God for His most precious gift, freely given to them and to us. And so, we become brothers and sisters in Christ, united in our focus on Him, and indebted through all eternity for the life that is ours in His death.

AMEN.

5 Lent, Year B

"MYSTERIES"
Jeremiah 31: 31 - 34; Psalm 51; Hebrews 5: 1 – 10; John 12: 20 – 33
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at St. Mark’s Church, West Frankfort, IL; and at St. James’ Memorial Church, Marion, IL; Sunday, April 2nd, 2006

Have you ever thought about the mysteries we encounter in life every day? Sometimes, we experience things we think we really understand, but when we think about it a little, we see that we really don’t know all that much about them at all.

For example, growing up in Nebraska farm country, I used to stand as a young boy by the windmill that pumped water up from the ground into the tank where the cattle came to drink. I would watch the stiff Nebraska wind drive the windmill’s fan around and around, raising and lowering the shaft that made the pump work.

Now, even at that early age, I knew about the force of the wind, and I think I even knew a little about air molecules and so forth. But to tell you the truth, I don’t think I know, even today, much about how the wind is created, and how the various high and low pressure systems interact with one another to create wind. Even the most knowledgeable scientists will admit that there are still many mysteries to be unraveled about the wind and the weather.

But, even if we don’t understand all the deep mysteries that surround us, we can observe enough to know that something works the way it does. We can see the effects, even if we don’t know why or how of it. Going back to the illustration of the wind, we may not understand everything about the wind, but we can see very well what the wind can do.

That is a very basic definition of a mystery: “something that’s true, but we don’t know exactly why.”

Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins is a truth that we Christians proclaim in our faith….Sunday by Sunday, we say so in the Nicene Creed, which we will say in a few minutes this morning. But, we don’t know everything there is to know about the “ why” and the “how” of Jesus’ passion, as it relates to our salvation. Hold onto that idea for a minute, and let’s turn our attention now to our Gospel reading from John, chapter 12….

Jesus describes His coming death, now just a few days away (we are near the beginning of Holy Week), by offering two examples in our text for today that will describe something about the reason for Jesus’ death, and the effects this death will have on the world….

Using the example of a seed which is planted in the ground, Jesus makes it clear that the reason for His death is the same as the function of a seed: the seed’s entire reason for being is to be planted, to give up its own identity and its own life in order to give new life to the world. So, Jesus’ entire reason for coming to this earth is to give up His life, in order that new life may come into the world.

Turning to the effects that Jesus’ death will have on the world, He makes a mysterious comment, saying, “I, when I am lifted up, will draw all people to myself.”

This is not the first time Jesus has used this phrase, “lifted up.” Back in John, chapter three, verses 14 – 15, in speaking to Nicodemus, Jesus says, “just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.”

Jesus is making a very clear connection to an incident that happened during the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. Since it may help us to understand the effects that Jesus’ death will have, let’s remind ourselves about this incident, as we read it in The Book of Numbers, chapter 21….[1]

The Israelites were being attacked by poisonous snakes. So God told Moses to make a snake out of bronze and put it on a pole. Anyone who had been bitten would be saved from the effects of the bite and from certain death if they only looked at the bronze snake.

Having to look at the snake on the pole produced several effects on the Israelites:

1. They were driven by their need for deliverance…As we used to say in the Army, “there are no atheists in foxholes.” If the danger is great enough, people will overcome their natural tendency to doubt.
   
   
2. But that wasn’t the only thing they had to do: having been driven by their extreme circumstances, they then had to have faith that this piece of metal on a stick could deliver them. Although Scripture doesn’t tell us so, it’s reasonable to think that the Israelites probably thought to themselves, “what sort of a nutty thing is this?....that piece of bronze can’t possibly save anyone who’s in need of deliverance from the bite of a snake.” And, no doubt, that line of thinking prevailed until someone got bitten, and, in the extreme distress of feeling the snake’s poison beginning to work on their body, they decided to look at the bronze snake on the pole. It was then that they knew that looking at the pole worked….One by one, as they saw a person, and then another person, and then another being delivered, they knew it worked just as God had told them it would.
   
   
3. Finally, as the effects of the snake-on-a-pole’s ability to save spread throughout the camp, this bronze symbol became the focal point for the entire camp. People could be saved only if they could see the pole, and only if they remained in visual contact with it. The pole not only gathered the people around it, but it also unified them in the process.
   
   One final note before we leave this story: it’s worth noting that the symbol that
   had the power to save was in itself a reminder of the very thing that was the cause of their destruction.

What lessons can we draw from this Old Testament account, so as to understand Jesus’ death? Since He connects the two so clearly, and since John records not only the Nicodemus conversation where Jesus used the phrase, “lifted up”, but also another incident in chapter eight, verse 28, where the phrase appears again, there must be something significant to the image, “lifted up”, especially since, in today’s reading, Jesus begins to use the first person, saying, “I, when I am lifted up, will draw all people to myself.”

To answer that question, it seems sensible to apply the lessons from the Wilderness experience to Jesus’ death and to its effects on us:

1. Many times, we are driven to the cross of Jesus and to a realization of our own need for deliverance by extreme danger that threatens not only our physical life, but our immortal soul, as well….”There are no atheists in foxholes”, remember? Many persons have come to a personal faith in Jesus Christ after a lifetime of running away from Him….Often, these conversions come after a life of crime, or addiction to some destructive lifestyle or another. Failure after failure mounts us, threatening to poison us into physical death and into eternal separation from God.
   
   Of course, for most of us, the saving that God does in our lives isn’t so dramatic as all that….most of us don’t live extraordinarily evil or destructive lives. But God’s salvation, made available through Jesus’ cross and passion, is real, nonetheless.
   
   We would do well to pause here for a moment to acknowledge a widespread belief that permeates the society in which we live. It even permeates the church: it is the idea that “we really don’t need saving.” “We really aren’t all that bad, and certainly not bad enough to need redeeming from anything.” Surely, if we are honest about it, human history proves that we are all “fully trained sinners.” We cannot save ourselves from our own wicked and destructive ways.
   
   
2. We might be tempted to look at Jesus on the cross, and react just the same way the ancient Israelites did when they were told to look at the bronze snake: “how can a man on a cross save anyone?”, we might ask…..It makes about as much sense as a bronze snake on a pole being able to deliver someone from the venom of a poisonous snake. At this point, we return to the issue of mystery, the mystery of Jesus’ death on a cross being able to save….The reason it does save is because that is God’s design. We don’t completely understand it, but we know it’s true, because we can see it working….working in people’s lives.
   
   Now the deliverance that Jesus offers is not just for the eternal life that is ours
   when we accept Christ as Savior. It isn’t just “pie-in-the-sky, someday”. The salvation that comes through Christ begins in the here-and-the-now. It changes people from the inside out, in ways that no Dale Carnegie Course or etiquette school ever could. There is a marked change in every person who genuinely comes to faith in Christ.
   
   
3. Jesus’ cross becomes the focus of our faith life, just as that snake-on-a-pole drew the Hebrew people those thousands of years ago. No wonder Jesus said, “I, when I am lifted up, will draw all people to myself.” Every church is a group of people who have gathered around the cross of Christ, each one in direct relation to Christ and to His cross, passion, death and resurrection. Church unity is dependent on each member of the church being unified around that cross. Whatever convictions we might have on any number of issues, all of them must take second place to our primary relationship to Jesus Christ, lifted high on the cross to take away our sins in order to give us new life.

And so, we come full circle, realizing we are dealing with the mystery of God’s plan for salvation, for delivering us from ourselves and from the power of sin. We don’t know all the “whys” and “hows”, but we know Jesus delivers us by the effects of His working in people’s lives. Seeing God work in another person’s life through the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we become united in gratitude to God for His most precious gift, freely given to them and to us. And so, we become brothers and sisters in Christ, united in our focus on Him, and indebted through all eternity for the life that is ours in His death.

AMEN.

[1] The full account is found in Numbers 21: 4 – 9.