I have often had the privilege of singing in a choir. I remember being in one church where I was asked to join a group singing some music for Holy Week. We practised this one piece a lot and I thought we sounded quite good. For some reason we never performed it! We enjoyed practising, and I can’t remember why but it never got sung past the practice. Hopefully, it wasn’t a reflection on our singing, but I do have to wonder ….
Part of the music included the words that we heard in our Gospel reading this morning, “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved.” Amazing words, words that remind us straight away of what happened on the cross as Jesus died.
In the gospel reading we heard of Jesus being lifted up on the cross and a link is made with the reading from Numbers (21:4-9). The reading from Numbers might seem a strange reading. The Israelites moaned and God responded by sending poisonous snakes to bite them ? It doesn’t sound right to us.
However, when we look into this passage a bit further we can see that God had a remedy to this. He told Moses to make a serpent and put it on a pole. Moses made a bronze serpent and when people looked at it, and had faith they were healed.
The people needed to have faith in God. He had done so much for them but they moaned and grumbled. The fact that the people God saved from a horrible lifestyle of slavery then complained about food always makes me both shocked and comforted. Those two words don’t really go together.
The shock is that they were so ungrateful they missed the point. God had rescued them and it would all work out in the end. The difficulty was that to get there they might suffer. This is where I find comfort. God helped the people and He helps us. As we follow Him, even when things might seem difficult and unfair we know that He won’t let us down.
In the gospel reading John (3:13-17) we are reminded of the bronze serpent. The serpent represented healing and freedom if you had the faith to trust in God. To look at the serpent meant that you were asking for healing. As often happens with objects meant to help us the bronze serpent became an item of idolatry.
In the same way that the serpent was lifted up and people had the choice to ask for healing or not, so when we think of Jesus being lifted up on the cross we can ask the same question. When you think of it like that it seems quite brutal. People were healed from the effects of a poisonous snake bite iff they looked at the serpent, and had the faith in God that He could heal them.
When we look at Jesus on the cross we are not magically transported into a relationship with God where we are healed and forgiven. We need to have faith, to believe and then when we ask God for forgiveness, It is given.
The passage from the gospel according to John contained one of the most famous verses in the Bible. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
The verse is really well known because it explains exactly what God has done for us. We just need to accept it, we can believe, be healed and be changed so we are more like Him.
When I looked at the reading from the letter to the Philippians (2:6-11) I was very happy. It is a passage that I know well and to be honest this morning has brought two very well known passages with this as well as the gospel reading.
The reading from Philippians may have been the first creed or statement of belief. The people were working out who Jesus was and this section may even have been known as a popular hymn. We definitely know it as a popular hymn because we may think of the hymn, “At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow.”
The passage reminds us that Jesus could have had all the status and power in the world that He wanted, but He humbled Himself. It says He emptied Himself. He became like a servant, and was taken to death. It was all for us.
It is a really challenging thought. God became as nothing for us, so that we could know Him, so that we could turn to Him and be healed.
It goes against all ideas of power that we might have. All ideas of power that are portrayed in the media.
Recently in the news we have seen a lot of political changes. On the radio I have heard of person after person condemning other people.We have heard of people burning down hotels with asylum seekers in. There have been protests. In Ukraine war continues. In Gaza people are starving.
There are countless other situations across the world where people’s search for power has ended up with them condemning others. The exact opposite of why Jesus came into the world, not to condemn but to save.
It is hard to see and hear the news, it feels as if power and influence is taking control with disastrous effects. I can’t help thinking that when we think of God coming into our world we are looking at something quite different. God, who had all the power became as nothing for us.
It is interesting that for us, the most powerful vision we can have is of God suffering on the cross for us. He was so powerful that He could step aside and show even more power and humility by becoming as nothing for us,
I will never know why the music I practised wasn’t sung. I pray that I will always remember God who became nothing for us. I pray that we will know and worship Jesus on the cross. That, as we think of this, we will know the best reason to believe - that we will know that the greatest power of all was in Him dying for us and rising again. I also pray that we will remember that the best thing we can do is to believe and have faith. May this be what we are known for. AMEN
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