Easter 6
Num
21:4-9
5/17/20
Do you remember March 21? It’s understandable if you don’t. It was, after all, an eternity ago. On that day Illinois Governor Prizker’s stay
at home order went into effect. It began
on that day and was set to go through April 7.
At that time, the nation lived in fear that scenes we had viewed from
Italy would play out here.
We had learned that Covid-19 was
extremely contagious. We knew that it compromised the respiratory system of its
victims. There were models that
predicted hundreds of thousands of deaths. And the great fear was that the
virus would overwhelm the critical care infrastructure. There are only so many ICU beds, and only so
many respirators. A massive rise in the
need for these would swamp the system and force terrible decisions about who
would live and who would die.
We were told that there was a need
to “flatten the curve” – to contain the spread of the virus and the rate at
which it was infecting people so that the critical care system would not be
overwhelmed. Based on everything we knew
at the time, it made sense. Once things
had been explained in this way, I think most people were willing to accept that
this temporary inconvenience in life was a necessary adjustment.
The problem is that it is no longer
March 21 or April 7. It’s May 17. We’ve been living with these restrictions for
two months now. Some things have been loosened a little – at least we are now
allowed to gather as ten people in church. Some things are even more
restrictive – we all now have to wear masks when we go in contained public
areas.
On March 21 were told it was about
“flattening the curve.” But in the
governor’s announcement of the plan to “open up” Illinois, we have learned now
that the requirements for the lifting of restrictions – including the masks that
make us all look so silly – is a vaccine or treatment for the virus. The goal
seems to be now that we live with restrictions until no can die from Covid-19.
And that means we really don’t know when this will come to an end.
As a result of this, many people are
just fed up with the whole thing. We are tired of living this way. The economic
devastation mounts by the day. Our
understanding of the virus has grown, and while there is much that is no yet
understood, it has become clear that the virus is not as deadly as initial
models predicted. We’ve learned that
those who are most at risk of death live in nursing homes and care
facilities. And there is growing body of
scientists – legitimate experts - who argue that the lock down approach is in
fact counterproductive at this point. There
is rising frustration and anger about the fact that we are being forced to live
this way and have no say in the matter.
In our Old Testament lesson this
morning, there is also frustration and anger.
The Israelites too were living in the midst of challenging circumstances
and they were tired of it. The
difference is that while in our situation there is the possibility of
disagreement about the best course of action to take, in the case of Israel
there was no room for varied opinions.
To complain and grumble about how things were being handled was to
complain against Yahweh himself. It was to sin against God.
Our text begins by telling us, “From Mount
Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of
Edom. And the people became impatient on the way.” Yahweh had delivered the Israelites from
slavery in Egypt with a mighty hand. He
had sent nine devastating plagues on the Egyptians. And in the tenth plague,
the Passover, he had killed the first born of the Egyptians while sparing the
Israelites. Pharaoh had sent them out of
the land, only to change his mind and send the Egyptian army after them. At the Red Sea God had dramatically saved
Israel as they walked through the sea on dry ground, while the water crashed
back in and drowned the Egyptians.
At
Mt. Sinai, Yahweh had entered into a covenant with Israel. He had taken them as his choice possession
and given them the Torah to live in this covenant. He had brought them to the border of Canaan –
the land flowing with milk and honey he had promised to give them. Yet there they had rebelled against God. They
had refused to enter Canaan, and so God said that they would wander in the
wilderness for forty years. All those
twenty years and older would die during that time and would never enter the
promised land.
Feeding
a huge group of people on the move takes a feat of logistics. But Yahweh had no problem doing so. He fed the people with manna, a substance
they gathered from the ground each morning except the Sabbath. And he sent
quail upon the camp to give them meat.
In
spite of this we learn in our text: “And the people spoke against God and
against Moses, ‘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.’” Now where do you begin
in analyzing this statement? There are
three facts that the Israelites conveniently ignored. First, Yahweh had freed them from slavery in
Egypt when he brought them out. Second, they were wandering in the wilderness
because they had rebelled against God when he wanted to bring them into the
promised land. And third, God was
providing them with food, and also with water. They lacked for nothing to keep
them alive.
Like
the Israelites, we sometimes complain about the circumstances of life. We blame
God for the difficulties he has allowed.
Yet, like the Israelites, we too conveniently ignore that often it is
our own actions that have caused the circumstances in the first place. God has given us the Ten Commandments because
they describe how he has ordered his world to work. If you try to do things your own way – if you
ignore his ordering – the outcome is predictable. Things will not turn out
well. You will hurt yourself. You will hurt others. And you have don’t get to blame God when it
was you who rejected his direction; when it was you who sinned.
Or
like the Israelites we find that God is providing, but he isn’t providing
according to the standards we think he should.
His provision just doesn’t measure up to what we expect. An you know
what? God doesn’t care. He has promised
you food and clothing and nothing else.
He has promised you daily bread, not filet mignon. And our grumbling and complaining; our
coveting what others have because they have it “better” is sin against God.
The
people had spoken against God and Moses. And we learn in our text that God
responded by punishing the people. He
sent fiery serpents among them, and they bit the people, so that many died.
The people knew that they had brought this
upon themselves. They came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have
spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take
away the serpents from us.”
So
Moses prayed for the people. And in this action we see one of several ways that
Moses is an Old Testament figure who points to the fulfillment found in Jesus
Christ. St. Paul told the Romans, “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who
died--more than that, who was raised--who is at the right hand of God, who
indeed is interceding for us.” The
exalted Lord Jesus – whose ascension we will celebrate this week – is at the
God the Father’s right hand and intercedes for us. He speaks on our behalf, and the next event
in our text reveals why his words have force – why they are honored by the
Father.
Yahweh said to Moses, “Make
a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees
it, shall live.”
Moses did so – he made a bronze serpent and set it on a
pole. And just as God had promised, if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at
the bronze serpent and live.
Jesus
tells us that this bronze serpent was a type of his own cross. It was something in the Old Testament that
pointed forward to how Jesus Christ would win forgiveness for us. Jesus told Nicodemus in John chapter 3,
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of
Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have
eternal life.” Jesus was lifted up on
the cross in order to win forgiveness for us by his sacrificial death.
Yet
a death that ended in death would not be a source of hope for us. And so on the
third day – on Easter – God raised Jesus from the dead. He vindicated Jesus and his sacrifice. He showed us that all who believe in Jesus
have forgiveness and eternal life because Jesus lives. He has defeated death for us. We already enjoy eternal life with God that
death cannot end. And Jesus will give us a share in his resurrection on the
Last Day when he returns in glory and raises our bodies.
In
our text God says, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who
is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.”
God attaches his promise to an object – to something right there in the
midst of the people. He says, “everyone
who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.”
We
see here that God works in a sacramental way – he works through located means. Because we are physical people who lead a
bodily existence, he identifies things in our midst that he uses – means
whereby his gives forgiveness. He
attaches his promise to these things that are located in our midst. We do not have to wonder about where God is
present giving us forgiveness. He has
given us the object for our faith, because as Luther reminds us, faith needs
something to believe in.
That
is what Christ has given us in the Sacrament of the Altar, and that is one of
the main reasons have been so eager to return to services at church – to return
to the Divine Service. Here Jesus has
added his word of promise to bread and wine.
He had told you that this bread is his body given for you; that this wine
is his blood shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. Faith receives something tangible to believe
in, because Jesus is still the incarnate Lord who is true God and true man. He deals with us as people who are body and
soul. And in so doing he shows what awaits us for our Lord has said, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my
blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
Forgiven
and fed in this way, the Holy Spirit then leads and strengthens us to receive
our Lord’s other gifts with thanksgiving.
We receive our daily bread as a gift from God, and seek to assist others
with their needs. We give thanks for the blessings God gives to us – blessings
that support our body and life. We live
as those who trust God’s promise of forgiveness and eternal life because Jesus
who was lifted up on the cross has risen from the dead.
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