Lent Week 4

Psalm: Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22 
Old Testament: Numbers 21:4-9 
Gospel: John 3:14-21 
Epistle: Ephesians 2:1-10

We are more than halfway through Lent this Sunday and the themes of Lent naturally continue: wilderness, sorrow, sin, repentance, but also salvation. Our readings this week revolve around an episode which happened early in the creation of Israel. Toward the end of Israel's wandering in the desert, the people once again complained against God and Moses. The interesting thing about it this time is that they were coming off a great military victory over some Canaanites and were raring for a fight against Edom despite the Lord having told them not to fight against them. (In Deut. 2 it says that this land had been given to the descendants of Esau, and thus the Lord would not allow Israel to take it.) The people got inpatient because they were taking the long way around Edom. A bit silly when you think that they had literally been taking the long way around for 40 years wandering around the desert. The complaint also took the same form it had throughout Numbers, they loathed the food (manna) that they got, so felt that there was no bread and water. So basically The Lord disciplined them through fiery snakes which caused sickness and death. The solution was for Moses to fasten a replica of the snakes to a pole and whoever looked at it would live.

Jesus picks up on this imagery of the snake on the pole when he predicts his death in his discussion with Nicodemus. The Son of Man must be lifted up and whoever believes in him will have eternal life. There are some obvious differences between Jesus and the bronze snakes. Jesus' salvation is for all, not just Israel. And the means of salvation is not sight but rather belief, or faith and trust. I am reminded in this illustration from Jesus of his words in John 20:29 speaking of his resurrection, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed." This idea is what follows in the rest of our reading with John explaining that through Jesus all who believe in him can have eternal life. God provided the means of salvation for the Israelites in their distress in the desert and through Jesus he has provided the means of salvation for all of creation.

In our Ephesians passage, we have a succinct explanation of what we are exploring this Lent. We all were "dead in our trespasses"--walking in the wilderness. We "were by nature children of wrath." The word "wrath" (orgay) can also mean anger and can even have the connotation of the anger exhibited in punishment or even the punishment itself inflicted by civil leaders--sorrow. We lived in the "lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind,"--lives full of sin. In the first 13 verses of chapter 2, Paul uses the word "formerly" 4 times. Paul's audience had changed their behavior in response to God--repentance. Finally, Ephesians 2 contains some of the great statements concerning salvation in Paul's letters: "when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)...For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."

Salvation is the free gift from God to us. We don't deserve it and can't do anything to earn it. Jesus hung on the cross for our salvation and the world's when millennia of history hadn't even occurred yet. God in his great mercy has provided the means for our salvation and we all have to do is accept it. This is great news!

The time of Lent brings us along the journey of these steps, as we remember in our own lives, and corporately, how we experienced each one of them. We identify with each step and remember what God has done in us and for us. We have a tendency to forget and become complacent, but through the journey of Lent we remember once again our own journeys from sin into salvation. We also remember just what our salvation means and what our response should be to God's work in us. This week let us seek God and allow him to remind us of where we have come from and the salvation God has provided.

Grace and Peace.