Causes and Cures - March 22, 2009

March 22, 2009
Ephesians 2:1-10
John 3:14-21
Causes and Cures
Year B
Fourth Sunday of Lent

What brings more fear to people than the snake. Most of us absolutely hate snakes. Perhaps that is why we make up so many stories about them. As the bad guy. The story goes that is was the snake which bought evil to mankind in the garden of evil, and God instilled a hatred of humans and snakes every since. I don’t know if that satisfies my fear of snakes, but I guess it is a start.
Moses takes up on the story of the fear of snakes when the Isrealites are wandering in the desert, and they start to complain that they want to go back to Egypt. Moses prays and a brood of snakes come into camp and kills them. In order to stop the snake attack, Moses is told to make a statue of a snake and lift it up – if people look up at the snake on a stick, then they would be saved from the snakes at their feet.
That may seem a little absurd, except when you realize that the modern symbol for a physician as one who heals is a snake wrapped around a stick.
We may hate snakes, and even think of it as an evil creature – but it is also the universal symbol of healing. Everywhere in the world – people understand the symbol of a snake on a stick as a symbol for a doctor.
Parasites were a big problem in the ancient world, and in many poorer parts of the world they are still a problem. There is one called the fiery serpent- which will live inside of the body and cause a lot of damage. The only way to get it out – is to cut a slit in the skin, and as it crawls out- to carefully wrap it around a stick. If you are not careful, it could break off a stay inside. The need to get rid of this parasite was so common in ancient times that the universal symbol for someone who could heal you from sickness . So even today, doctors have the symbol behind their name.
In the modern world – our explanations for sickness have changed, the illnesses which affect us are still the same. Many of us don’t worry too much about parasites, even though we don’t realize that they are still the cause of many of our illnesses. But we still do look for people who can heal us and make us better. We still seek the person with the reputation for making things better. We still seek those with the symbol of the snake on a stick.
Perhaps that is why the book of John picks up on the ancient theme of the snake on a stick, but instead of talking about snakes – John says that Jesus himself must be lifted up high so that the people can see.
John is saying that we will look for the sign of Jesus being lifted up on a cross to be healed. In this instance, we are not seeking healing from a physical condition, but a spiritual condition – the condition of sin in our lives.
In our world we are no longer worry too much about being poisoned by snakes, but we can worry about the poison of sin in our hearts. There is the poison of jealousy, greed, and worry in our life. We have to remember that sin is anything in our lives that poisons our thinking and our way of life from what God intended. I think my biggest sin in life write now is learning to be comfortable with stress in my life. When I am stressed out I eat different foods than I would otherwise, my sleeping habits are different, my whole daily routine is different. I forget to take time out for myself and more importantly for my relationship with God. Just yesterday I realized that I am starting to get comfortable with those stressed reactions, so much so, that I am forgetting what it means to live healthy. I can’t even tell the difference anymore.
Lent is that time for us to take time to realize that there is a difference in our lives when we are living with God, and when we are sinning - which means missing the mark of being who God intended us to be.
Luckily for us, lent is the time for us to look for the universal symbol of healing – of Jesus on the cross. (since I am not catholic – I don’t have any symbols of Jesus being lifted up high on the cross) But I do have many symbols of the cross – our source of healing for not only physical illnesses, but spiritual ones as well.
This year we have been focusing in the promises of God. Both Ephesians and John capture that promise very well. Ephesians 4 and 5 say But God, who is rich in mercy, out of great love , even when we were dead in our trespasses, were made alive with Christ Jesus. John contains the most well known verse in the bible – for God do loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that whomever would believe in him would have eternal life and have it abundantly. God’s promise to us is that even when we are sinners, we are still loved. God has prepared a place for us in heaven, even before ever realized that there was a heaven to aspire to.
The book of Ephesians is thought to be a book of prayers and instructions for a disheartened community. People who had given their life to the Christian way – but had lost sight of why they had put their faith in Christ. They had been told that Jesus was coming soon, and that all would be better, but they begin to see that was not the case. The comfort of Ephesians is not so much in the words, but in the tone of the words. For a people who are tired of waiting, the author is reminding us that The work of God has already been done. We have already been saved, we have already been given eternal life, we have already been forgiven. So we don’t need to wait for something to happen – it has already happened. God’s healing for us is a gift freely given. It is a gift that has already been given to us, - while we are still stuck in our bad habits.
Eckhardt Tolle – who is not a Christian writer, but is a spiritual writer- has a book called the power of now. He says that we have become comfortable with waiting for things to happen. Waiting for change. Change is something that is going to happen in the future. Our happiness is out there somewhere, things will get better out there at some point. We will live the life we dream about when we are ready for it, it will happen eventually. We will have a better relationship with God and be able to really think about what we are called to do, when life slows down and we have time for it. We have become so busy thinking about change. That we forget that change is here with us – in our relationship with God, with ourselves with others and with the world. We really don’t have to wait for God to come to be with us – because God is already here. God has been with us before we came into being, and God is with us every step of the way.
The message of Ephesians is to get in touch with the now-ness of God. You don’t have to wait for things to change – because the change has already happen.
For instance for me in my own struggle – I don’t have to wait for life to get better to stop living a stressed out life. The healthy vegetables, the 64 ounces of water, even the gym is already present in my life – all I have to do is acknowledge them. You can take the time to think about your own situation, your own habits, your own relationship with God. You can apply the things that you are waiting for in your life. The Ephesians were waiting for Jesus to return before things would change – what are you waiting for?
Ephesians message is that what you are waiting for – it already happen a long time ago. When God made a decision to love you no matter what. And that love started to unfold in history. So stop living as if you are waiting for it to happen, and start living as if it has already been given to you. By grace – you have been saved. And raised up in him and seated us with him in heavenly places.
Jesus Christ just came to deliver the message – that the work had already been done. Jesus too preaches the importance of living in the now-ness of life. We don’t have a moment to lose in waiting – that we have to spread God’s message of love to a world which needs it now.
Speaking of snakes, there is the story of old man John and his two sons, Jake and Joe, who lived out on a ranch out west. They never had much use for the church – until one day when the son Jake was bitten by a rattlesnake. They called the doctor first, but the doctor said that Jake was surely going to die. So they called for the priest to come pray for Jake. The priest’s prayer was Dear Lord, thank you for sending this snake to bite Jake – because it sent him to seek you out and to ask for your grace in his life. I pray for a bigger snake to come and to bite his father John and his brother Joe – so that they too can have an opportunity to seek your salvation.
Depending on where Jake was in his faith journey, that may have not been a comforting prayer for him, seeing that he was destined to die anyway. But I am sure that it scared the heck out of John and Joe.
Snakes have been a source of fear for humans for ages. We have been afraid of their poison for years, rightfully so. I want you to think about where the source of poison is in your life?
The symbol of the snake on a stick has been the symbol of healing for ages. The sign of the cross is our sign of healing. If the symbol of Jesus be lifted up – then all who believe will have eternal life.
What are you doing on your life to lift jesus up – so that others can see that there is a universal sign of healing in the world. It is a sign not of what is to come – but of what is already been done. God’s love for us is s done deal – and there is nothing you can do about it – but go in peace and love. Amen.