Lifting Your Eyes to Love and Light

John 3:14-21

Our gospel lesson for today contains the one scripture that most of us probably learned before we learned any of the others. In fact, we could all probably say it together: "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." This scripture passage, some have said, is one of the places in the Bible that truly sums up the message of the gospel. It is the good news: that God loved our world so much that he sent the Christ, the one who reveals God, into the world so that all we have to do is believe (yes, just believe!) it in order to have salvation.

But, as we remember this important scripture verse, it is also important for us to remember the context of that verse. In other words, yes, it is important for us to memorize scriptures and have our favorite ones. But, on the other hand, it is also very important that we keep in mind the setting of those scriptures. Or, as someone else once told me a while ago, "We need to read and know the whole book and not just little pieces here and there!"

So, what is the setting of our gospel lesson for today, of those familiar words we know so well? First, it is found in the Gospel of John, the most philosophical of the four gospels. And, I know, philosophy isn't always easy to understand (I guess that's why they call it "philosophy," which literally means "love of knowledge"). And, secondly, Jesus is talking to Nicodemus, one of the most important, learned, religious leaders of the Jewish people of his day. And Jesus has just said to Nicodemus, "You must be born anew." And Nicodemus responds asking, "How can I be born when I'm an old man?" And Jesus marvels that in spite of the fact that Nicodemus is a learned man and a religious leader of his people that he should still have trouble understanding "You must be born anew." And, so Jesus talks to Nicodemus, one on one, about belief and how hard it is for some people to believe some of the simple truths from God, such as salvation from just having faith in Jesus Christ.

And that's where our gospel lesson for today begins. Jesus tells Nicodemus that just as Moses lifted up a serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. Now, somehow I get the feeling that when poor old confused and befuddled Nicodemus heard these words he was probably even more confused and befuddled than before. And that may go for some of us sitting here today. In fact, we may even wonder, "What's this about Moses lifting up a serpent in the wilderness, anyway?"

Well, actually the story comes out of the book of Numbers. Do you remember the story? There the people of Israel were, with Moses out in the Wilderness, murmuring and complaining about how tough it was for them out there. A few of the people had just been bit by some poisonous snakes and they had died. So, their relatives were more than a little upset with Moses. But God told Moses not to worry. He told Moses to make a serpent out of bronze and stand it up on a pole so that everyone could see it. And if anyone was bitten by a snake, all they'd have to do is look at the bronze serpent up there on the pole and they would live.

Now, that wasn't too hard to understand. But, perhaps the problem was that it was just too easy. I mean most of us look for complicated solutions to what we feel are pretty complicated problems. If we got bit by a poisonous snake we'd want to get ourselves over to the U of M hospital as fast as possible where we'd probably get a pretty complicated dose of an anti-toxin and the latest and most complicated (not to mention expensive) life saving technology available in the world. But, if while we were waiting in the emergency room someone with a long beard, wearing sandals, and looking a little bit like Charlton Heston came by with a bronze serpent on a pole and told us to look at it and we'd be healed, we'd surely think he was some kind of a nut. Given the choice of something complicated or something easy, most of us would likely settle for the complicated solution.

And, I'm sure that's the way it was for the Israelites out there with Moses in the Wilderness, too. And that's the way it was for poor old befuddled and confused Nicodemus. He was confused when Jesus told him, "You must be born anew." And he was even more confused when Jesus told him that the Messiah would have to be lifted up on a pole, just like Moses' bronze serpent, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. And what about us?

Take today's observance of "The One Great Hour of Sharing," for example. In many ways "The One Great Hour of Sharing" is a lot like the simplicity of that serpent Moses lifted up in the Wilderness, or the Son of Man lifted up upon a cross. We expect complicated solutions to the world's complicated problems, but "The One Great Hour of Sharing" offering that we take today is really very simple, indeed. If you've read the insert about "The One Great Hour of Sharing" offering in today's bulletin, you will have read about how "the world keeps getting smaller," and how after hearing about famine in Africa, ethnic strife in Eastern Europe, and religious violence in the Middle East, and natural disasters and environmental disasters all over the place, it is easy for us to experience what is getting to be called "disaster fatigue." We are overwhelmed by the enormity of the world's suffering and may even feel like we're standing all alone, out here in the Wilderness. But, by our participation in something as simple as One Great Hour of Sharing, ours becomes more than just a single voice crying in the Wilderness. Through ecumenical cooperation and coordination of efforts by agencies like Church World Service, we join with others to help ease the world's pain. Together, we make a difference in the world; and we partake of an effective anti-toxin to the venom of compassion fatigue.

Moses lifted a bronze serpent upon a pole for his people to gaze upon in order to defeat the powers of death. Jesus was lifted up on a cross such that when we gaze upon him we may be saved. It sounds so simple; so simple that it may be so hard for our technology-muddled and philosophically- befuddled minds to grasp. And so it takes simple faith for us to lift our eyes to such love and light. It takes faith to be able to accept being born anew. In this Wilderness of confusion it takes faith to be able to open up and trust God and be healed. So, let's accept God's gift of faith!

One of the wonderful things that happened for the people in the Wilderness with Moses as they looked at the bronze serpent on the pole was that they quickly started to think and behave like the people of God. Being freed from fear for the future, they were suddenly empowered to take on the present. And within just a few verses of this story about the people of Israel in the Wilderness, afraid of snakes, they become a victorious army, blazing their way into the future. From just trusting God enough to look at a bronze serpent on a pole for their healing, they began to forge ahead, God leading them into the Promised Land.

Of course, God has a Promised Land for us, as well, as we continue our lives together as a Community of Faith. And, as we lift our eyes to love and light, we have to wonder, we have to dream (and so we should), of those things that God has in store for us. Where will we be as God's people in the year 2,000? What will our church look like? Unafraid of the snakes around us, victorious over the powers of death at work in the world, renewed in spirit and in faith, how will we be in mission? How many missionaries will we be supporting just six years from now? How vital will we be and how many hearts will be touched by our church's educational program in the year 2,000? Will we have to add space to our building by that time to be more involved in mission here? Will we be in even greater service to the poor people and to the homeless of our county? Will we be feeding the hungry? Indeed, as we go forth from this Wilderness, what will the Promised Land look like? Certainly, now is a time to dream such dreams as this.

As I look at our Gospel lesson for today, I am intrigued by what John calls "judgment."	Most of us tend to think of divine judgment as something that God brings down upon sinners. In fact, some of us may remember fiery sermons about sinners in the hands of an angry God. But the writer of John's Gospel turns this idea of judgment around, saying that judgment is rather something that we more often bring down upon ourselves by the simple choices that we make in life. I am fascinated by John's words in verse nineteen: "And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and humanity loved darkness rather than light." He who does what is true comes to the light [repeat].

I am reminded of a poem I wrote several years ago which I will now afflict upon you, today.

Our eyes were good, but we were blind inside.

Didn't see it, hardly even tried.

For in the dismal Darkness, unaware,

We stood within a sweet and awful lair.

Accustomed to a lack of Light, we shared

A fear to know just who it was, who glared

With brilliant beams of Godly light and cut

The Darkness like a knife. O God, we shut

It out. For coming to the Light brings pain

To those who've let the Shadow reign.

But some have dared to look upon that Sun;

And those who have are thrilled, for God has done

A task which leads to life. And now we are

The Children of the Light. The Shining Star

Of Love has pierced the umbra of our pain.

The Christ of Love has come on earth to reign.

Like the People of God in the wilderness, given a means to rise above their fear of the unknown, so God has given to us the Son of Man, lifted up for us, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. So let us go forth from our Wilderness of fear unafraid of the snakes, emboldened for the future, lifting our eyes to God's Love and Light.

Amen.