St. John 3:14-21
Dearly beloved,
The third chapter of St. John is one of those memorable pericopes,
which highlights the centrality of the gospel. The chapter starts
with a Pharisee named Nicodemus who goes to Jesus in the dark of
night. Nicodemus goes in secret. He tries to hide himself. He has
seen some things and heard even more about this Jesus. Nicodemus
wants to have a theological discourse with Jesus. Nicodemus starts
out by saying that he knows that the things that Jesus has done
definitely are from God. He wants to come at Jesus as an equal—two
guys having a theological discussion.
Jesus then takes over the discussion and talks about the necessity of
being born again. Jesus doesn’t speak symbolically, nor does
Nicodemus interpret Christ’s words in a symbolic way. This is
important for the way the rest of the chapter and discourse unfolds.
We, then, come to verse 14 where Jesus retreats to the Old Testament,
giving Nicodemus a graphic image with Christological implications. In
the book of Numbers (chapter 21) we are told that God punished the
Israelites out in the desert.
They had grumbled about their difficult circumstances, so God, being
greatly angered sent serpents that had the appearance of flaming fire.
Their bite had a sting, as well. Anyone who was bitten would die,
but Moses pleaded with God to be merciful. So, God told Moses to
fashion a serpent out of bronze. Then, Moses was to put it on a pole
and raise it up for all to see. Those who were bitten with the deadly
bite were told to look upon the bronze serpent and they would be
healed.
Sounds like a strange thing to do if you read only the Old Testament.
But the church puts on her Christological lenses and interprets the
Old Testament in terms of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. We
must always remember that we are to understand the New Testament and
then look back to the Old Testament to find the types and shadows of
Christ. Why does God tell Moses to fashion the serpent out of bronze
and then put it up on a pole for all to see?
Sounds like God is playing with the Israelites, or testing them. The
serpents that came out of nowhere to bite the people were described as
having a fiery appearance. The snake bite would kill. The fashioned
serpent was to be bronze because when the sun shined on it, it had a
fiery appearance, just like the real thing. It was to be “raised up
in the desert.” Those who looked upon the bronze serpent and believed
they would be healed would be freed and would live. Two things are
important here: God’s command that this be done, and that people
observe God’s command and believe.
Now fast-forward to Christ’s conversation with Nicodemus. Its’ not
really a discourse, because Jesus just takes over the conversation.
His language is very fleshly. It focuses in on the new birth through
water and the Spirit. Now, Jesus specifically recounts the gist of
the serpent on the pole and follows by telling Nicodemus, “It is
necessary that the Son of Man is to be lifted up, in order that all
who are believing in Him will have everlasting life.”
This is what the church fathers would have called good Nicene
theology. We see an emphasis on the title “Son of Man,” highlighting
Christ’s humanity. The language that Jesus uses is the language used
for the serpent on the pole….Jesus is to be “lifted up.” And Jesus
will be lifted up in the desert, outside of Jerusalem. The symbolism
of the serpent and his bite is rich and significant. For the reality
and fulfillment, the antitype of the bronze serpent on the pole is
Jesus Christ.
Mankind is like the Israelites, wandering in the desert, aimlessly
grumbling at the hand that was dealt to them in the world. Sadness,
suffering, hardship, hurt and on top of all that, mankind suffers from
a snake bite that is deadly. The evil serpent in the Garden of Eden
“bit” Adam and Eve by enticing them to eat of the tree of the
Knowledge of Good and Evil. All who have been bitten by this wicked
serpent shall die. But this death is an even more horrible death than
can be imagined. It is an eternal death, and an eternal sentence of
condemnation for unbelief and sin.
And this time Jesus, not Moses, in His mercy petitioned the heavenly
Father to make atonement for this snake bite. Christ’s mercy, though,
was to take the place of evil mankind and be “raised up in the desert”
for all to behold. The eternal message from this has a couple of
points. First, you are a sinner. You have the taint of original sin
which has bitten you. We all have it. Left alone, you would perish
eternally in hell, just as all those Israelites were to die from the
deadly snake bite.
But though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as
snow. But there is more high Christology here. The sun would shine
on the bronze serpent and it would have the appearance of fire. It
looked like the real thing. In Christ’s case, it is God who really,
truly took on flesh and became man. To the naked eye Jesus looked
like any
old man. This is what tripped up Nicodemus: He was willing to grant
that Jesus was a prophet, but no more.
Jesus was raised up on a pole and to the world, and He looked like
one of the bandits who were hanging on each side of Him. Jesus, to
the world, looked like the sin that was so prevalent in the world, but
Jesus was God in the flesh. It is all of this that really gives us
the context for perhaps the most well known scripture verse: John
3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son
that whosoever shall believeth in Him shall not perish but have
everlasting life.”
This believing in Jesus is looking upon the crucifix and remembering
what He did and believing in Him. You are healed from the deadly bite
of the wicked serpent, Satan. This gospel is about heaven. It is
with the crucifixion as it was with the serpent on the pole. God
commanded that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the
serpent, and we are to believe in what we behold on the pole. The
word for “believing” in these verses is put in participial form, which
denotes continual action.
Your looking upon the cross and believing is not a one time thing,
but a continual thing. It is necessary that you finish the race, that
you keep looking upon the crucified and resurrected Christ. You are
to live your life in this saving faith all your days and to do this is
to observe two commands which go along with Christ’s death and
resurrection. God commanded Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper to be
practiced and observed. Martin Luther makes the statement that if you
go to the hill at Golgotha to find Jesus and to look upon him, you
will find nothing but a bunch of dirt. No Jesus, no cross. So where
do you go to find Jesus? In the holy sacrament we call the Lord’s
Supper.
It is here that we behold Jesus and we are told, “This do as often as
you eat this….in remembrance of Me.” We find that Christ comes to us
and fills us up, forgives us all our sins and continues to shape us in
the eating and drinking of the Lord’s body and blood. So, as you
kneel at the altar this day to take Christ upon your lips, believe
that poured into this holy Eucharist is all the love of Christ poured
out to you from the cross and you are healed of all your sins, the
deadly bite and have heaven to look forward to. Amen.
--
Rev. Chad Kendall
www.frchadius.blogspot.com
Trinity Lutheran Church
Lowell, Indiana
www.trinitylowell.org
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