Numbers 21:4-9 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 John
12:20-33
Grace, mercy and
peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our text today, Holy Cross Day, is the Old Testament lesson that was
just read, especially these words, “So Moses made a bronze[a] serpent and set
it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent
and live.” Thus far our text.
Dear friends in
Christ. Our Old Testament lesson seems
foolish doesn’t it? I mean, in all
honesty have you ever heard of something so ridiculous as being healed from
poisonous snake bites by looking up at a snake on a pole. Sometimes when we hear things like this we
automatically think they are foolish and silly.
We can’t believe that they actually happened, for it just defies our
reasonable senses.
But it did
happen. The Israelites were on there way
to the promised land from Egypt. They
had passed through the Red Sea on dry land, even as Pharaoh’s army drowned in
the water. They had been led by a pillar
of fire by day and a pillar of fire by night.
They had seen water come out of the rock. They had witnessed countless miracles, and
yet, they still doubted. They still
questioned who the god that led them was.
So God sent Fiery Serpents to test the Israelites, to test their
faith. These serpents bit the people,
and many died.
But as God sent
these snakes, He also gave the people a way to be rescued. He told Moses to make a bronze copy of the
serpents that attacked the people. Moses
was to nail this bronze serpent to the top of a pole. When someone was bitten by a snake, they
could simply look up to the bronze serpent on the pole and they would be saved from
the poison that was coursing through their veins. They needed but keep their eyes on the
serpent on the pole. Yes it sounds
silly, but that was the way the Israelites were saved.
And when you think
about it, it really isn’t only a tale about the Israelites is it? It is also our story. For we too are in the same situation. No we aren’t in the literal Jordanian
wilderness being attacked by poisonous serpents, but friends, we are in the
wilderness of our sin, and we are constantly under the attack of that first
fiery serpent, Satan. He is the one who
first said to Adam and Eve, “Did God really say?” With these words, the poison of sin entered
the veins of Adam and Eve. And that same
blood that flowed in their veins flows in your veins today. For we still ask that same question. We still doubt God’s word. We still turn our backs on what God wants us
to do, and how God wishes us to think.
As we confess,
with our fault, our own fault, our own most grievous fault, we have sinned
against God. We have done those things
we shouldn’t do, and don’t do the things we should do. We listen to that fiery serpent, and his
poison courses through our veins. And
just like those Israelites in the wilderness, that poison would kill us if it
were left to run its course. WE would be
doomed to a lonely death in the wilderness, except that God does give us a
rescue.
No we don’t have a
bronze serpent on a pole. Instead we
have a man on a cross. A man who is not
only man, but also God. This God man is
nailed to the cross, just like the bronze serpent. He is held up so that the whole world can see
him, and his blood pouring out. God says
that looking to this sign will save you from you sin, looking to Jesus.
But it seems
foolish doesn’t it? It seems silly and
ridiculous that a man nailed to a cross could save us from the poison of
sin. Even St. Paul acknowledges this in
our Epistle lesson, “For the word of the cross is folly to those
who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” It seem ridiculous. How could one man’s death save us from our
sin? How could looking to this man bring
us out of death into life? The world
hears this message and laughs saying, “I would rather die a death of sin than
to trust in a man who dies a criminal’s death on a cross.” They laugh at us. They tell us we are stupid. Countless times people have told me they
don’t believe in all that “Christian Baloney”.
But friends, the
message of the cross, is the power of God for your salvation. It is the hope that you don’t need die, but
can experience something more, something wonderful, something eternal. For the foolishness of God is wiser than the
wisdom of man. Or in other words, the
stupidest, dumbest thing that God ever did is millions of times less foolish
than the wisest thing you can figure out.
Christ on the
cross does bring healing to you. Just as
those who looked to the bronze serpent were saved, those who look to Jesus will
be saved. The God Man will die for all
your sins. He will suffer nailed to a
cross, a pole, so that he may draw you to himself. He will bring you to the faith that looks to
him and boldly declares to a laughing world, “There is my hope and salvation. In Jesus alone do I trust.” And in this faith God gives you heaven. In this faith even though you die, yet shall
you live. For it is the message of the
cross, Jesus on the cross that is the center of salvation.
Today we celebrate
that hope. Today we remember that
message. Today we tell the world, You
may think we are fools, but we are fools going to eternal life. Today is Holy Cross Day, the day we look to
the cross of Jesus, just as the Israelites looked to the bronze serpent. We look to the cross, and we lift it high in
faith that trusts in the death of Jesus.
For even as Jesus
dies on the cross, so too did he raise from the dead on the third day. And as we look to the cross we also look to
the empty tomb, the hope of the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the
world to come. Friends, just as Moses
lifted up the Serpent in the wilderness, so too must the Son of Man be lifted
up. And as he is lifted up, he draws all
people to himself, he draws you, he draws me, and gives them eternal life. Look to the cross, in it you have hope. Amen.
