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Sermon - March 22nd, 2009
What Shall We Do about the Snakes?
Rev. Lorenz Schultz
Scripture: Numbers 21:4-9 John 3:14-21
When Gwen asked me if I would like to preach today, I jumped at the chance because the Numbers text has always been a favorite in the Hebrew Scriptures. Now on the surface, this is rather strange because I am not particularly enthusiastic about snakes – I am one who prefers that snakes go their way while I will carefully make sure that I go another. On the other hand, if we tend to romanticize and sanitize our reading of Scripture, this passage brings us crashing right back to earth.
As the people of Israel are wandering in the desert heading for the Promised Land, we are told that they became “impatient”. Impatient indeed! You have never seen such a crabby, angry. recalcitrant, short tempered, disillusioned bunch of people in your whole life. As I read the text again, I was reminded of Art Hoppe, a favorite San Francisco columnist, who would periodically feature a dialogue between God and the Angel Gabriel. Gabriel was always getting fed up with the wayward paths that human beings were always taking, He was constantly inclined to bring this experiment with human beings to an end. Hoppe’s God always ended up saying, “Wait a minute, Gabe, let’s not be too hasty!”
Well, in this case, apparently both Moses and God lose their cool. Listen to what they had to put up with!
The people spoke against God and against Moses.
'Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the
wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we
detest this miserable food.’
They likely did not stop there. There likely followed a whole litany of complaints detailing how much better things were in the good old days – yes, there is even some indication that they preferred the security and predictability of bondage in Egypt to the uncertainties and unknowns of wandering in the wilderness. Little wonder that Moses is constantly on the verge of a stress breakdown! Little wonder that God sends hordes of poisonous serpents to afflict the people!
Some years ago after preaching another sermon on this text, one of our members who served on the County Board of Supervisors approached me and exclaimed, “ Lefty, after all my years in county politics, let me tell you about those poisonous serpents always snapping at your ankles!” I had not fully realized the contemporary relevance and full impact that the text would still hold today.
And that relevance is perhaps even more acutely with us today. Bernard Madoff stands accused of bilking over $50 billion dollars from individuals and institutions that invested with him. R. Allen Stanford stands accused of defrauding depositors in his off shore bank of more than $8 billion. The massive financial conglomerate, AIG, has hit up the U.S. government for another $30 billion of government loans.
Yet the metaphor of dangerous, poisonous serpents hits even closer to home. Retirement investments seem to shrink more with each and every day. How will the uncertainties in the economy affect our jobs? Will we be able to keep paying on our mortgage? What about educational opportunities for our children and the future of social safety nets for individuals and families who have lost their homes and their jobs? In many ways, we can identify with those ancient nomadic tribes wandering in a wilderness not of their choosing and not knowing what the future might hold and having to deal with fear, disillusionment, and uncertainty.
It is curious indeed that the author of the Gospel of John drew upon this obscure passage from Numbers as an introduction to his familiar words. “God so loved the world that He gave his only Son that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). In this case, it is not the bronze replica of a poisonous serpent that is lifted up but rather it is God’s own Son who is lifted up. And in John’s text, there may be good news that will enable us not to escape our chaotic and uncertain economic turmoil but rather to live faithfully, reflectively, and even abundantly in its very midst.
Our Men’s Spiritual Growth group has been reading and discussing Marcus Borg’s recent book, Jesus: Uncovering the Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary. Analyzing how the various gospels portray Jesus, Borg suggests that Jesus’ teaching and mission is clearly not about heaven, not about how to attain a blessed afterlife. Rather Jesus is more concerned about the character of God, how to center in God, and the kingdom of God – all focusing on the transformation of life in this world. Even in the Gospel of John, where we find John using the phrase “eternal life” – as in today’s gospel lesson - John interprets “eternal life”, life in the age to come,, as meaning” to know God”. Even John is concerned about knowing God, living in God in this life. Now I am not making judgments about the afterlife – that well could be ample ground for another sermon or sermons! I am suggesting that knowing God, living in God is not an escape from the tumult and turmoil of our times but speaks to us even as we live in the very midst of uncertainty and pain.
A couple of weeks ago on Bill Moyers Journal, Bill Moyers interviewed Parker Palmer, a noted educator and also a Quaker activist, about the critical issue of how one lives with hope and vitality in the midst of difficult times. The wide ranging interview is still available on Bill Moyers web site.
Many themes spoke to me, but one particularly hit home.
Parker Palmer spoke about the difficulty we have coming to terms with illusions. Illusions are not dreams or that vision that can lead us forward but rather “erroneous perceptions or beliefs”. Palmer suggested that we did not learn the lessons of the Korean War which led us into the Viet Nam War. The failure to learn our lessons in Viet Nam in turn led us into the Iraq War. Illusions are slippery and illusive. One day we appear to have a full grasp on reality, and yet, before you know it, we are captivated by our illusions once again.
Parker Palmer has had three major periods of clinical depression. The causes of such depression are complex, but one thing he clearly seemed to have learned from his most recent episode was the importance of coming to terms with who we really are as a person. In part, at age 65, Parker had to come to terms with the fact that his life had not had the world changing impact he had envisioned as a young man. He had to step back and simply recall that one incident – or it might be 6 or 20 or more – that had really made a positive difference in his life or in the life of someone else.
He used a metaphor that really struck me. One of his therapists observed that Parker was treating his depression as an enemy trying to crush him. He suggested that Palmer might re-image his depression as the hand of a friend trying to push him down so that he might find solid ground on which it was safe to stand. Needless to say, it took some time for these words to sink in, but as the days passed, Palmer came to realize that he had lost touch with deep truths that nurtured his soul and gave depth and substance to his most important relationships and commitments. And, as he found his way to solid ground, the clouds of depression slowly began to lift.
What would happen if we re-imaged the challenges of our days not as crisis but rather as opportunity? What if we viewed our current economic meltdown not as an enemy trying to crush us but rather a friend trying to help us find solid ground on which we and our families can stand?
It may be a time for coming to terms with personal illusions.
Are we being true to fundamental truths that we hold dear? Are we so caught up in an illusory dream of what we might be and what we might do that we are missing the very real gifts that we offer and share every day? Without denying the very real benefits that our consumer culture has brought many of us, are there healthier and more responsible ways that we can live so that we can avoid the consumer excesses of recent years? Is there more to the American dream, to our journey as followers of Christ, than “shop, shop, shop…buy, buy, buy … higher, bigger, more”? What are the fundamental hopes and dreams that give meaning and substance to your life?
Of course our individual stories take place in a larger context of family and community. Parker Palmer notes that a dominant world view in our culture is corrosive cynicism:
We live in a dog eat dog world where power and greed determine who gets the biggest piece of the pie. I am going to grab what I can and as for you, you are on your own.
If these are not the values you wish to live by or the world you envision for your children, what commitments and obligations do we owe one another? Is there more to the American dream than individual fulfillment? Do we want to live in a world where the rich get rich and the poor have to be satisfied with the crumbs that fall off the table? How do your story, hopes, and dreams meet my story? What is happening in this moment that gives us the opportunity to heal some of our hurts and support one another as we pursue our dreams? In what ways can our congregation better serve as a place where we can share dreams, come to terms with our illusions, and share our stories? Like the Israelites wandering in the wilderness, is this a time when we not only discover who are we but “whose are we”?
Yes. the “poisonous snakes” besieging us are as formidable and real as the difficulties faced by our forebears in the wilderness, but in the midst of it all, we are reminded that we travel together in the name of One who came that we might have life and have it abundantly, that we might learn from one another how to know God and how to live fully in God, that we might find eternal life as the substance and depth of God’s love breaking forth even now in our midst.