March 15, 2015: May God’s words alone be spoken, may God’s words alone be heard. Amen.

[singing] “I don’t like spiders and snakes, and that ain’t what it takes to love me…like I want to be loved by you.” Oh…the 1970s – now that was quite a journey to the Red Sea of sorts. Well, I think many of us aren’t really snake fans, and can relate a bit to that 70’s classic by Jim Stafford. We even celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on Tuesday, a guy known for having driven the snakes out of Ireland (though these days, it would seem he has sadly become the St. of Perpetual Drinking).

I’ve mentioned before Robin William’s “Top Ten Reasons to be an Episcopalian” and he says that one of them is that there is “No snake handling.” Of course he didn’t say we won’t hear about them from time to time…because they do just sort of appear in scripture. Well, actually, they often really do appear suddenly for real, don’t they. One nearly sent me down the hill with my lawnmower when I noticed it scrambling away from me in the grass. Geez, these little critters can’t catch a break! Poor things, just slithering along minding their own business.

In fact, I realized that day with my lawn mower that I needed to change my attitude toward this creature created by God.   So, I named that snake. Yup! I figured if I named him, I would be less afraid of him. So, I named him – Oscar. And you know what? I ended up looking for Oscar whenever I went into the yard. I would get worried if I didn’t see him for awhile (I mean, there are a lot of hawks out where I live). Oscar and I became good buddies.

Today, we hear about snakes or serpents…ancestors of Oscar I suppose. In the Hebrew lesson, the people were moseying through the desert on their way to the Red Sea when they were overrun by serpents. Their salvation came through prayer from Moses to God, and God having Moses create a bronze serpent. Then in the gospel lesson, Jesus compares what will happen to him on the cross with that bronze serpent – a saving grace from God.

Well, if you aren’t fond of snakes, this can give you nightmares. But like all scripture, we need to remember the historical context. Snakes, or serpents, were symbols of evil (we need only think of what the authors of Genesis decided to use as an example of the dark side). Perhaps today they would use Darth Vader (come to the dark side Luke). Those hearing this story in Numbers would not think of actual snakes, but evil running through the camp. This isn’t a snakes on the plane story, or in this case, plain – as in PLAIN…so much as a great metaphor for the darkness that enveloped the heart of a people. They were to look upon the work of God – and in a real sense to look up at it toward the light of God – and in that moment, no darkness could harm them.

That is also the meaning for Nicodemus, a Pharisee, when he hears Jesus talk about this story of Moses. But it isn’t the bit about the serpent that most people remember when they hear this gospel, is it. Nope, watch any sports – live or on TV – and invariably you will see a sign that says John 3:16. Nothing else, just the reference. As if all the other parts of the scripture before or after in that gospel were not worthy of note.

John 3:16 (for those who might have been living under a rock…like, oh…snakes) reads “‘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.”

Evangelicals have turned this into trademark – a neat sound bite. Ask folks to name a gospel verse, this is likely to be the one they mention…ask them what it means, and it is unfortunate that they neglect the rest of the passage, because invariably they will tell you that if you don’t believe in Jesus than you are going to hell. “ And it gets worse. As one commentator said about standing in a church and reading the gospel…we open the book, read “‘Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.’ And then say “The word of the Lord”– fix THAT will ya, working preacher?” Fix that…

Now why would learned Christian scholars want preachers to “fix that” – well, because like anything, when taken out of context it can lose meaning, and in this case, can take on a meaning not intended – one that is exclusive and for many, troublesome. The fixing isn’t needed for the scriptures, but for our understanding of them. In the same way that we need to understand that everyone in the story is a Jew – Jesus, Nicodemus, the disciples, so too do we need to understand the context, the language, and what it all really means. Because for far too often, this passage has been used to judge non-Christians, and that is a basketful of snakes we let loose when we do that.

So, let’s take a step back and really place ourselves in the full conversation that the community that wrote this Gospel wants us to hear. Nicodemus, a Pharisee (one of the learned temple authorities) seeks Jesus out – this rabbi he has heard so much about…and here is the best part – at night. Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night to find out more about him. The conversation starts with Jesus telling him that he must die to all that he was, and be born of the Spirit (that’s the part we didn’t hear this morning). Then Jesus talks about the serpent that he will be for all people, that he did not come to judge the world, but that the world might be saved by him. Then there is a whole lot about darkness and light.

Now, if one believes that Jesus is the incarnate God – the Word made flesh, as the gospel of John proclaims from the start, then there cannot be any exclusivity read into what Jesus is saying here. Jesus and God, and for that matter, the Holy Spirit, are interchangeable. Essentially, it is belief in God that is important. Holding on to that for a moment, we remember that Jesus makes it clear that God loves the world….and of course, as God created all of it, that should be no surprise. So, it also makes sense that God in Christ did not come to judge or condemn, but to offer life. Now, some would remind us that “Jesus is [also] quoted as saying “those who do not believe are condemned already.” And as noted earlier, this line has been used to banish to hell all non-Christians.” A sad testament to our faith.

By our own Incarnational faith this quote is really saying: Those not in relationship with God are condemned already. Soooo – not an indictment of non-Christians then. And before we can start pointing fingers at athiests we need to do a bit more here. We need to also look a bit at the focus on darkness and light in the gospel of John.

Remember the prologue? We hear it the Sunday after Christmas. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”

The passage today, reads “And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.” That’s a whole lot of light and dark talk. Like the opening of this same gospel, our passage today is about darkness and light. It is about a world walking in darkness and the light of God walking with us – God incarnate – in the form of Jesus. Light brought into the darkness, that we might, like Nicodemus, come out of our own darkness to it.

As Jesus says, God did not come to condemn the world, God loves the world, and we hear this over and over again in the scriptures. God loved the world so much that continually, God seeks to be in relationship with us – to establish covenant – one of Creator and created. That is what we have been hearing these past several weeks. So what is this condemnation then?

It is not of God’s doing…it is of our own.

Condemnation comes when we seek to harm ourselves, our neighbors, the created world. Because God created all of it – us, everyone else, and the earth – when we do not love it all, when we harm it in any way – we fall out of covenant with God. But here’s the kicker…“The judgment does not come from God, but from ourselves.” We walk in the darkness of our self-imposed separation from God. That is why there is such power in the darkness and light imagery employed in this text.

Think of the makeup mirror – the one with all the lights on either side – it really shows every grey hair, line, etc. It shows our image – well, the external one anyway. But the light and dark of our souls, well, that is something no makeup mirror can reflect, but the light of God can – it exposes who we are, and also who we have chosen to be. Sometimes, like that makeup mirror – we won’t like what we see, but we should not be afraid, because the light of God is love – the love of relationship, and the darkness is that part of ourselves that has turned from that love – that has fallen out of relationship. This whole Gospel passage is about God gently nudging us back into the light, back into right relationship with God, with ourselves, with one another.

This conversation of Jesus and Nicodemus calls us out of ignorance…it is an invitation. It isn’t about proclaiming Jesus as Lord and Savior – some don’t need Jesus to see the light of God – they never stepped into darkness. But for others, Jesus can be God’s gift to us – God incarnate – to those who need to see the light.

And what about that life – the one Jesus meant when he talked about “eternal life”? See this is as important as understanding the light and dark bit. “The Greek word for “eternal” has the root meaning of “ages.”  It means without beginning or end – like a circle.  [It doesn’t] refer to the mere future afterlife.  It has little to do with past, present or future.  It just “is” always. “Eternal life [in this context] is multidimensional.  It exist is all directions, not just in the future after we die. This is eternal life now.”[1] The sad thing is that, “when we limit salvation to some future guarantee instead of the intimacy God so desires with us here and now,”[2] we completely miss the point. The eternal life Jesus is talking about is the one you are living! And what that means for us is that when we don’t even live in this life the way we are to live, we are perishing…dying from the inside out – now – not in some future hellfire. When we are hateful to ourselves, to one another…when we judge, as many who have quoted this passage have done, when we abuse, as we do to one another, the creatures of the earth, and to the planet itself – then “we have slipped out of the light into darkness.  Then we are condemned as Jesus said.  We are not condemned by God.  We condemn ourselves by our actions.”[3] And our darkness will kill us and those who are around us.

We all know people who are toxic – who are very much like poisonous snakes – killing the life of everyone around us. None of us were created to be like that.

So what are we to do? What is Jesus telling us?

Joseph Campbell once said “We must be willing to get rid of the life we planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” Joseph Campbell just essentially translated John 3:16 and this entire conversation that Jesus had with Nicodemus.

And how do we get out of our own way? How do we step out of the darkness and turn toward the light? Sometimes, it is as simple as naming the snake. By naming what I feared, I came into relationship with that creature of God, and by extension, in further relationship with the One who created Oscar the snake. For those in 12 step programs, this is familiar. They know that recovery only comes when one is able to name the darkness of addiction that grips them.

We have to recognize that we are walking in darkness – and then name that darkness so it no longer has power over us.

See the thing of it is, God just wants us to be who we are – to live the life we were meant to live. We just have to let go of our own smallness to step into that life – the life of light, of one loved so very much that God became human just to be close to us.

And all it takes is to look up into the face of God and in that light, name who WE are. That’s right – name who we are. We need to name ourselves. “I am a beloved child of God!” See – I think that is what is most needed. In the light of God, we see who we are…and then, in the naming of ourselves, we will come to walk in love and light. Having named ourselves as children of God, the jealousy, hatred, fear…all of the proverbial snakes of our dark lives will no longer have power over us.

Then, perhaps the words we heard in our epistle this morning will ring true for us: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God– not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what [God] has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”

Jesus did not come into the world to condemn, and neither should we. This dark world has far too much of that already. Religious condemnation of others is what has led to so much violence in the name of God in the world. And the reality is, those who condemn are the serpents in the camp – the evil that must be feared. We should always act as models of God, for we are made in the image of God, and God isn’t condemning us, but seeks to be in relationship with us. What does that say about what we are to do in the world? A lot. But it doesn’t take a lot to rid ourselves of the snakes in our own camps.   We need only do as Jesus taught us – walk in love.

Jesus calls us to be children of the light, and to share that light and love with a dark and hungry world. That is the life for which we were born. That is the good work “God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” And that is – like another 70s song proclaimed, “what the world needs now – love, sweet love. No, not just for some, but for everyone.”

Love for everyone…even snakes named Oscar. Amen.

[1] Bob Eldan, “Use words if necessary” blog.

[2] Karoline Lewis, Luther Seminary.

[3] Bob Eldan “Use words if necessary” blog.

[Sermons as written may not be as delivered on any given Sunday]

Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
March 15, 2015
Fourth Sunday of Lent
1st Reading – Numbers 21:4-9
Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22
2nd Reading – Ephesians 2:1-10
Gospel – John 3:14-21