Give thanks for...snakes? Numbers 21: 4-9

If Dr. Seuss were to write a book about me, it would go like this:

I do not like snakes; no I do not.

Not on a walk; not at a trot,
Not in a box or on the train,
Not in the desert or in the rain.
I do not like them, green or brown,
Not in the country, not in the town.
If you think snakes, as pets, are fun
I think your brain melted in the sun.
They give me the willies, they give me the shivers;
I do not like snakes: not now, not ever.

When I was a young boy, I had a couple of close calls with snakes. One of my favorite TV characters was bitten by a snake and almost died on the show. If a child’s hero can be bitten and die, what chance do I, a mere mortal have? How bad is my fear? I refuse to go into a herpetarium – a snake house – at the zoo. Walking through leaves or tall grass, I randomly have mini-panic attacks that there is a snake hunting me like a Whatasized mouse. Just writing these two paragraphs has created a slight whisp of sweat on my forehead. Literally, if I watch a documentary on snakes, I have about 15, maybe 20 minutes tops before I enter the danger zone and threaten to pass out. So, unless you have a front end loader or a tow truck handy to scrape me off the ground, I strongly suggest that Snakes on a Plane is never used as a congregational movie.

I tell you this so you can understand why this morning’s Old Testament strikes me every time I read it. They were growing impatient in their journey and were more concerned about their own needs than faithfulness to God and trusting His promises. They complained to Moses; they complained to God: “There is no food or water,” they said, complaining even about the mana that God had provided for them earlier. To be fair, it had been decades since they left Egypt; it had been a generation that had eaten manna three times a day, seven days a week, for ten…twenty…thirty plus years. Imagine, going to HEB Plus – 60 rows of nothing but oatmeal. And the next day, the same; and the week after that, the same. We can understand Israel’s grumbling…but that doesn’t justify it, that doesn’t make it right to grumble against God.

When God hears the grumbling, His reaction is swift, strong and decisive. He sends fiery serpents among the people who begin to bite the Israelites. Many die from the painful bite. Don’t misunderstand God’s actions, here: He is not vindictive, but He does this to cause Israel’s repentance. It doesn’t take long. “And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that he takes away the serpents from us.”

This is a logical prayer request, isn’t it? It both identifies the symptom – the snakes – and confesses the disease at the same time – their sinfulness towards God and His servant Moses. Their prayer makes the request that God removes the snakes from them so that people stop dying. The people pray; Moses prays. It’s a good prayer; it’s a sound prayer – at least a B+ rating. And God hears their prayer. God is good; God is holy, so of course God will remove the snakes – right?

Except He doesn’t. He doesn’t remove the snakes – at least, not yet - not as far as our text tells us, anyway. What He does do, however, is tell Moses to make a bronze serpent and hang it on a pole. “Everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.”

Why the bronze serpent? Why look at a bronze caricature of the very animal that is causing so much pain, suffering and death? Why must one look to the bronze serpent to live? Isn’t that God commanding idolatry – going against His own 2^nd Commandment? For that matter, why allow the children of Israel to continue being bitten?

First, the power is not in the serpent, as if it were a god. That was Egyptian thinking, that animals were diety. Likewise, it is not in the sculpture, an idol. That was Caananite thinking. The power comes from the promise of God: look at this and live. Don’t overthink this, that God is promoting decision theology – you must decide to be saved. When you are dying, how can you choose to live? God is providing the life-saving and life-giving promise. Receive it in faith and you shall live; reject it and you shall die.

The bronze serpent also reminds the people that it is their sinful complaining that has caused these snakes to appear in the first place. Do not blame anyone but themselves for this terror. The power of the promise of God stands over and against the sins of the people.

But why allow the Israelites to continue to be bitten? Why not simply drive the slithering reptiles away so that they would all be safe? If the snakes were to disappear, the temptation would then be for Israel to turn back into their arrogant self-reliance and away from trust in God and His promises. With the snakes remaining, Israel must rely only on God’s mercy in the face of their sinfulness; His grace in the face of their destruction.

It all started with the grumbling. What’s the big deal, we think, after all we grumble all the time. This morning, we’re grumbling about the time change. We grumble about a lazy co-worker who does just enough, but never a lick more than necessary. We grumble about a teacher who assigned homework over the break. Or, the high cost of gasoline, or the length of our daily commute to work or school. Maybe it’s about family at home, or family far away who never calls home. Grumble when it’s too hot or when it’s too cold; when it’s raining or when it hasn’t rained in weeks. Maybe the pastor tells too many stories; maybe he doesn’t tell enough. Pastors grumble when there are comments about the sermon and we grumble when there aren’t any comments about the sermon. We grumble because people next to us are grumbling. Do you get the idea that we, as children of God, grumble a lot? And, yes – sometimes we grumble against God Himself: God, why did you; God, this isn’t fair; God, I thought you were… 

God doesn’t send snakes among us today, at least not that I’ve heard about, but that doesn’t mean the firey bites don’t still happen. There is a venom that courses through our hearts and minds. It shows up when you feel pessimistic about your life. It appears when you don’t see people in a positive light and instead, you assume the worst about people. When there’s a lack of peace, a discontent with what the Lord has given you. When you become unthankful, or even bitter. This is the kind of venom that courses in our veins.

What’s even worse is what that venom does with our relationship with the Lord. Remember – venom is poisonous. That grumbling, complaining, negativity and bitterness – it causes you to lose focus on God’s gifts and blessings and seeing His hand in your life. Then praise and thanksgiving starts to more and more shallow and less and less frequent. It can become so toxic that you actually start to wonder what God is doing, why He even bothers with you, if it is worth your trying to be His child.

You notice what Israel did…they confessed their sin of grumbling, and they looked up and lived. You know what it is that we do…we confess our sins of grumbling, and look up and live. You don’t look up to a snake on a pole; you look to Christ on the cross. When Jesus is lifted up on the cross, the pattern is true for us as well: recognize our sins, confess them to our Lord, and look up in trust and live.

The cross is not a magic talisman, that if you look at this object, this wood or bronze or stone or glass or foam or paper cross gives life – no. The cross is the place, the locatedness, where God hung His Son so that whoever looks at Christ in faith, the Savior of the World who died on the cross; when you look to the cross as the place where your salvation was won, you shall live. The cross is the place where your grumbling and complaining and negativity and venomous outbursts all died in Christ and with Christ. And the cross is the place where, in Christ and through Christ, you receive life.

You look up at Jesus lifted up and you are raised up and you give thanks. Thanks replaces the grumbling.

Complain about family? No…give thanks you have a home and people there who love you. Grumble about a co-worker? No, give thanks that you have employment that provides for you and your family. Grumble about the weather? Give thanks for the rain and sun, the warm and the cool that makes the flowers and plants grow and produce beauty and food. Grumble? No…give thanks.