The Antidote for All (Message origin by Rev. Kenton Puls)
Numbers 21:4-9
4They traveled from Mount Hor along the
route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the
way; 5they spoke against God and against Moses,
and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There
is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”
6Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among
them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke
against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away
from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
8The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and
put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when
anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.
It’s
rather ironic that God’s people are passing through the wilderness area of the
Red Sea and Mount Hor when they commit the sins in the desert. Both geographic places are sacred, just the
opposite of the abominable behavior they displayed. The Red Sea was the place of divine deliverance, where the horse
and rider of Egypt were drowned in the deep.
Moses’
brother, Aaron, was buried on Mount Hor.
God used Aaron’s abilities to support and encourage his brother in
sacred decision-making. Ironically, in
and around the geographical places of God’s deliverance and God’s gift of
divine leadership, the people fall into sin.
They “loathe” what the Almighty God provides them. The Israelites call the manna and quail God
provides abominable. The quail and
manna were sickening to their stomachs!
This disregard for holy food was not just an insult; it was
downright rebellion against God and against Moses. This abominable thanklessness was thumbing their noses at God’s
goodness and His mercy. And their
rebellion was a complete disregard for Moses’ authority.
We as God’s people can disregard the holy matters of God
too. We can disregard the holy matters
of worship, Word and sacrament. When we
do, we make God, in a metaphorical sense, sick to his stomach. When we ignore the blessings of prayer
before meals, when we regard worship as mechanical, or minimize Baptism or the
Lord’s Supper and God’s blessings through these gifts, we too thumb our nose at
God’s goodness and mercy.
God addresses the abominations of humanity with His Law
and His Judgment. God purged them again
and again to that their lineage would last – the lineage that would ultimately
bear the seed of the woman, who would crush the most powerful serpent of
all. The Lord, once regarded as an
abomination by His own people, would still conquer their most vicious enemies –
sin, death, and the devil.
Snakes are rather abnormal creatures. They’re among the few creatures that have no
legs and crawl on their bellies. Some
theologians surmise that the original snake before the fall in the Garden was
beautiful and even walked upright; they also surmise that communication between
man and animal was quite normal.
What men call normal is often abnormal to God. In that desert, some of the worst of these
belly dwellers bit the people and their venom brought the death of many. This is an abnormal event from our vantage
point as humans. “This can’t be
happening,” we might say.
But
events happen every day that don’t seem normal from our vantage point. A plane flying into a building is not
normal, it’s abnormal. People making
vows to each other and then divorcing is abnormal, although at times it seems
quite normal. People facing execution
for converting to Christianity should not be a normal event. Men exchanging vows with men and women with
women is not normal, but abnormal. A
child comes into the world but his life is quickly terminated in abortion. This, too, is abnormal. This last week, your thoughts, words and
actions did not travel in the holy space of God’s will. We went astray. We are abnormal because of sin.
There’s only one antidote. Look to the Savior and live!
In
the movie, Young Frankenstein, Master Frankenstein tells his assistant,
Igor, to find a brain at the laboratory.
By mistake, Igor reads the label “abnormal” as “Abby Normal.” The monster receives an abnormal brain. Humanity’s history is “Abby Normal,” or
abnormal, as we are distorted by all of the effects of our rebellion and
unbelief against the only true God.
As the people cried for mercy, God was not deaf to their
cry. He provides a means of healing and
also a type of our Lord’s salvation.
Still today, paramedics wear a very obvious symbol on their
uniforms. This symbol is that of a
snake on a pole. This is really an
abnormal symbol apart from the Biblical explanation.
In
fact, it’s really a completely opposite sign; snakes don’t normally symbolize
healing, which the medics set out to do for the ailing. The snake bitten people looking to the
bronze serpent, a replica on a stick, were spared. Who wouldn’t have looked in such a desperate situation?
But even graver are the circumstances of people needing
forgiveness from God. People are not
simply headed for the grave, but for eternal punishment in hell. All the more serious is this look to the
Savior hanging on Calvary’s cross.
Since Eden’s fall, humanity was in desperate need of a look. It was God’s look from heaven that made it
all possible. He saw the poison of sin
rampant in the world. He looked and
loved so much that He gave His dearest treasure. As antidote is drawn from venom, so our Savior drenches Himself
in the world’s sin to take all blame.
As
we look in faith to what He did so graciously, we are not disappointed. He took our abominations and our
abnormalities, and He forgave us freely and fully. The cupbearer of ancient days tasted all food and drink before it
was given to the king. Our Lord drank
the dregs of our many sins, and we are spared hell and granted heaven.
Now we, as medics to the world, offer the antidote to the
world. Our offerings, our prayers, our
service, and our worship all work to be medicine and antidotes for sinners
everywhere. We all need this antidote
daily and richly. It’s forgiveness in Holy Baptism, where we are buried in
water and Word with our Savior and raised again. It’s forgiveness in Holy Communion, when His body and blood are
ingested for our salvation. It’s
forgiveness when we hear “I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” for ourselves, and to share.
We have that antidote in the One Lifted up before our
eyes! And to think that the best is yet
to come in heaven’s high home, where the threat of illness, death, or
destruction is no more. Those who look
to Him will truly live … here and hereafter!
Amen.