Eyes on Salvation
Lent 4
March 14, 2024
Fr. Tim Nunez
May my spoken word be true to God’s written word and bring us all closer to the living word, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
We were blessed at our Christmas pageant this past December to have a live baby to play Jesus. Carly Jacobs played Mary and she held Lee Porter who was not quite 3 weeks old at the time. His mother, Morgan, was careful to bring him in just before the scene and whisked him away immediately afterward because he was too young to be in a crowd.
It was a very sweet scene. I’m sure everyone watching could see that Carly loves babies. It was either that or she’s just a great actress. Most people couldn’t see Morgan and Kody gazing at their son in the wings, or his grandparents Melody, who has been running our pageant for decades, and Pat seeing their first grandchild playing Jesus. That and 60-something kids created an explosion of love – BOOM! – to convey the joy of Christmas.
In his First Letter, the Apostle John wrote, “God is love.” That is so simple, so beautiful. It captures so much of our hopes and our dreams. The very fact that our hearts leap at it points to the reality of God’s presence, for how could we evolve as creatures to love an idea so completely if he were not truly there to love us, and for us to love him?
As beautiful and true as it is, “God is love” is not the Gospel. The Gospel, the Good News, is how far God went out of his love for the world.
Jesus illustrates the point by referring to this story from the Book of Numbers. The people of Israel were in the desert wilderness during, well into, the Exodus. Mount Hor is about halfway between the Dead Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south. The Edomites, descendants of Jacob’s older brother Esau, would not let the Israelites pass through their land so they are going to have to go around the long way.
Despite all that God has done for them in providing water, food, protection, guidance and his own presence, the people grumble, whine and complain against God and Moses.
God sends snakes, which cause pain and death just like sin, just like turning away from God. The people quickly repent. Moses prays for them, he intercedes for them, which is the very heart of ministry. God responds with this strange command to put a snake on a pole and hold it up so that people who look upon it live.
The act of looking upon the snake in hope acknowledges their dependence on God, acknowledges his Lordship, acknowledges their humility and their dependence on him, and they are healed. This is an example of salvation by grace through faith 1500 years or more before Jesus.
Jesus said just as the serpent was raised on a pole, so must he be raised up on a pole. He must be sacrificed on the cross. And why? The answer is the best known, most loved, most memorized verse in the entire Bible. “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.”
Yes, God is love. In its strongest expression, love is sacrificial. God’s love is like that, only bigger and deeper and stronger than we can possibly imagine. For God so loved the world. He gave his only Son, which is not quite like one of us giving our children because Jesus is God the Father giving of himself, God the Son. But God’s love is perfect and his sacrifice is beyond wonder.
This should be clear, very clear. In any and every truly loving relationship, be it family or friend, true love is always at the ready to sacrifice time, treasure, a kidney or bone marrow. Love is far more than the sweet scene of a mother gazing at her child. Morgan and Kody’s love is like God’s love, it reflects God’s love. What would Morgan and Kody do to save this child? They would do absolutely anything and everything in their power, and if it came to it, their own lives. Pat and Melody would, too, as would Auntie Meredith.
And because they love Lee so much, because they want the very best for him, and the godparents they chose want the very best for him, the are pledging to raise him to look upon Jesus. Lee will learn all about Jesus, all that he said and did to demonstrate God’s love and the Kingdom God is building through his love.
I’ve been a Christian my whole life. I’ve owned my faith since I was about 12. And I’ve looked with real curiosity at other faiths, philosophies and searches for truth. I love science, as far as I can grasp it. I love art in all its forms, from drawing, painting and sculpture to visual and performing arts, the written word in poetry and prose, as far as I can grasp them. I’ve long jousted in the realm of opinion and the thought processes that undergird them, including politics and economics.
Nothing compares to Jesus. Nothing.
Lee will grow up in our Christmas pageant, from lamb to shepherd to king. (Have they told him he may wind up running it? For decades?) He will go to children’s church and our Wednesday night programs. He’ll go to Camp Wingmann and participate in youth group. In time, he will grow from coloring pictures of Jesus to learn about the depths of God’s love in his sacrifice on the cross. He will get all of this because his parents and family love him so much.
Lee will look upon Jesus on the cross. He will look upon Jesus and, believing, will be delivered from the ravages of sin and death so rampant in the world. He will live, forever! Because God so loved the world. Because God so loves Lee. Because God so loves you and me and all his children.
AMEN