Fourth Sunday in Lent Year B 10th March 2024
Lectionary readings
Numbers 21 v4-9. Psalm 107 v1-3, 17-22. Ephesians 2 v1-10. John 3 v14-21
Symbols of God’s saving activity.
In the gospel reading John is linking the lifting up of Jesus on the cross with the bronze snake lifted up on a pole in the time of Moses. John invites us to view both as symbols of God’s saving activity.
In the Old Testament reading, the Israelites were being plagued with poisonous snakes and many were killed. They appealed to Moses to intercede for them, to ask God to save them.
God responds to Moses’ prayer by asking him to make a bronze snake and to attach it to a pole and lift it up for all to see. “Anyone who gets bitten can look at the (bronze) snake and won’t die.” (v8)
John is inviting us to do the same with the image of Jesus on the cross. Not to see it in the literal sense of the brutal killing of an innocent man, but to see it in the light of subsequent events, of Easter and of Pentecost. To see it as God’s saving grace in action.
Jesus had foretold what was going to happen to him. Jesus knew that his healing ministry and his teaching about the kingdom of God, together with his radical interpretation of the word of God, was seen by Jewish leaders as undermining their authority and status. The Jewish leaders also feared that Jesus would cause a popular uprising against Roman oppression. The leaders were well aware that the Roman army would deal harshly with any form of subversion.
Their fears came true, many years later, in AD70, when a Jewish revolt lead to the total destruction of Jerusalem and the end of temple based worship.
Jesus had told his followers about his impending death at the hands of the authorities and about his resurrection three days later. (Mark 8 v31). God was going to have the final word.
John writes, “And the Son of Man must be lifted up just as that metal snake was lifted up by Moses in the desert. Then everyone who has faith in the Son of Man will have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save them!” (v14,15,17.)
As the writer of the letter to the Ephesians says, “God planned for us to do good things and to live as he has always wanted us to live. That’s why he sent Jesus to make us what we are.” (v20)
As Christians we are to regard ourselves as ‘Easter people’, grateful for what God has done for us.
The Psalmist says, “You should praise the Lord for his love and for the wonderful things he does for all of us.” (v21)
John and the Psalmist recognise that God’s love, his saving activity, is inclusive, its embraces all of creation. It is no longer restricted to a chosen race. The original covenant God had with the Abraham and his descendants, the Israelites, has been fulfilled. The Jews have, in the person of Jesus, (the Messiah) become the means of God’s blessing to all nations. (Genesis 12 v1).
Later in his gospel John writes about Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit. (John 14 v15-27). John wants us to recognise that the promised blessing of the Holy Spirit is now freely available to all who look up to Jesus.
Bible quotations are taken from the Contemporary English Version.