Written by Leah Wise, a student at Yale Divinity School
The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.
– Numbers 21:7-9, NRSV
The Exodus narrative (which is retold in Numbers) is full of stories of God’s people complaining to Moses as they wander through the wilderness. In Numbers 21, the Israelites finally summon the courage to complain directly to God. Their suffering has gone on long enough. But just as they think they don’t have the strength to survive another calamity, poisonous snakes take over their camp in pandemic proportions, ravaging the community. The death toll rises. The future is uncertain as ever.
So God commands Moses to make a bronze serpent on a pole. Though it’s hard to know what this actually looked like, what comes to mind is the medical symbol, except with one snake, not two. In any case, healing happens here. When the afflicted Israelites gaze upon it, they recover from their poisoning. They live to see their future, however uncertain it may be.
Many theologians have suggested that this serpent on a pole foreshadows the cross. Anyone who gazes upon that indignity of Christ crucified sees life.
But, unlike the serpent on the pole, Christ doesn’t remain on the cross. No, he gets down and walks with us. He appears to us in the midst of our grief, and in the midst of our chaos. He beckons us to look and listen for signs of the Kingdom of God as we wander through uncertain terrain. We are tired and fearful, but the full story of Scripture reminds us that Christ knows our deepest suffering. He heals us over and over again, though not always in the ways that we expected or hoped for.
Sometimes, we think that following Christ is like becoming that serpent on a pole. We’re supposed to slither up and wrap ourselves tightly around suffering to prove something to God. But Christ got off the cross. He beckons us to grab his hand, get down from the cross, and keep on the path of the Kingdom of God. A path that always leads toward hope. We have already been redeemed. Thanks be to God!
Written by Andrew R. Guffey, Priest-in-Charge of St. Mary’s In-The-Hills Episcopal Church, Lake Orion, Michigan.
Our lives are full of information. We can get answers to just about any question of trivia we might have on Google within seconds. We can look up our symptoms to see if we can figure out what ails us. We can search out the most arcane knowledge, but the questions that matter most to us—How long will I feel alone? Why is that so beautiful that my heart feels full to bursting? What is my life for?—Google can’t really answer those sorts of questions. For the questions that mean the most to us we know we need something deeper, we need wisdom. In an age of information, we are desperate for wisdom.
The book of Proverbs speaks constantly of Wisdom, in which all of creation was founded. In chapter eight, Wisdom cries out:
The Lord created me as the beginning of God’s ways for God’s works….
Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water.
Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brough forth—
When he had not yet made earth and fields, or the world’s first bits of soil.
When God established the heavens, I was there,
When God drew a circle on the face of the deep,
When God made firm the skies above,
When God established the fountains of the deep,
When he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress God’s command
When God marked out the foundations of the earth,
Then I was beside God, like a master worker;
I was daily God’s delight, rejoicing before him always,
rejoicing in God’s inhabited world and delighting in the human race.” (Proverbs 8:22-31)
As the early Christians marveled at the world God had made and God’s delight in humankind, is it any wonder that they identified this Wisdom through which God created all that is with Christ? The Wisdom of Proverbs is like the Logos (the Word) in the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word…through whom all things came into being, and without whom not a single thing came into being that has come into being” (John 1:1, 3). Christ was there at the beginning, when all was created, and it was through Christ, the Divine Wisdom, that the heavens were established, the skies and the depths and the very foundations of the earth were made. Christ was and is and always will be God’s daily delight, rejoicing before God in the work of creation, and delighting in the human race.
What does Divine Wisdom have to say to our deepest questions? What does it mean for us that the world was created through Wisdom, through the Divine Word, through Christ? It might mean, as theologian Rowan Williams writes, that “God makes the world to be itself, to have an integrity and completeness and goodness that is—by God’s gift—its own. At the same time, God makes the world to be open to a relation with God’s own infinite life that can enlarge and transfigure the created order without destroying it” (Christ the Heart of Creation, xiii). At the heart of Creation is not God’s judgment or disfavor, but the God disclosed in Christ is a Triune God who creates everything—including we ourselves—out of overflowing delight.
Where is Wisdom to be found? In the very creation all around us. This Lent, as we ponder wherein we might have strayed, and our need to be renewed in God’s image, may we be inspired not by our disappointment, but by the infinite beauty of God disclosed by the creation of all the world, a work of love between God and Christ, the Divine Wisdom. How might this world, charged with God’s grandeur, lead us to the heart of the Triune God, who daily and constantly delights in God, the world, and, believe it or not, in you and me?
Written by Grace Han, Pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in Alexandria, VA.
“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” – John 1:29
“Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the Lord. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.” – Exodus 12:3-13
If you’ve been to church during Lent, you’ve most likely heard of Jesus referred to as the “Paschal Lamb” or “Lamb of God.” You have probably read scriptures with that reference or may have sung songs that use that image. You may have wondered it meant for Jesus to be compared to a lamb, or perhaps you never thought about it too much. But understanding the meaning of Jesus as the Paschal lamb is incredibly significant for us who are seeking to grow our faith this Lenten season.
To truly understand Jesus as the “Paschal Lamb” or the “Lamb of God,” we need to go back before the gospels to the very first Passover in Exodus 12. In fact, the word “paschal” means Passover (or in the Christian context, Easter) and calling Jesus the “Paschal Lamb” links him to the first Passover. Recall that when the book of Exodus began, the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt. God heard the cries of his people and sent Moses to deliver the people from the bondage of sin. While Moses performed nine signs, the Pharaoh was unmoved. The night before God freed the Israelites from slavery, God instituted the First Passover meal, where each family was to take an unblemished lamb, slaughter the lamb, and use the lamb’s blood to paint the door posts of every house where they would eat the flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. That night, the Angel of Death would “passover” the homes protected by the blood, but take the lives of the firs-born children who did not have blood on its doors. It was after this final sign, that the Pharaoh finally relented and “let the people go.”
As this first Passover meal was instituted, the instructions were clear: this feast was to be kept “throughout your generations…as an ordinance forever” (Exodus 12:14), as a Day of Remembrance of their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. Because this Passover meal was not only a feast, but a religious ritual, the meal required specific rules for how the sacrificial animal was to be prepared. They were to choose an unblemished one-year-old male lamb. The lamb was sacrificed in the Temple and its blood was collected in silver basins and poured out on the altar by the priests. The Israelites were required to eat the flesh of the lamb to be in covenant with God. Most importantly, it was a day of remembrance, so the Israelites would always remember how God delivered them from slavery.
Later, in the gospel of John, when John the Baptist identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God–“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29), this was an incredibly powerful identification. John understood that Jesus was no ordinary prophet, no ordinary religious leader. John knew and anticipated that Jesus was the Messiah who came to atone for our sins, to deliver us from sin and slavery, so that we could experience true redemption and new life.
That designation became much more acute in the Passion narrative as Jesus prepared for his death. As many of us know, Jesus came to Jerusalem because of the Festival of Passover, as many faithful Jews gathered together to celebrate that important holiday. On Palm Sunday, when Jesus rode into the city on a donkey, that fell on the same day that the lamb that was to be sacrificed for the Festival of Passover also came into the city. As the blood of the sacrificial lamb was poured out on the altar by the priests, similarly Christ’s blood was poured out for us. Just as the Israelites were required to eat the flesh to be in the covenant, Jesus instituted the Eucharistic meal, offering his body and blood to his disciples and to us, to bring us into covenant with Christ.
Perhaps, most important, is what the sacrifice of the Paschal Lamb achieved. In the first Passover, it was the blood of the sacrificed lamb that protected the Israelites from death. The meat of the lamb nourished and strengthened the Israelites for the journey ahead. Through the sacrifice of the lamb, they were redeemed from their past sins and led into the promised land. The Paschal Lamb was more than just a ritual, it paved a way for a new life.
When Jesus died on the cross, he died as our Paschal Lamb. Through his blood we are saved from sin and death. Through his body we are nourished and brought into covenant, and through his death, we are given a path toward resurrection, toward new life.
But while Jesus achieved the purpose of the original paschal lamb, he also went on to ensure that we would never need another Paschal lamb again. In Jesus Christ, the ultimate sacrifice was made. It is in his body and blood that we are atoned for again and again. It is in Jesus Christ that we are offered a second, third, and fourth chance. It is in Jesus Christ that we know and remember who we and whose we are.
God loved us so much, he sent his son to be a “Paschal Lamb” on our behalf. Jesus loved us so much that he was willing to be sacrificed for our behalf, so that we would be freed from sin and slavery and know new life.
Written by Matt Benton, Pastor of Bethel United Methodist Church in Woodbridge, Virginia.
Genesis 22:1-14
Once upon a time there was a man named Abram. One day Abram was out working in his father’s fields and God spoke to him. God promised a great nation would come from Abram, which in the ancient world meant he’d have lots of children. But in the midst of their travels and trials, Abram and his wife Sarai are unable to conceive. Along the way God renames the couple Abraham and Sarah but even as they both mature into old age, they have no children.
Then, in miraculous fashion, Sarah conceives and gives birth to a son in her old age. Isaac is the fulfillment of the promise God made to Abraham and Sarah. And that promise was a long time in being fulfilled. But God kept God’s promise!
And then Abraham is asked by God to sacrifice his son. The same God who promised to make of Abraham a great nation is now asking Abraham to sacrifice the only means to see that great nation come to fruition. And beyond that, a father who has waited so long to have a child, waited so long to see his wife become a mother, is now being asked to give all that up. I’m glad God never asked that of me.
But Abraham gets Isaac one morning and starts on a journey towards a particular mountain. He makes all the preparations for the sacrifice and they set off. It’s a three-day journey. Of course it is. And when they’ve gotten to the base of the mountain Abraham tells the servant he’s brought that he and his son will go the rest of the way alone. Abraham has Isaac carry the wood for the sacrifice. Of course he does. Abraham carries the fire and the knife.
As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
I can just picture Isaac, and every time I picture it Isaac is the same age as my oldest son, looking at the items they are bringing, seeing his little brain spinning, working it out, and gathering as much courage as the little man can and saying, dad, aren’t we missing something?
How can that not break you? How could that not break Abraham?
They go up the mountain. They find a spot suitable for sacrifice. They build the altar. I wonder at what moment Isaac knew. But Abraham puts his son on the altar. And raises the knife.
And then the Angel shouts, “STOP! This has gone far enough!” Abraham is told to take Isaac off the altar, a ram is found, and indeed God has provided the means for the sacrifice. Abraham walks down the mountain with his son.
What do we do with this story? What do we make of it? If we’re honest, this story doesn’t sit well with us, does it? If we’re honest, this is a story that elicits complicated feelings about this God. This God that would give a man a child by means of miracle and then ask that man to give the child back. And all just to see if he’d really do it. On some level we get to the end of this story and we ask, what was the point? To prove a level of faith that many of us would consider fanatical?
This story elicits many complex feelings. And at this point I want you feeling all of them in full. Because all of the questions we have, all the feelings we have, all the nuances we want to add to this story, it’s time to feel them all fully.
Because the ram wasn’t the sacrifice God provided.
At least the ram wasn’t the sacrifice that took Isaac’s place.
Another would come, who would be destined to be a sacrifice, who would place the wood of the sacrifice upon his back and would make a three-day journey.
Jesus.
Jesus is the new Isaac.
And I wonder if this story doesn’t give us a tiny insight into what God went through for our salvation?
Jesus is the new Isaac. Jesus is the sacrifice God would and did provide. Our world is out of whack, our relationships are out of whack and it’s our fault. But God did what was necessary to right and renew and redeem our relationship with God. And through a renewed and redeemed relationship with God, God intends to redeem all things. God did it, God has done it. God provided what was needed.
But the thing that was needed, and which God provided, was God’s son. God’s only son.
Oftentimes with this story we ask the question what kind of God would ask a father to sacrifice his son? In some respects that’s the lens through which we read all of the Bible. What kind of God is this that we are called to love, follow, and worship? We are troubled by the type of God who would ask a father to sacrifice his son, yet we don’t realize that that isn’t the end of the story. In the ancient world lots of gods asked fathers to sacrifice sons. Our God is the God who tells Abraham to stop and instead offers God’s own son as the sacrifice. I think it’s telling that at the crucial moment, God shouted “stop” to Abraham, but we shouted “Crucify Him” to Jesus.
But that is what our God has done for us. Instead of making us pay the price for our own redemption, God accomplishes it Godself. God does it for us. God does what we cannot do for ourselves. God gives and gives and gives. Thanks be to God! Amen.
Don’t miss our Ash Wednesday worship service online today at NOON.
Introduction
Who is God? What is God like? Are Jesus and God different? Why are there two parts to the Bible? Does God change in between? Why does God seem so judgmental in the Old Testament and so loving in the New Testament?
These questions and others like them have troubled Christians and people of faith for centuries.
As Christians we believe that God is who God has always been; God is unchanging. And God has always related to humanity with grace and love. We believe that the great story of Scripture is one of God unveiling God’s love for us throughout time and history. We also believe that love was made most prominently known through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. But, from the very beginning, the Bible has always been pointing towards Jesus.
Lent is a 40 day season in the life of the church when we prepare our hearts to hear again the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection. In order to reflect on that story in a new way this year, we present this devotional series that seeks to highlight places in the Old Testament that serve as teasers for Jesus, that show us how God’s story of salvation has always been oriented towards the cross and empty tomb, and that highlight how both the Old and the New Testament are centered around God’s amazing love, grace, and provision for us.
Each day there will be an image or story from the Old Testament. Stories like God protecting his faithful servants in the fiery furnace or providing manna in the desert. Images like the suffering servant from Isaiah or the Paschal Lamb from the Exodus. And the writers will show us how each story or image shows us what Jesus is like, reminds us of Jesus, points us to Jesus in the New Testament.
We hope that as we reflect on these previews of Jesus found in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible that you will have a new or greater appreciation for the Old Testament. Perhaps you will learn something new or encounter a story you’ve never read before. But, ultimately, we hope this will deepen your love for God who has been loving us, providing for us, and meeting us with grace literally for forever.
Written by Sarah Locke, Pastor of Hickory United Methodist Church in Chesapeake, VA.
“Then he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.’” – Mark 2:24-28
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” – Matthew 11: 29
For people who have spent more time in our home this year than every before, I cannot say that I am “well rested.” The demands of family, church, work, and the regular routine have not ceased – they have just morphed. I have found it harder than ever to find a way to feel rested. The things that have always worked – a day of binging Netflix, a walk in the park with our kids, a date night with my husband – they all used to be things that left me feeling rejuvenated and ready to face the world. And now I wake up after a “day off” still weary. Can I get an Amen?
I think as Christ followers, there are times we hear Sabbath and all we hear is a biblical mandate to take a day off and simply to do no work. Sabbath is just about a “day off” or a “vacation” right? We think this because while God had every resource and all the energy needed to create the whole world, and as scripture promises God never sleeps or slumbers on the job, God still took a break. On the 7th day of creation, God called the day holy and did no work. And so, we see the command to practice the Sabbath as just that. A command that while sounding nice doesn’t mean all that much in our modern world.
As a mom of 5, a wife, a pastor, and a person highly influenced to over work and under rest this command often feels unrealistic. And then COVID hit and in my optimism, I thought, okay quarantine. Take this. I will name you Sabbath and I will come out the other side healthier. If God rested so can I.
Now 11 months later, I would say that while I have done many of the “right” things, I am wearier than ever. And for many of us that is the case. We have survived one of the hardest years of most of our lives. And the resources that used to work just do not anymore. A day off does not prepare me for the other 6. And here is why: Because my resting is not what powers my life.
In Mark, we see Jesus taking some heat from the Pharisees who feel that Jesus’ rule-breaking tendencies are not honoring the commandment to keep the day holy. Jesus has been healing folks on the Sabbath. Jesus’ response is simple: Sabbath is not a commandment to get us to bend to the will of another, but, instead, the day of rest which was made for us. It is a gift. And gifts are not something we can give ourselves. Sabbath is experience of the Lord’s presence or grace in our lives in spite of our inability to sit still well. The commandment of Sabbath is simply SO that we can experience the grace and love God has always wanted to offer us.
One of the many problems that we have experienced in COVID is that our work has changed. And while we may not be commuting and our time has been spent differently, the internal work of navigating the world has gotten more intense. Our emotions have been tested, our relationships have been strained, physical connections have been broken, we have been more isolated, experienced greater anxiety, and heightened fear. And while Netflix and walks help quiet our minds for a few moments or hours they don’t stop the chaos that lives with-in. There is only one source of Sabbath- there is only one source of peace and rest and it requires that I place myself in the presence of the Lord.
Jesus is the fulfillment of the Sabbath. Jesus offers us a picture not of a God that simply takes a nap, but instead offers to carry our burdens. Jesus offers to yoke himself to us. That is the gift. We will not carry this alone. Rest is not a lack of work; it is instead a change from trying to carry the load ourselves. When we are yoked to Christ, we can experience the lightening of that the heavy load of fear, anxiety, and loneliness we have been carrying. We can know that those things we drag along behind us will not overwhelm us or leave us stuck in the mud. Jesus becomes the power of our rest. The old ways don’t work because they never really did. The only rest we need is to place ourselves in the path of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who has been called “Lord of the Sabbath.” Amen.
