Thursday, March 12, 2015

Lifting Up Death (Reflections on Lent 4, Year B)


I got a bittersweet present in the mail last week. A long-lost friend from my days in high school Lutheran youth group wrote me a letter. Yup. An actual letter. Remember those? You wrote with a pen on a piece of paper in your own handwriting—sometimes even employing complete sentences with punctuation and everything—and then sealed it in an envelope, put a stamp on it, and sent it to someone via the United States Postal Service. Quaint, don't you think?

Anyway...this missive from a friend of forty years ago was, for the most part, a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately, said epistle—although filled with much good news—also made mention of the death of one of our contemporaries. This is now the third time in the last year that I have lost someone who was close to me in my younger days. It makes me wonder if I am now entering that time of life in which such news will become more and more commonplace. Inevitably, some day the news will be that I have passed on. I may not like to think about that, but there it is.

The dark subject of mortality is the light of the lessons the Revised Common Lectionary assigned for the fourth Sunday in Lent. In both the Hebrew and Greek scripture lessons we are confronted with the paradox that seeing death brings us life. In the gospel (John 3:14-21), Jesus tells Nicodemus,

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 3:14-15)


In this Christological discourse, Jesus' death on the cross is likened to the tale in Numbers 21: 4-9 in which the Israelites, wandering in the desert and whining about the rotten food, are punished for their sniveling ingratitude by being bitten by poisonous snakes. In order to heal the repentant complainers, Moses fashions a bronze serpent and puts it on a tall pole. Any snakebite victim looking at the bronze snake on the pole will be healed.

We could take this story as just a fluffy magical fairy tale and an indictment against the hyper-critical among us, or we could see its darker allegorical side. What is it about this bronze reptile which brings about healing? I'd say that, first off, the snake is an image of the peoples' sin. How do these critters kill? With poison from their mouths. What is the sin of the people? Poisoning their fellowship with their despairing, self-centered, and contemptuous talk. Serves 'em right, don't you think?

But the snake is also a symbol of death itself since snakes are what are killing the people. Confronting their finite lives should bring the people back to a deeper sense of their purpose, a deeper gratitude for being alive, and a deeper awareness of how good God has been to keep them going up to this point. The knowledge of death brings them back to real, authentic (as opposed to shallow) life.

But what do we see when we see Jesus lifted up on the cross? Have you ever thought of what it would be like to die by crucifixion yourself? Just ponder that for a moment. Can you feel the nails piercing your hands? Can you contemplate the utter state of helplessness? You are impaled, trapped. You are in pain but can do nothing. You are naked to the world but cannot hide. You can't shield your eyes from the sun or even swat away the flies that now feed on your festering wounds. You soil yourself. You scream for help, but no help comes. Onlookers view you with disgust. Your only desire is to die.

Think about that. About dying in such a way. And realize that for millions of people in hospital beds and nursing homes, impaled with IV needles and trapped in restraints, this is exactly the way they will die—alone. You yourself might also die in such a way.

We may think of this as a dark subject, but it leads us to the light of understanding. To see Christ lifted up on the cross is to understand the depth of his love for us. It is to be grateful for the blessings with which God showers us every moment of our lives. It is also to live in the faith that

...if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Romans 6:5)

Seeing the crucified Jesus calls us to believe. In the Greek the word for believe (pisteuo) does not mean simply to assent to a dogma. It means to have confidence in this, to trust in this. The Old English word from which believe derives actually means to have desire for something. In the Son of Man lifted up we are to trust in both our mortality and our immortality. To shun this image is to escape into the blindness of our own comfort zone—a very feeble refuge from fear. We can't make John 3:16 into a bumper sticker slogan, forgetting the depth of the word “believe.” We are called every day to look to Jesus crucified. We cling with confidence, trust, and desire to this image. It is God with us in death and in life.

Thank you again for stopping by. I hope you're all having a wonderful Lent. Please remember the poor in your prayers and in your giving.

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