Many on their Lenten journey have attempted all sorts of acrobatics as they make a big thing about denial. Some have fasted from things which they’ve perceived as vices, only to count the days ’til Easter, when they can go back to harming themselves. Others have tried an attitude adjustment, refraining from anger or arrogance, yet still counting the days… The problem is that these maneuvers all stem from a conscious Act of Will, essentially bypassing a recognition of our own inadequacy and neglecting an external Grace. Readings for the upcoming weekend address this ongoing sin of self-reliance.
The People of God described in Numbers 21:4-9 were desert wanderers seeking a home. The writer claims that poisonous snakes were God’s answer to their griping: this could be a good debate about the Origins of Evil; my own take is that I can get into enough trouble by myself without blaming God for sending it! More important, God through Moses provided a way out by making an image of the offending snakes: the sources of trouble weren’t banished, but now there’s a way to live again despite them. To be healed from Evil, we must look at it and name it.
Paul describes God’s transforming power to the Ephesians (2:1-10): from death to being made alive to sitting with Christ in glory. “This is not your own doing; it is the gift of God”. The “passions of our flesh” which have kept us zombie-like are acts of rebellion against God, and putting our trust in anything less than God. BUT Christ alone yanks us not only into new life, but Royalty no less!
The danger within the Gospel, John 3:14-21, lies in its familiarity. Many of us memorized John 3:16 in Confirmation class or before, and now think that we know everything. For me, the following verse, “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him”, brings a lot of assurance. The connection with the serpent mentioned in Numbers has been used to presage Jesus’ crucifixion–but even more powerful is the idea about seeing the Evil for what it is…and knowing that here again is God’s initiative for salvation.
Lent is our opportunity to once again contemplate the mystery of a God who loves so passionately that he/she breaks into our wandering in a sacramental entrance which transforms us “from glory to glory”. This is not of our own doing, despite our well-meant exercises. Thanks be to God!
God Bless Us, Every One Horace Brown King
My subservience to the power of the Scripture lessons for the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com
My Blog 
Leave a comment