Scripture: John
3:1-17
In the second week of Lent we move closer to Jesus’ passion
and read of his prediction that he will be lifted up like the serpent in the
wilderness in Numbers 21 in order to save people from death. The events of John
3 consist of a seemingly clandestine conversation between a Pharisee (a
religious leader) and Jesus. As we walk through the season of Lent, God wants
us to believe that he desires to save us from sin and death. This text fits in
the midst of lessons about Jesus’ passion to supply God’s motive for saving
people: love.
Teaching
The people of Israel spoke against God and against Moses,
complaining, yet again, that God had rescued them from slavery in Egypt. The Lord
sent fiery serpents – poisonous snakes – and they bit the people, and those who
were bit died. When they confessed their sin and Moses prayed for them, God
told Moses to make a fiery serpent of bronze and put it high on a pole where
the people could see it. All who looked upon the bronze serpent were saved.[1]
When Nicodemus visited Jesus he came to figure out who Jesus
was; to see if he might be the savior. Jesus, however, drives the conversation
to reveal something that this teacher of Israel did not know: that God, out of
love, desired to save sinners and it would happen by the lifting up of the Son,
just as the serpent was lifted up. This foreshadowed Jesus’ death on the cross,
and the life and salvation that comes to all who look to him in faith.
Life
Do you have a cross or crucifix in your home? Do you ever
look at it and think about what Jesus did on his cross for you? We don’t want
to do this expecting some kind of magical experience, as if by merely looking
at a cross one might be spiritually transformed. However, to gaze upon a cross
and to remember Jesus’ promise that he would be lifted up to rescue us from the
poisonous bite of sin – to remember Jesus’ Word – is good. Perhaps it is time
to sit and look upon the cross for a while and think about Jesus’ promises to
you.
If you could have a conversation with Jesus, what would you
ask him about? Before you think too hard about that, stop and consider
Nicodemus’s conversation with Jesus and how Jesus took Nicodemus to the point
of revealing God’s love and plan of salvation. Jesus has given us his Holy
Spirit to teach us in the Word. How might we begin to listen more closely for
those messages that speak to us of God’s love, forgiveness, and life?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you took Nicodemus’s questions and directed the
conversation to reveal God’s love for us and to show us that you would be
lifted up like the bronze serpent to save us from death. Thank you for your
comforting words that have been used so often to summarize the Gospel. We
confess that the words, “God so loved the world…,” have become so familiar to
us that we sometimes fail to be in awe of the wonder of your love. Please forgive
us. Please fix in our hearts the message that you love people, including us,
with an amazing love and that you did not come to condemn people, but to save
us so that we, likewise, would not seek to condemn others but to love them and
give them your message which gives life. Amen.
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