IF IT'VE BEEN A SNAKE IT WOULD'VE BIT YA

Nehushtan at Mt .Nebo

Nehushtan - (Nehush - snake)  the name of the cult serpent of brass upon a pole which King Hezekiah destroyed because by the time of his reign the Jewish people were worshiping it as an idol. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia and Jewish Virtual Library (on-line versions), the cult serpent has some tradition with the story in Numbers 21:4-9 but does not seem to have taken on the Nehushtan name until the time of Hezekiah. Accordingly, the serpent on a post is supposed to be shedding its skin, a sign of rebirth or healing for those who "look" upon it. According to the above references, the word "look" in verse 21:9 was not merely a glance but a time of acknowledgment of one's own conduct which resulted in repentance. This repentance was what saved the person from death.


Two questions: Is there difference in the way God approaches people in the Numbers passage compared to the John passage?
How do we sometimes change in relation to the gifts God has given us as illustrated in the time of Moses compared to the time of Hezekiah?

Numbers 21:4-9
21:4 From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way.

21:5 The people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food."

21:6 Then the LORD sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died.

21:7 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.

21:8 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."

21:9 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.


John 3:14-21
3:14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

3:15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

3:17 "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

3:18 Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

3:19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.

3:20 For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.

3:21 But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God."

THE THIRD COVENANT. EXPRESSION OF LAW

A "run of DeMille" production

Maimonides, physician to Salidin and renowned Jewish scholar of the late middle ages, stated that for Judaism, Moses was the principal and greatest prophet of all for God's people. 
In today's lectionary choice we follow in the path of the covenants which God instituted with his people. Noah, Abraham and now Moses. For the Jewish people it is the covenant of the law with Moses that brings salvation to those who follow and obey it.
Jesus' distillation of the Ten into two sides of the same commandment regarding God and neighbor transformed the decalogue into a more efficient travelogue of religious ethics for our journey. Though by no means the first code of conduct from the mid-east, the "Top Ten" have remained influential in Western minds up to today. And its placement as public edifice has been the issue of more than several court decisions, even though most of those Ten Commandment displays were placed in parks and public places in the 1950s by Paramount Studios as publicity promotion for what was then described as "The Greatest Event in Motion Picture History." 


In the scriptures from Exodus, how does this illustrate the aspect of covenant (3rd) for the Jewish people. What does it mean for us?


Exodus 20:1-17
20:1 Then God spoke all these words:

20:2 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;

20:3 you shall have no other gods before me.

20:4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

20:5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me,

20:6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

20:7 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

20:8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.

20:9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work.

20:10 But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work--you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.

20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

20:12 Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

20:13 You shall not murder.

20:14 You shall not commit adultery.

20:15 You shall not steal.

20:16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

20:17 You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

COVENANT AS EXPRESSION OF LOVE

Last week we explored the first covenant established in the Jewish scriptures with Noah after the great deluge. This week we take a look at the second covenant expressed by God, that to Abraham.
Abraham's story begins with his passage with the rest of his family from Ur of the Chaldeans in ancient southern Babylonia (Gen. 11:31). He and his family moved north along the trade routes of the ancient world and settled in the prosperous trade center of Haran, several hundred miles to the northwest.
While living in Haran, at the age of 75, Abraham received a call from God to go to a strange, unknown land that God would show him. The Lord promised Abraham that He would make him and his descendants a great nation (Gen. 12:1-3). The promise must have seemed unbelievable to Abraham because his wife Sarah was childless (Gen. 11:30-31; 17:15)...
Abraham took his wife and his nephew, Lot, and went toward the land that God would show him. Abraham moved south along the trade routes from Haran, through Shechem and Bethel, to the land of Canaan. Canaan was a populated area at the time, inhabited by the war-like Canaanites; so, Abraham's belief that God would ultimately give this land to him and his descendants was an act of faith.
The circumstances seemed quite difficult, but Abraham's faith in God's promises allowed him to trust in the Lord. In Genesis 15, the Lord reaffirmed His promise to Abraham. The relationship between God and Abraham should be understood as a covenant relationship -- the most common form of arrangement between individuals in the ancient world. In this case, Abraham agreed to go to the land that God would show him (an act of faith on his part), and God agreed to make Abraham a great nation (Gen. 12:1-3)...Abraham's response is the model of believing faith: "And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness" (Gen. 15:6).(from Padfield.com)

How does Covenant express the reality of love from God? Is covenant expansive or inhibitive in its nature? How do we demonstrate covenant to others of faith?

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, "I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless.

17:2 And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous."

17:3 Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him,

17:4 "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations.

17:5 No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations.

17:6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.

17:7 I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.

17:15 God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.

17:16 I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her."

RAIN UNTIL THE COWS COME HOME

RAINBOW AND COW by David Ovila

Life and its beginnings in our birth would not be possible without the sustenance of water. In ritual we often celebrate this in manners of cleansing and even the symbolic gesture of baptism. Jesus even followed this rite in the gospels to express his desire to follow God's will. We do so to create new direction and meaning in our lives as we tread the ripples that encircle us as we are baptized. 
In this ancient of stories that harks back to new beginnings, what does the water mean in this story.? What does a renewed chance mean and how is that related to the declaration of a covenant?

Genesis 9:8-17
9:8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him,

9:9 "As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you,

9:10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.

9:11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth."

9:12 God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:

9:13 I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

9:14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds,

9:15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.

9:16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth."

9:17 God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth."

TRANSFIGURATION SUNDAY

Transfiguration of Jesus from Mafa

While doing graduate work in Communications for an art atelier at a university, an artist told me during an interview that there are two significant obsessions in the visual arts. The human figure and the landscape.
Thinking back generally about art expression over the millenia it appears this is a keen observation but also an insight with great import. Obsession with the self and one's environs is most likely expected as a given fundamental of human nature. But as with most obsessions, this can blind us to such other perspectives and opportunities that lend the possibility of seeing our selves and our environs as "transfigured." In the Mafa illustration above the appearance of Moses and Elijah with Jesus acts as a fulcrum in the gospel story, the lives of the disciples and as well the early development of what would come to be called Christianity. 

How does the Mafa rendition of this event speak to transfiguraton? What else is being transfigured besides the figure Jesus? What do you take from this transfiguration? Does it change how you see your landscape?


Mark 9:2-9
9:2 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them,

9:3 and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.

9:4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus.

9:5 Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

9:6 He did not know what to say, for they were terrified.

9:7 Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!"

9:8 Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.

9:9 As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

RESTORING COMMUNITY

Restoring Community

For close to twenty years I worked in hospitals. Assigned to areas of Neurosurgical Intermediate and Intensive Cares, Cardovascular and Neonatal Intensive Cares, as well as Emergency room and Ventilator Care. 
From this experience came the observation that once one is considered ill or infirm, the disease often assumes or becomes the identity of the person. They are no longer Larry or Jane or Bobby or Katelin. They are the lung cancer in 409. Their prognosis is their destiny. Their status is ostracization from the flow of routine society. 
A sort of out of sight out of mind relationship occurs between them and the rest of the "functioning community"
This was particularly true of Jesus' time in Judea. The sick, especially the leper was an outcast an outsider.
How did Jesus cross that line of ostracizing for the benefit of individuals in community?
Do we have "lepers" today that we ostracize. How might we follow Jesus' example to heal community one soul at a time?

Mark 1:40-45
1:40 A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, "If you choose, you can make me clean."

1:41 Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, "I do choose. Be made clean!"

1:42 Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.

1:43 After sternly warning him he sent him away at once,

1:44 saying to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."

1:45 But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.

JESUS, HOMEBOYS, LOAVES, AND FISHES

 Jesus Is My Homeboy - Loaves and Fishes - David LaChapelle

Homeboy: noun; Originally used among transplanted African-Americans with Southern roots to refer to and aid in the assimilation of someone who might have directly migrated from a common Southern home town or is otherwise well known to the person using the term.

The epitome of a friend. Somebody you kick it with. A person who always has your back. You can't go through life without a homeboy. It's hard to have more than one, because they're one in a million. (The Urban Dictionary)   The photo above is from the artist and photographer, David LaChapelle. Highly influenced by Michelangelo, as well as present-day artists, LaChapelle desires to make commentary on our interdependence with modern consumer society. His Homeboy series also includes a New York street scene of a prostitute's arrest with Jesus' intervention. Jesus in a tenement kitchen with a modern-dressed,  Mary Magdalene wiping Jesus' feet with her long blonde hair, a Sermon on the streets, Jesus showing the wounds of his hands to everyday persons in a bedroom scene and a Leo Da Vinci-esque Lords Supper with myriad persons of hip-hop culture gathered are other works which LaChapelle said in a 2008 interview for The Art Newspaper TV. " If Jesus were here today, he said, he would be hanging out with the street people and the marginalized:  the poor, the homeless, prostitutes, drug dealers, gangsters, and so on.  And more than that, these people would have been his closest and most faithful band of followers." In our lectionary lesson for this Sunday from the book of Matthew, verses 14:13-21, when the disciples say that the people of the crowd are hungry Jesus tells his disciples to feed them. What is their response?  In the light of a wealthy, consumer oriented society as exemplified in LaChapelle's rendition how does the miracle of the loaves and fishes speak to persons, Materially? Spiritually? How do we participate in the miracle today? Matthew 14:13-21 14:13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14:14 When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. 14:15 When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves." 14:16 Jesus said to them, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat." 14:17 They replied, "We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish." 14:18 And he said, "Bring them here to me." 14:19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 14:20 And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 14:21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. Walter Morton for Journey Across the Line