Free for the first time in their lives, they were upset because Moses did not offer them better food. They were complaining about the menu!
This complaining made God really mad, so God sent snakes. Poisonous snakes. And the people began to die. So they forgot about the menu or the long waits or the heat and they realized that all they really wanted was to stay alive. So they begged Moses to pray for them. And Moses asks God for forgiveness.
Make a snake, God instructs. Put it on a pole. And when the people gaze upon it, they will be healed.
What a strange idea. God wanted Moses to display the source of their pain. And it would heal them.
When you speak the truth, you bring things into the light and that brings you closer to God, writes John's gospel. When you hide in the darkness, you hide from God.
Christ hung upon the cross as a model for what it means to bring the worst kind of human existence to light. This was an unjust death; the execution of an innocent man. It was brutal, unfair and extremely painful. And yet, God did not hide this death as an embarrassment or as a failure. God lifted up the sacrifice of His Son so that all of us might learn from it, so that all of us might be healed from it.
And that is why we wear the object of an execution around our neck, because it has become for us the source of healing and hope. And when you wear a cross, you are telling the world that you are willing to share your pain. You are called to lift up your cross, put the source of your pain on a pole and lift it up, for all to see.
AJ was a rower in college. He knew that he needed to loose weight. He kept exercising hard but the weight wouldn't come off, so he started to fast. From time to time, he would eat a lot and then throw up his food. He told no one.
AJ's coach praised him for getting the weight off. He was faster and stronger than ever. He was at the top of his game. But slowly, he became detached from his life. Things did not seem to matter much. He lived solely inside his own mind, a dark place where he thought of what he was going to eat and when. For five years, he ate and purged himself. His bones were depleted of calcium. He began to have tooth decay and his athletics floundered as he got weaker and weaker. He lived in a world of obsession and secrecy, a world of shame.
After five years, he was hospitalized. Like the Hebrew people, he realized that he could die. He began to speak. He told the truth and brought his illness into the light. He began to tell everyone, to speak about it in public. He lifted up his eating disorder as a way of educating others. "Everyone thinks that only women suffer from this illness, but men do too, especially athletes." This was the truth that he told.
When AJ began to tell the truth, he began to feel better. The battle was still on in his mind, but light was beginning to fight the darkness. When he began to lift up his illness as a witness to others, he began to really heal. And so did others.
Take up your cross, said Jesus, and follow me.
The symbol for medicine is a snake strung around a pole. This symbol has roots in ancient Greek mythology but it also has Biblical roots. It harkens back to Moses' serpent on the pole.
The work of darkness is rooted in shame, fear and secrecy. If you want to live your life fully, you must not be afraid to share your pain with others. Vulnerability is Christ-like. It takes courage. All creativity, ingenuity, and change comes from a place of vulnerability. Lift up your pain and let everyone know that God is at work in you.
Dale Regan, the headmaster of Episcopal was shot and killed just a week and a half ago. This was an act of incredible violence that shook the entire city. Killed by a teacher who had been terminated, the entire school was caught in shock, fear and grief. As the media descended upon us, we all felt this instinct to want to run and hide. Who wants to admit such a tragedy at a school? What if it hurt our reputation? What if parents decided to no longer send their children? Fear came down upon us all. What if we became known as the school where the headmaster was shot?
But as our pain was lifted up for all the world to see, the most amazing things happened. Love came pouring in. Pastors of all denominations came to us without us having to ask. Counselors came. A media firm came to help us manage the media. Emails poured in from all over the world; even the Archbishop of Perth in Australia sent his love and prayers. And the students started coming back. By Friday, there were four thousand people on the campus. And a rainbow came into the sky.
Our pain was lifted up. And miracles happened. We still have a long way to go to heal, but the first step is lifting up that cross. We were hurt, badly, but that is by no means the end of the story.
