Lent 4 John 3:14-15 “Snake Cross”

Talk:

Snakes. If you were to see a snake in the bush what would you do? You could either run away from it scared, you could grab something to try to kill it, or you could step back leave it alone and watch it slide and slither away peacefully. A lot of people are scared when they see a snake or they might even snap into survival mode and think they have to kill it but being calm and leaving it alone it the best thing to do. Snakes can be dangerous but they won’t harm you if they are left alone.

I think people are scared of snakes because we tend to think that they are all dangerous and poisonous creatures, that they are sinister animals. People have thought that for a long time. In Genesis, the first book of the bible, God made humans then Adam and Eve were tempted to eat from the tree by what sort of animal? A snake, a serpent. The snake became the ultimate badie, a symbol of everything evil in the world. There is another story about snakes in the Old Testament that we are going to hear in a moment in which they are again the badie in the story. In the book of Numbers, people are surrounded by snakes which are bitting them and killing them. God tells Moses to save the people by making a metal snake and putting it on a pole so they people can look up to it and be healed.

Jesus in the gospel reading today says just like Moses who put the snake on the pole to heal people, he must be lifted up on a cross so that the whole world would believe in him and be saved. So the snake curled around the cross has been used as a symbol for healing. It has even been used a symbol for doctors and medicine. For us healing comes from Jesus being curled up on the cross for us. By trusting in him and his death we are healed.  

 

Move:

X  Draw a picture of a snake curled around a cross or a pole. Put these pictures up in the church somewhere for the congregation to be reminded of Jesus who compared himself to the snake that Moses made.

Pray:

Lord God thank you that you created snakes, even though we are often sacred of them. Thank you that Jesus was lifted up on the cross like the snake Moses lifted up. Help us to look to Jesus for healing when we are bitten. Amen.