The other day we looked at the Old Testament passage from Numbers which had Moses putting a snake on a stick in order that the people who were bit by poisonous snakes may look at it and be cured. The story, as I understood it, tied in to God sending us opportunities to face our fears in order to overcome them. Today we look at John 3:13-17 which has Jesus speaking to Nicodemus and mentioning this same event in the wilderness.
Let me stop here to say that I am currently studying the Gospel of John and as it's being shown to me in a new, different understanding the writing in this post may seem obscure. The lecturer I'm listening to is making the point (and making it rather convincingly) that the Gospel of John is written by a single community within the Jewish culture which has been ostracized because of their following and practices of the teachings of Christ. These Judeo-Christians have formed a very tight fellowship in which they hope to keep true to their newly found understandings through Christ while being able to share this belief with those who enter into it.
To make that easier to understand let's just say the Johannine society were outcasts trying to survive in a world which doesn't want them there. One can only imagine what it would be like to be in that situation. In fact, many of us live within that situation every day of our lives. We feel as though we aren't accepted by those around us for being the people we truly are. In order to survive in this world we create within ourselves a private "club" in which we don't let anyone enter. We live in fear of being discovered for the person we truly are and never find inner peace.
What John is trying to do in connecting the snake on a stick story as told in Numbers and Jesus' words to Nicodemus is remind us that we need to look towards Jesus to see a God that helps us overcome those fears. Nicodemus came to Jesus with questions. What Jesus does is show just how much Nicodemus didn't understand. Could it be that Nicodemus didn't understand because he had forgotten to look towards God to settle his fears in order to find his inner peace?
What are your fears, what do you have a difficult time understanding, who do you look towards in order to find that inner peace? Yes, more questions than answers, but isn't that what makes life great?
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