Meditation: Easter 6 - 2021

Note: This meditation was read by Deacon Richard Iverson in my absence

9 May 2021

Text: John 16:23-33 (Num 21:4-9, Jas 1:22-27)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

The devil twists that which is good and perverts it unto evil.  But God takes the evil plans of the devil, thwarts them, and uses Satan against himself – for even as our Lord said, a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.

Satan took the form of a serpent and deceived Eve into sin, bringing death into our world.  And in the time of the Exodus, the people sinfully complained against God, and God sent “fiery serpents” to harass them, little reminders of Satan, and like that of the devil, the attacks of these serpents led to death.

But when the people repented and asked for Moses to pray for them, the Lord had mercy upon them.  And using the image of the serpent, God destroyed the poison of the serpent.  “Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.”

This incident pointed forward to our Lord’s crucifixion, as Jesus was held up on a pole for all to see, and those who look to the cross are saved from sin and eternal death.  We look to Him and we live.  God took the cross, the symbol of death – and Jesus, by dying, destroyed death – and remade the cross into a symbol of life.

In our Gospel, Jesus began to speak plainly to the disciples, and they began to understand what He was telling them.  They began to finally look to Jesus like the serpent on the pole, knowing that in Him, life is to be found – life that overcomes death.  They began to see that Jesus conquers the devil – and they will soon see how He does it: by dying and rising again.

They still have much to experience, even as Jesus said, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Dear friends, since Jesus has overcome the world, since we look to Him like the Israelites looked to the bronze serpent, and lived, let us live as those redeemed by Christ: men and women who have been ransomed by God’s undoing of the damage of Satan, by forgiving sin, and by drawing life out of death itself.

And as James teaches us, let this reality revealed to us in the Word of God lead us from the hearing the Word (by which faith comes), to being doers of the Word (as faith leads us to good works).  May the Lord’s death upon the cross for our redemption lead us to rejoice in His grace, and to use our new life for the kingdom.  And may He use us to draw all men to the “bronze serpent” of our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, who brings us out of the wilderness of sin and death, and brings us into the Promised Land of forgiveness, life, and salvation!

Amen.

Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.