The Second Week in March
We Read…
Have you ever read this story from the Book of Numbers? It is a pretty strange one to hear! Reading stories from the Old Testament and seeing God as angry or violent can be easy. The poor Israelites were just trying to survive and then getting attacked by snakes! But what if this story shows us something deeper about God and the Israelites? Right before the Israelites grumble against God, God hears the people crying out and destroys the Canaanites who were posing a threat against Israel. Instead of praising God and recognizing God’s care for the people, they start to complain and say that God brought them out to die! The Israelites were reminded through the snake ordeal that God is the only one who can save them, and God is always with them. As they looked at the bronze snake, they were reminded of their grumbling and turning from God, and they were also reminded that God provides for them.
Later in our passages, we see that we are saved by grace so that we can do good works in Jesus. We can’t save ourselves; only God can do that. Does that remind you of the snake story? As we continue into John 3, we see a direct reference to the Numbers story. Have you ever noticed this before while reading this famous passage in John? It points us back to God’s faithfulness and salvation in the past and affirms that only God can save. John continues offering an important addition: Jesus did not come to condemn but to save. God is with us; God has our backs, and offers us full life through Jesus.
Numbers 21:4-9
4 They marched from Mount Hor on the Reed Sea road around the land of Edom. The people became impatient on the road. 5 The people spoke against God and Moses: “Why did you bring us up from Egypt to kill us in the desert, where there is no food or water. And we detest this miserable bread!” 6 So the LORD sent poisonous snakes among the people and they bit the people. Many of the Israelites died.
7 The people went to Moses and said, “We’ve sinned, for we spoke against the LORD and you. Pray to the LORD so that he will send the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
8 The LORD said to Moses, “Make a poisonous snake and place it on a pole. Whoever is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 Moses made a bronze snake and placed it on a pole. If a snake bit someone, that person could look at the bronze snake and live.
Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22
1 “Give thanks to the LORD
because he is good,
because his faithful love
lasts forever!”
2 That’s what those who are redeemed
by the LORD say,
the ones God redeemed
from the power of their enemies,
3 the ones God gathered
from various countries,
from east and west, north and south.
17 Some of the redeemed were fools
because of their sinful ways.
They suffered because of
their wickedness.
18 They had absolutely no appetite for food;
they had arrived at death’s gates.
19 So they cried out to the LORD
in their distress,
and God saved them
from their desperate circumstances.
20 God gave the order and healed them;
he rescued them from their pit.
21 Let them thank the LORD
for his faithful love
and his wondrous works for all people.
22 Let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices
and declare what God has done
in songs of joy!
Ephesians 2:1-10
1 As for you, you were dead in your sins and offenses, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the way of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now active in those who are disobedient. 3 Indeed, we all once lived among them in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the senses, and by nature we were children of wrath, like everyone else. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you are saved!— 6 and he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 it is not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
John 3:14-21
14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so must the Human One be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. 16 God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life. 17 God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him isn’t judged; whoever doesn’t believe in him is already judged, because they don’t believe in the name of God’s only Son.
19 “This is the basis for judgment: The light came into the world, and people loved darkness more than the light, for their actions are evil. 20 All who do wicked things hate the light and don’t come to the light for fear that their actions will be exposed to the light. 21 Whoever does the truth comes to the light so that it can be seen that their actions were done in God.”
We Think…
What stands out to you in these verses?
Does anything confuse you or not make sense?
How do these verses compare to your own experience in life or the church?
What are you considering?
What questions come to mind?
How does this understanding of the Numbers passage change how you read John 3?
We Feel…
What emotions are you experiencing today? How are you making space for these feelings?
Where have you seen God today or this week?
What is pointing you to God (maybe it is something in creation, maybe a friend or adult that cares for you)?
What has God made new in your life? In your heart?
When have you grumbled to God? What experiences can you point back to as a reminder of God’s faithfulness to you?
We Believe…
What does it mean to be saved? For some, it means a ticket to heaven, and that’s all. But what if Jesus wants more from us than that? We are saved by grace so that we can return to the world, not hide away until the end. While our good works can’t save us, we respond to Jesus’s love through our actions and our new love for the world around us. This world and our lives matter, even after we have said yes to living with Jesus. Because saying yes is more than a ticket to heaven! It is saying yes to building a relationship with Jesus, walking with God every day, shining God’s light in the world, and sharing the good news - that Jesus has come to be with us - with everyone we encounter.
We Practice…
In John 3, we read about darkness and light. When have you chosen Jesus’s light over darkness? If you can, light a candle in your home (or have something similar, like a small LED light), and reflect on the light it brings to your room. We once were in darkness, but Jesus has come, and that light drives out any darkness.
Take a few moments to pray and thank God for how God has brought light into your heart, pray for strength to move out of the darkness you might feel, and acknowledge where God might be leading you.
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