A sermon for the 4th Sunday in Lent (Year B)
Today is already the fourth Sunday in Lent. And it actually has a name. It is called Laetare. This term comes from the Latin word “rejoice.” So we are right smack dab in the middle of the somber season of Lent and yet the word that describes this day is rejoice. Does that make any sense to you?
It may seem a bit odd since this is a season of penitence and sacrifice. It is a season so serious that we don’t even get to sing the Alleluia verses. Yet in the ancient church, the prayers for this day always began with the word rejoice. Why? Because we have now passed the halfway point. Lent is more than half done and we are well on our way to the great joy of Easter. Today’s scripture lessons are filled with joy as well.
The first lesson comes from the great Exodus, in which Moses leads the people of God out of slavery and into the freedom of the Promised Land. But as they are going, they to get tired of the road trip. They are like kids in the back seat whining: “Are we there yet?” I was just introduced to a folk song from the 1920s called “Grumbler.” Since this story reminds me so much of the grumbler song, I’m going to sing you a verse.
In country, town, or city some people can be found
who spend their lives in grumbling at everything around.
Oh yes, they always grumble no matter what we say.
For these are chronic grumblers, and they grumble night and day.
Oh, they, grumble on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
Grumble on Thursday, too.
Grumble on Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Grumble the whole week through.
Yes, the people of God are, indeed, grumblers. They are on their way to the promised land but do they get excited about this? Do they cheer about the greatness of this destination? No, they grumble the whole week through. They just hate it. They are in the middle of the wilderness and the food stinks. It’s worse than airplane food, which you have to pay extra for these days. So the grumblers get mad at Moses. Never mind the fact that he led them out of slavery and he has helped them find water, manna and has even argued with God on their behalf. No pity for Moses. The grumblers feel sorry for themselves and he’s the most convenient one to blame. They grumble: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?”
As you might guess, God doesn’t really like their grumbling. So poisonous serpents show up and start biting and killing the Israelites. Um...excuse me? Where is the joy in this story? It sounds like a horror movie with Sam Jackson. In a 1999 poll, 40% of Americans listed snakes as that thing in life that they feared most. Snakes even beat out speaking in public and spiders. Now we have to deal with a snake story in the bible? But why!?
It certainly reflects our human nature to want to grumble about things. In our own “wilderness” experiences, we get impatient with God. We worry things won’t turn out the way wan want and so we get to grumbling. Often, we embrace negativity instead of hope.
But back to the Exodus. Despite the fact that the people brought the snake problem on themselves by their grumbling and ingratitude, God proves to be merciful. The people acknowledge their sin and ask for help. So God instructs Moses to make a bronze sculpture of one of the very serpents that had bitten them and mount it on a pole. Then, whenever someone is bitten, they should simply look up to the serpent and they will be healed. This is a great grace given to the grumpy grumblers.
Then, in the gospel lesson from John, we come in on the middle of a conversation that Jesus is having with a religious leader named Nicodemus. Jesus is trying to get through to this man that God is offering a new covenant through him. He says, “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” You see he is making reference to the story we just heard. In the same way that God provided healing for the people through the serpent sculpture, God was now providing healing for all through Jesus who would be soon be dying for all on the cross. This cross is not just for the “insiders” who already have a relationship with God, but for all.
Then, comes John 3:16, the verse that everyone knows. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” It is known as the gospel in a nutshell. You see it written on the scoreboard and baseball games, on billboards and bumper stickers. I once saw a man holding a sign with this verse as he was protesting a concert of the Rolling Stones. It made me laugh to see him using it as a condemnation of those awful people going to see a rock band. I laughed because that is exactly the opposite point this scripture passage is making.
Look at the very next verse. Jesus says, “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” The message is that the cross is lifted up to liberate people, to draw them to God with the cords not of guilt or condemnation but of love.
For we are the grumblers. We are the ones who chose darkness over light. We are the ones, like the Israelites, who like to complain even while we are on the road to freedom. We tend to do this even when we don’t mean to.
Saint Paul understood this internal wrestling when he wrote: “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want to do is what I do.” (Romans 7:19-21) This is fondly referred to as the "do do" verse. But it really describes our sinful condition.
Yet Paul also understands that while our nature is sinful, God’s nature is one of love and grace. “Where sin increased,” he writes in Romans 5:20, “grace overflowed all the more.”
Out of God's unsurpassing love for us, Christ is lifted up on the cross. And this love is for the whole cosmos. The author of John’s gospel wants to make this clear. Love is the theme that dominates the whole book. We hear that God is love (1 Jn. 4:8), that the relationship between Jesus and his Father is love (Jn. 15:9-10; 17:23), and that the nature of discipleship is love (Jn. 13:34-35; 15:12-14).
This love of God is all in all. That is why they call John 3:16 the gospel in a nutshell: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. This is the reason we can rejoice today, even as our Lenten journey continues.
God woos us into a relationship through love and grace. In the book Surprised by Joy, the author C.S. Lewis claims that he came into Christianity kicking and screaming. He says that as a young man he was “very angry with God for not existing.” He had no intention of embracing faith in an unseen God. But the love of God drew him in against his own will and he became one of the greatest Christian writers.
As God offered healing to the Isrealites, God offers healing to all in Christ. The word “healing” comes from the same root as “wholeness” and “wellness” and they all refer to being “full” or “complete.” When we look at our own lives, we know that we are broken. Yet, Jesus comes to us in our broken state and offers healing and wholeness because of God’s great love for us. We are called to faith in Christ who heals us.
The theologian Paul Tillich wrote: “Faith is being seized by a power that is greater than we are...one that transforms us and heals us...Surrender to that power is called faith.” We are not required to heal ourselves, but simply to surrender to the Savior who can. Surrender to that power.
And so today, we hear again that powerful message of grace. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. We are saved by grace through faith in him and set free to do the good things God has planned for our lives. That is why it is Laetare—a day of rejoicing. We rejoice in God's love. Let us stop being grumblers and surrender to this power called faith that we may be healed and know the joy of eternal life.
Now, for the thrilling conclusion to this sermon, I’ve written new lyrics to the Grumbler song to remind us that by grace, we can be grumblers no more.
So stop your chronic grumbling and take a look around.
For you have got a Savior who’s waiting to be found.
Oh yes, He is ‘a callin; just listen for his voice.
Then you won’t be a grumbler, and he’ll make us all rejoice!
Oh, we’ll, laugh on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
Laugh on Thursday, too.
Laugh on Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Laughing the whole week through!
© 2012 Laura E. Gentry
