March 11, 2024

Today’s Reading: Numbers 21:4-9

Daily Lectionary: Genesis 42:1-34, 38; Mark 12:1-12

And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live. (Numbers 21:8-9)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Looking at a bronze serpent is not medicine and is not the surgeon general’s recommended treatment for snake bite. Yes, even the people in the time of Moses knew this; contrary to popular belief ancient people were not stupid. Moses is not giving us or his people a cure for snake bite though, he is giving them a cure for something much deeper. The reason the Israelites needed a cure for the snakes that plagued them is because the Lord set snakes into their camp in response to their grumbling. 

They had just been rescued from slavery in Egypt, had seen any number of mighty acts of God in service of their deliverance, and yet saw fit to grumble not just about the lack of food, but even questioning why they had been rescued from Egypt for this. Ingratitude is fertile ground for sin, because it turns us away from God and towards our own sense of entitlement. God doesn’t send serpents into their camp just because He was mad that they didn’t say thank you enough, like that relative who always keeps a record of holiday thank you cards, but because they were reminiscing about their time in Egypt. It is easy to see a life in obedience and reliance on God as a deprivation, at times it seems like others have it so much easier, or at least have a whole Sunday morning to sleep in. But God is reminding the Israelites (and us) that people do learn to love their chains, and that captivity can look like liberation, but liberation comes at trust in His Word. 

This is why in response to their repentance in the face of poisonous snakes, He gives them a sign of their affliction attached to a word of promise. The healing from the fruit of their sin came from trust in the promise that all who looked on the snake would live, not in the snake itself. So it is with us, as we look not to a bronze serpent, but to the wages of our own sin poured out on Jesus and His death, trusting in the promise that by death He has overcome death for us.  In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Jesus grant that balm and healing  In Your holy wounds I find,  Ev’ry hour that I am feeling

Pains of body and of mind.  Should some evil thought within Tempt my treach’rous heart to sin, 

Show the peril and from sinning  Keep me from its first beginning. (LSB 421:1)

-Deac. Eleanor Corrow, Higher Things Board Member and coordinator in LCMS Missionary Services. 

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.

Unforgivable? Unforgiveness is a prison—mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. In a world full of turmoil, many use forgiveness as a coping mechanism without understanding what true forgiveness is. Learn what forgiveness from Christ looks like, and how He forgives His people.