4 Then the people of Israel set out from Mount Hor, taking the road to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient with the long journey, 5 and they began to speak against God and Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they complained. “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!”
6 So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died. 7 Then the people came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take away the snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people.
8 Then the Lord told him, “Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!” 9 So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!
Snakes on a Plane was possibly the worst movie made in the last ten years. The basic concept is that someone releases hundreds of poisonous snakes on a plane flying over the Pacific Ocean. They can’t land, and they can’t get the snakes out. Just so you don’t have to watch it, let me give you the summary. It’s a bad movie, and lots of people die.
At the risk of extreme cheesiness and possible biblical irreverence, I want to use snakes as a theme for our talk today on unity. You might call this sermon Snakes in a Church. Let me give you the summary. It’s a bad problem, and lots of people die - spiritually.
In Moses’ story, God sent the snakes as a punishment for Israel’s complaining and lack of faith. In our story, the snakes are more the cause of the problems. Our snakes are our sneaky, sneaking sins that hide in the darkness, tell us lies, and masquerade as truth. They poison our lives, and they poison our churches. Both stories point to Jesus as the cure.
