Bible Study Guide for Sunday, March 14, 2021

• Numbers 21:4 – 9
• Psalm 107:1–3, 17 – 22
• Ephesians 2: 1 – 10
• John 3:14–21

We are now deep into Lent and the readings are full of powerful images of the ways in which we humans exhibit our fallen state. Snake bitten. Dead. Disobedient. Lovers of Darkness. And the one that speaks most strongly to me: Children of Wrath – not just anger, but roiling on-going rage at a perceived wrong. I say that because it is a trap I can easily fall into and one I often see in action, such as sustained rage at the efforts if a civil authority who is trying to do a difficult job. Further, living as a Child of Wrath is the antithesis of what Jesus calls us to be, a Child of Love.

We begin in the desert with the Israelites having just mourned the death of Aaron and survived another battle with the Canaanites. They are now wrathful at Moses and God over their seemingly endless wilderness wanderings and complaining about the food like a bunch of spoiled teenagers. But even here, God does not abandon them – instead offering the bronze serpent as a totem that brings healing to those bitten by whatever snakes may be ailing them.

Then in the Ephesians passage Paul writes strongly and clearly about how God provides healing. It is God’s Grace, a gift to us, that shows us the way to become Children of Love rather than of Wrath.

Finally, John’s Gospel passage tells us that Jesus himself brings up that strange image of God’s healing but quickly provides a new path: by believing in Him, we can save ourselves from whatever snakes are afflicting our lives. We can be healed. John then goes on to write the verse found on license plate frames and in football stadiums across America: God, who so loved the world, has provided us that healing power by sending Jesus to be our savior.

• Most of us do not have a bronze serpent to gaze upon after being bitten by some worldly evil. But do you, perhaps, use some item, be it a physical object or a specific prayer or an image, to remind you of God’s healing Grace?
• John’s Gospel also contains some difficult words about those who do not believe in Jesus. How can we reconcile “those who do not believe are condemned already” with our belief in a loving God.

Author - Chuck Medler