i don't expect you to understand

how these memories haunt my mind

A sermon from Nicodemus' encounter with Jesus

They say time heals all wounds. But I’m not so sure. Yes, a little time can lend you some courage and perspective. But time can also hinder healing. Can’t it? Time can fester old wounds. Petrify them. 

If we’re being honest, it’s our past sins that have the most bite. It’s not those recent things I’ve done and left undone that give me the most pause. No, it’s the unkind word spoken long ago that’s echoes loudest. It’s the former act of petty retribution that no longer seems so insignificant. It’s nursed grudges that prove hardest to forgive. 

William Faulkner, a man who knew a thing or two about checkered histories, once said, “The past is never dead. It's not even past.” He understood what sins are most difficult to get over.

On internship, my supervisory pastor opined that when she says “God loves you,” everyone thinks she talking about someone else. “When I say that,” she said, “everyone thinks, ‘If you knew the real me, pastor, you wouldn’t be saying that.’” And I couldn’t help but wonder, “how does she know?!”

Since then, I’ve learned this is a fundamentally common experience. No sooner does the love of God get mentioned than that old satanic foe slips in and starts reminding you of past sins. Holding former indiscretions against your new and present forgiveness.

So typical is this that Luther said we should expect it. What’s more, he said you should even see it as a sign that God is active! As he noted, it’s when God’s at work that the devil can’t sleep. So if the devil is giving you a hard time, said Luther, you should take it as a good omen that God is up to something.

Of course, that’s a bit of cold comfort at the moment. Isn’t it? When the devil throws old sins at you, it feels like the old cuss is tearing down your very future. Luther understood this, too. He said, in those moments, you shouldn’t try and reason with your accuser. Instead, he said, you should just pile on! Remind the old wretch of other past sins!

This is counterintuitive, to be sure. But Luther understood that we’re helpless to the devil’s wiles when it comes to the past. But, and here’s the thing, where we’re weakest, God is strongest! Luther suggested you show the devil you can play his crooked old game because, ultimately, you’re just counting sins that Christ has already forgiven!

…In today’s passage, Jesus makes an aside as he tries to get Nicodemus to stop talking about God’s work and instead experience it. “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,” says Jesus. But that little remark packs a big punch! It may be one of the most colossal descriptions of forgiveness there is!

Jesus is referencing an episode recorded in the book of Numbers (21). In it, the people of God are traveling through the wilderness to the Promised Land. As the trip drags on, the people begin to complain. Like petulant children, they gripe about the food, the weather, and the length of their journey, too. 

In a sort of “I’ll give you something to complain about” move, God sends poisonous serpents into the Israelites' midst. When someone is bitten by one of these serpents, they die shortly thereafter. In response, the people implore Moses to ask God to do something.

God’s answer to this plea is a curious one. God tells Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole. Then, when someone is bitten, they’re to look upon the bronze serpent. And when they do, they’ll be healed. Sure enough, it works!

Now, on the one hand, it’s not hard to see why Jesus might allude to this incident. A bronze serpent on a pole? That looks an awful lot like the symbol of Jesus’ death. What’s more, with the themes of descent and ascent, in that order, Jesus makes the point that his exaltation happens in an upside-down way. Not by gaining power but by being stripped of it.

But that’s not the only thing this analogy reveals! First, there’s the fact that Jesus compares himself to a serpent. A serpent! That’s the original villain, folks! And as appalling as that may be, it’s just the tip of the iceberg! 

In the Numbers incident, the serpent represents the object of the people’s infection. When the people look at the bronze serpent, they see their ailment made manifest! By comparing himself to the serpent, Jesus is saying that when you look upon him, high and lifted up on the cross, you’re seeing your own malady! 

Paul, a theologian with his own share of past malfeasances, put it this way, “For our sake [God] made him to BE sin who knew no sin.” Luther put it this way, “…at the cross Christ became a great sinner—indeed the greatest sinner of all and the ONLY sinner on earth!” In other words, at the cross, Jesus doesn’t just forgive sin! No, he actually becomes it! And when he dies, so does its power! 

On the cross, Jesus becomes the serpent. And by his death, he breaks the cruel oppressor’s rod! Christ bore your sin in his own body! And in his death, he’s carried your sin away to his tomb! In Christ, your past sins have as much power as a corpse! Which is to say, none! 

Furthermore, upon his resurrection, Jesus will have no truck with that old tomb! No, the new life he’s risen to is a life raised free and clear of the power of sin! A life healed of the snake’s infectious bite! 

And that’s the new life he comes to give you right now! Jesus has planted his cross firmly between you and your sin. And when the devil wants you to look back on old sins, know those are your Lord’s favorite to forgive! Know all there is to see behind you is the power of Christ’s cross opening a new future to you! 

At the cross, you see, yes, your infection. But instead of seeing its power, you see its demise! And in that destruction, you also see your healing! Your new life! Your future! And you don’t have to wait for this healing, either! No, it’s all yours right now! 

Time heals all wounds? No, Christ, the healer of our every ill, does that! And so, you with your own mixed history, let us sing of the new life Christ has won from our sordid past by the ever-present power of his cross!