March 25

The Son of Man lifted up

             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. 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.

John 3:14-16

            The most famous bible verse in the world is John 3:16. It shows up at sporting events and on posters and on bookmarks.  It is the core of the Gospel that God gave up that which was most precious to Him in order to save us from death and restore us to eternal life with Him.           Connected to that verse is a reference back to Moses and the Israelites and that bronze snake.  That little story, buried in the book of Numbers, is the perfect encapsulation of the human condition.  God brought His children to freedom.  They rebelled and their sin was killing them.  God provided a way that they could be saved.  If the people would believe Him and obey they would live.  Obedience would take a little bit of work (imagine trying to find a bronze snake atop a stick in a campground with a million people) but if you believed that this was the only way to save your life and the lives of your loved ones, it could be accomplished.

            Staying in the metaphor, as believers, our job is not to heal those who are suffering and dying.  It is not to scold those who were bitten by the snakes, for we too were bitten.  Our job is not to guard the stick, only allowing those who are worthy to be healed.  Our job is to go out to our people and tell those who have not heard that they need not be sentenced to death.  We are to find the helpless, the hopeless and the suffering and show them the way to God’s Healing provision.  Some will say “no,” preferring to embrace death rather than be saved by God.  That is not up to us; others will say yes and when we take them to Jesus we will have gained a brother or sister for eternity.

            The two biggest things that we have going for us are that we have been healed and we know where to find the Healer.  That’s it.  Our skills, our resume, our charisma, our devastatingly convincing arguments…none of that matters to those who are dying.  What matters is that we can say “I was exactly where you are.  I went to Jesus and now I live.  Let me walk with you.”  Our testimony is all that will convince someone to join us as we walk through the camp to God’s healing.

            We as parents of special needs children have some distinctive places where we have been broken and healed.  We have faced Isolation and Despair. We have wrestled with Fear surrounding the future and Guilt surrounding the past.  We have been angry with God.  We have been crushed by the weight of responsibility and forced to find beauty in brokenness.  Through it all we have seen God’s goodness, witnessed His provision poured out.  We have found comfort in mourning, strength in weakness, joy in the darkness.  We live in expectant hope of the resurrection and a deep, deep awareness that there is more to life than these frail, mortal shells.

            We know the taste of bitterness and hopelessness, the feel of exhaustion and despair.  We also know freedom and new life.  We know where to go to find healing.  This is our testimony, this is the gift that we have to share with the world.  There are lots and lots of others who share our burdens and know of no other option than to sit in death.  We have the opportunity to invite them to join us for “God so loved the world that He gave His only son, that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life.”

A moment to reflect:

How have you been healed?