Does this place look familiar?

Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to an inhabited town. Psalm 107:4

Does this place look familiar?
By Rev. William Dohle

Confession time. I get lost very very easily. Ask anyone who's ever traveled with me and they'll tell you on average I turn around two or three times everywhere I go.

When I lived in Southern California it was bad. Armed with a street map guide I would frequently be pulled over on the side of the road, searching for where I was.

In Colorado and Montana, I would often pass by the tiny streets that led to people's homes. Once I drove my wife and I on the wrong side of the mountain to get to the house we were heading to. Scary part is... I'd been there before.

And alas, two years ago on a trip with our youth to St. Louis I led two of our chaperones all over the city, trying to find this or that. Crazy part is... I warned them!

I know what getting lost looks like and sounds like. I've been there and done that, as they say.

So when I'm reading this section of verses at the end of chapter 21 in Numbers I'm thinking: The people of Israel are lost! Utterly and hopelessly lost!

Listen to how they travel...

The Israelites set out, and camped in Oboth. They set out from Oboth, and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness bordering Moab toward the sunrise. From there they set out, and camped in the Wadi Zered.  From there they set out, and camped on the other side of the Arnon, in the wilderness that extends from the boundary of the Amorites; for the Arnon is the boundary of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. (Numbers 21:10-13)

That's just the start of their trip. Notice how many times they "camp" and then "set out." And if you're still not convinced they're lost listen to verse 16... "From there they continued to Beer; that is the well of which the Lord said to Moses, 'Gather the people together, and I will give them water.'"(Num. 21:16)

See what happened here? The people went in a circle! They'd already been to this well before. it was the well of which the Lord said, "Gather the people and I will give them water." They've traveled in a circle! They're lost!

So why do the people then sing to the well. Why do the people rejoice??

"Spring up, O well! -- Sing to it!--
the well that the leaders sank,
that the nobles of the people dug,
with the scepter; with the staff."(Num. 21:17-18)

Maybe we can understand this song by understanding this little thing. The people of Israel are NOT lost! They've been wandering the wilderness true, but they've not been wandering without direction. God has been with them the entire time. And this well is a reminder of what God did for them through their ancestors. This well, come around again, reminds them that God provided them water in the past and will continue to provide water in the future. It reminds them of God's presence.

There's a really cool saying, I can't tell you where it's from, but it says something like this:

Not all who wander are lost.

It's a wonderful statement for how the people of Israel travel too. For their goal is the Promised Land, but they don't go straight there. Instead they wander around the wilderness, going here and there. They stop at a well God gave to Moses and there they rejoice over what God did for their ancestors and how God continues to watch over them.

Maybe we should take a cue from them. A little less rushing about. A little more wandering. Then we may find ourselves back at that Well which our ancestors drank and which continues to provide us with Living Water.

Holy God, stay near us when we wander away. Circle our roads that, no matter where we go, we return to your grace. Amen.

Ordinarily Radical

"Make a snake and put it on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." Numbers 21:6

Ordinarily Radical
By Rev. William Dohle

Did you know that even the most radically different ideas, if repeated enough times, will become common place? It's true! Studies have shown that when people are exposed to things over and over again, whatever that thing is loses its newness and radical nature.

It happened with music. The music that was considered "radical" in the 1960's are "classics" today. The messages they carried have been lost, not because they suddenly disappeared, but because they've been repeated so many times. The words that were once sung in protest are now sung to remember. The edges are gone, replaced by nostalgia.

Think about the song "Turn" by the birds. Pretty tame song, huh? "To everything, turn turn turn, there is a season...turn turn turn..."
It's actually a pretty good song to celebrate Ecclesiastes 3! As Yoda would say, "straight out of the Bible the words are!"

But if you listen closely to how this song ends, you can discover its radical message.

"A time for peace...I swear its not too late!"

That's not what the Bible says. In Ecclesiastes 3 it says, "A time for war. A Time for peace."

The song writer has reinterpreted the text to focus on that time of peace because THAT'S what his song is all about! It's a song calling for peace and saying, "Just as there's a time for every other season, there's a time for peace. And it is now!"

The same can happen in biblical interpretation too. The older an idea or an interpretation is, the less "radical" it seems. Only by digging through the texts and putting those ideas into words we understand today can we reclaim the radical words of God.

So it is with the image of Jesus as the "snake on a pole." The Gospel of John interprets this passage in Numbers that speaks of Moses lifting up a snake in the wilderness to heal the people as Christ. John writes: "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."(John 3:14-15)

That's radical stuff! Really radical!

And yet we've been trained to see it that way. Christians since we can read have had this verse and this chapter drilled into us. It's become...nostalgic!


Christians usually sentimentalize Christ. Christ is perfect in every way. Christ is flawless. Christ is the light of the world. Christ is everything good.

But Christ as the snake on the pole makes Christ into the very thing that is killing us! Christ is sin itself! Christ isn't meek and mild. He's not the perfectly white, clean looking guy we've got posted up in our churches today. He's Sin incarnate! The very creature, ugly and disgusting, that is poisoning us is hanging on a cross. And we are granted eternal life when we stop and gaze upon this Sin! Looking upon Christ on the cross, Christ as sin, grants us forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.

That's what Jesus in the book of John is saying. That's what Jesus says later in John when he says, "...and I when I am lifted up will draw all people to myself."(John 12:32)

Paul caught this. In his second letter to Corinth he writes: "God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."(2 Cor. 5:21)

I have this same sentiment hanging in my office: "Christ and I stood side by side. He in his white robes, I in my rags. Christ said, "Let's exchange.  You put on my robes and I'll wear your rags." So we exchanged."

Christ is wearing our rags. Christ is bearing our pain and guilt and shame. Christ is dirty and disgusting and sinful for us. Christ has borne those things for us and in him we become light and clean and holy and righteous. In him we have life!

That's the radical message of this "snake on a pole." That's the radical image of the cross. Without that radical word, the true offensive message of Christ is lost. Without it, Christ becomes just a nice guy with a group of children sitting on his knees amid a group of grumpy men. Without it, the gospel loses its power to truly save and transform lives.

May we not forget, as lent approaches in the coming weeks and as we gaze once again on the cross in wonder, that this message is foolish and radical. May we not forget the message that the cross still speaks to the world of good and bad people. The one who was perfect from the beginning has made himself Sin incarnate for us that in him we might become the righteous of God!

Gracious Father, as we gaze upon Christ may we know the mystery that is your incarnation that through you becoming dirty, we might be clean. Amen.