You raise me up

A Sermon preached on Sunday 10 March 2024 (Lent IV) at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden

Numbers 21:4-9, Ephesians 2:1-10, John 3:14-21

I was tempted to preach today on John 3:16, that popular bumper sticker text: “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.” It is a wonderful and inspiring part of Scripture and is also even part of the history of this church! This church was almost destroyed by fire in 1966 and the beam that used to divide the chancel from the nave, and on which before the fire the crucifix was mounted, had that sentence – in Latin – on it. Now part of it, burned black by fire, is the base of the choir loft and the charcoaled Jesus statue hangs in our entrance area.

Instead, I want to reflect on the theme of raising up. Raising up or being raised up is a theme in all three of our readings today. First in the Old Testament Book of Numbers, Moses raises up the image of a serpent to save the Israelites from those poisonous snakes God had apparently sent to punish them for complaining: “So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.” (Numbers 21:9) You know, if God really sent snakes to those people who complained a lot, I fear Germany would be full of them! Seriously, I don’t believe God sent the snakes. The snakes were just part of the desert experience, but due to the Israelite’s conviction that everything is God’s responsibility, they simply assumed that there must have been a reason for their suffering, in this case that they had spoken against God. God did not send the punishment, but God did send the relief. That fits much better into the story of a God of liberation, salvation, and life.

In the Gospel passage, which refers back to this event, it is Jesus who is being raised up to give life, just like that ancient symbolic serpent: “Jesus said, ‘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.’” (John 3:14) What does “to be lifted up” mean here? The most obvious and immediate association is with the Cross, that symbol not of death but of victory over death, that moment when Jesus took the poison of the world that is sin upon and with him. But I also think of the Ascension, that symbolic rising into heaven, that return to the Father when Jesus takes his – and our – humanity with him, raising us up with him. And finally, I think of making Jesus visible, of holding him up, so that people can look and trust, can believe and then live the life God has intended for us.

And what about those who do not or cannot? Are they to be punished and to die like the Israelites? “Those who do not believe are condemned (better: judged) already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (3:18) These are those people who do not see and acknowledge God at work in their lives and in the world, who ignore that presence, who perhaps even actively deny it. But they too are not lost. The judgement, Jesus says, is that the light has come into the world. (3:19) That light shines everywhere, because Jesus was sent to save the whole world, and not just the pretty parts of it. It can be harsh when it shows up our faults, but it is not fatal. Many continue to live as if darkness rules. But that light shines through all our attempts at finding shadow.

And then we have the reading from the Letter to the Ephesians in which we are the ones being raised up. At the core of the reading is the promise that we have been given life by God, not only our original created life, but a new life in Christ free from the consequences of trespass and sin. “God … rich in mercy (and) out of … great love, made us alive together with Christ, raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 2:4-6) It is important to note that the letter does not say, God will raise us up, but that God has already done so. We have been raised up through the Incarnation, through God becoming human in Jesus, through God sharing our lives in Jesus, and through us sharing in the life of God in return.

That is why we have the repeated references in this passage to everything happing together with Christ. Christ is the means through which we are given new life and raised and share in his inheritance, as “joint heirs with Christ.” (Romans 8:17)

And now to our “fourth text” ….  as some of you know, one of my favorite modern religious songs is “You Raise Me Up,” most famous in the Josh Groban or Westlife versions:

When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary

When troubles come and my heart burdened be

Then, I am still and wait here in the silence

Until You come and sit awhile with me.

Refrain:

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains

You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas

I am strong, when I am on your shoulders

You raise me up to more than I can be.

The song’s refrain references and has us sharing in things that sound difficult or even impossible, such as walking on stormy seas or standing on high mountains, both also recollecting events in Jesus’ life and ministry. Comfort and solace come through Jesus’ presence and companionship. God in Jesus is responsible for raising us up, for empowering and strengthening us. In the words of Ephesians, it is not our own doing, but the gift of God.

If there is one line in the song I do not fully agree with, it is the last: “You raise me up to more than I can be:” No, he raises us up to be all that we can be, to be exactly what we should be. To be fully human as God intended at Creation: “For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” (Ephesians 2:10)

We are created for good works. We are created to raise others up. We are created to love and serve as Jesus did. We are created to be loved. We are created to share this good news. We are created to be signs, pointing to Jesus – raising him up. We are created to shine with the light of Christ. We are created to help others see that light. We are raised up by God to be all that God wants us to be!

Amen.