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.

The Old Testament readings during Lent have progressively described God’s self-revelation. After the flood, God first promised never again to counter human violence with divine violence. Then, God promised to Abraham and Sarah to be God for a specific people who would descend from them, and last week we heard God’s vision for how those people would live as the People of God after God had freed them from bondage in Egypt, in the Ten Commandments.

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God said to Abraham, “I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.”

So last Sunday, on the first Sunday of Lent, we heard the story of Noah and the flood. The promise of God that God would never again use violence to get human beings to behave themselves. Now, for God to save us from ourselves, God will come to us with grace and with an invitation, to change our hearts, to change our minds, and believe the good news that God’s kingdom is close at hand.

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