To use the image of Moses lifting up a bronze serpent in the wilderness as a symbol of Christ is strange, to say the least. In the book of Numbers, we read how the Israelites began to grumble against God. They despise the manna He has given them and begin to complain about His care and provision. In response, God sends venomous serpents into the camp of the Israelites. They begin to bite the people and the people start dying. So, what do they do? They repent. They plead with Moses to intercede on their behalf. However, God does not immediately remove the serpents or miraculously heal everyone. No, He has Moses make yet another serpent, an image of the very thing they are terrified of, and put it on a pole promising anyone who looks at it will live. As a result, this is all swirling in the background when Jesus says, “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.”

Truly the coming of the Son of God was a shock and bewilderment to all. This was not the glory, might, and power which was the hope of His chosen people. It was the coming of a servant, the arrival of love and forgiveness. In a world of sin and death, our Lord comes bearing our sin and dying on a cross. After using the image of the serpent raised up as an image of Himself, Jesus then gives us the most famous verse in Scripture, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” This has been called the “Gospel in a Nutshell,” the most basic way to summarize the Good News. But the following verse is just as crucial. It says, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.” Here we are given a description of God’s love, and His love is an action. It is the sending of His Son. It is the sending of our Savior.

Again, the sending of one to be lifted up on a cross is a difficult thing for us to receive. Where is the might, the wisdom, the glory, we long for? Yet, it is on the cross where judgment is rendered. The cross leaves no place for your wisdom or glory. It is not a power move. It does not conform to the ways of the world. So, to look upon the crucified one, to look to the cross and to believe this is your salvation, this is the means to receive eternal life, this is your only hope in a world of death and despair, is to receive all He promises. But to not believe, to turn away from the crucified one, to reject this gift, that is to stand already condemned, to be under the judgment of God. So, we read, “This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”

So, now this picture that our Lord is painting for us of the love of God gets a little more detail added to it. We have the Son of God lifted up on the cross. We have this action we must believe in if we are to receive the gifts of eternal paradise. But that lifted up one is also a light source. Every step you take toward the cross, every movement toward the promise of life in a world of death, is a move toward the light. And every time you step into the light, who you are is being revealed. To come into the light is to have your deeds revealed. It is to have your thoughts, your actions, your words put on display, not the carefully curated ones you allow others to see and engage with, but all of your thoughts, words, and deeds.

Jesus says, “People loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” Now, I think we can all relate to that, right? No one wants to have their dirty laundry brought out into the light. And if you fear being exposed, fear having to face the reality of your own sin, you just might end up loving the darkness, loving the security it offers, the anonymity. In the darkness, your addictions can thrive, your perversions can flourish. No one has to know what you do in the darkness. So, the temptation is to stay far away from the cross, away from the light it shines on your sin. And perhaps you would prefer to take your chances with the snakes which bite and poison your soul instead of coming into the light.

But there is more to this light of the cross than simply exposing the horrible things you do in the dark. If the light is Christ, if the light is the sacrifice of the only begotten Son of God for the sins of the world, then this light is true righteousness. It is pure and holy, the very source of salvation. Therefore, this means that to come into the light is not only to have your sins exposed but also your sense of righteousness, your system for justifying yourself. It exposes your belief that at least you are better than those other sinners, at least you go to church, at least you read your Bible from time to time and offer up a few prayers when things get tough. You sing the praises of your God and volunteer in service to others, at least when it is convenient for you. So, you begin to believe that by them, by your own works and deeds you somehow merit salvation. Again, the desire is to stay in the dark. This time not to hide the shameful acts but because we have gotten quite good at creating our own light. We cultivate our own little glow in the darkness, our own system to navigate right and wrong, to praise and condemn.

But ultimately you are faced with the judgment of God. You are faced with true light, a light the darkness cannot overcome. His light makes your created light seem small and weak like a dying ember. Sooner or later, you must stand before the crucified one, high and lifted up before a world of sin, death, and self-righteousness. And our Lord says, “Whoever does what is true comes to the light, so it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” To do what is true is to come into the light. To do what is true is to have the light of Christ expose everything. To do what is true is to not do anything of your own ability but to have everything taken away from you. To do what is true is to have your wickedness exposed and condemned before God. To do what is true is to have your own righteousness exposed to confess you have fallen short of the glory of God. To do what is true is to be emptied out, to be beggars only, beggars one and all, nothing to offer, nothing to barter with, nothing to give but everything to receive in the light of Christ the crucified.

Entering the light is repenting and believing in Christ alone. Your work on display for all to see is to confess that even your very best, even your most holy and righteous deeds are deeds of sin and condemnation. In fact, even the good work of confession, even the faithful act of repentance is not done by yourself. Rather, it is a work “carried out in God,” carried out in His love. He moves, He acts, He speaks, He loves. And you hear his voice in the darkness. You see the light He gives. This morning, little Avery received such a call as she was brought to the waters of Holy Baptism. This was not her great work but the work of God’s love. Here, in these waters, she was given a righteousness not her own as she was crucified with her Lord and risen to a new life in Him. So, now she enters the light as His child.

As a result, the light that exposes, the light that condemns, becomes for her and for you a light that forgives, a light that gives the love of Christ, a light that clothes you in His garments of righteousness. So, by His grace alone, we stand together in the light.