UNITED
CHURCH OF CHRIST in Simi Valley
Fourth Sunday in Lent - March 30, 2003
Anne G. Cohen
Numbers 21: 4-9
The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology and Occidental Mythology
by Joseph Campbell
In Preparation for Worship:
The common thread in all great religions is the spiritual quest and
realization of the hero-founder that enables him to confront and
transcend death and to provide a model for generations of believers to
do the same. Thus the lives of Buddha, Moses, Christ and Mohammed came
to encompass various combinations of spirituality, revelation, and
ultimate ethical principles that could, for themselves and their
followers, divest death of its "sting" of annihilation.
- Robert Jay Lifton, The Broken Connection
(1979)
Signs of Covenant: The Serpent
Imagine a world where everything is perfect and good and serene.
Everyone has what they need and the weather is always lovely.
Children never grow up, people never change or lose their jobs.
No one moves and neighbors are always friendly.
No one dies, no one grieves, no one feels pain,
no one doubts themselves or life or God.
There are no questions, only answers.
There are no differences of opinion or contradictions, only agreements.
There is no suffering, no memory of suffering, no anticipation of
suffering.
What was, is now and ever shall be.
Tell me your feelings about this world that I have just described?
Longing and hope?
Wonder and amazement?
Boredom?
Fear?
It is a world of eternal Spring - but that means that
there are no
changing seasons.
It is a world of no Death - but also a world of no New Life or Growth.
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It is a world without Doubts - but also a world where
Faith is
irrelevant.
It is a world without Paradox - but it is also a world without Mystery.
It is a "nice" world - but it is not very profound or interesting.
And it is not the world that we live in.
Three weeks ago we explored the covenant that God made with all of
Creation. The agreement was that God would never again destroy the
earth and all of its inhabitants. God signed this covenant with a
Rainbow.
Two weeks ago we explored the covenant that God made with Humanity. The
gift was life itself - with all its joys and sorrows - to be accepted or
rejected on its own terms. God cut this covenant with the blade of a
Knife.
Last week we looked at our relationship with God as People of the Book
and People of the Earth - struggling to read the meaning of our covenant
in God's original language, the language in which The Book we treasure
is rooted. God autographs this covenant with ethical and natural laws.
This week, the texts take us deeper and wider than ever before. The
covenant that God makes with us is a promise that life is a paradox -
and this covenant is sealed with an ancient and mysterious image - the
sign of the Serpent.
The John text, erroneously placed on the lips of Jesus, is a sermon by
John the Gospel writer on the significance of Christ - son of God/son of
Human - ultimate paradox:
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.
-
In this text Christ is not compared to Moses - as one might think if one
believed Jesus to be a patriarch in a long line of Hebrew patriarchs.
Here - Christ is equated with the serpent - which Moses raised in the
wilderness. This reference is mysterious enough to pique my interest.
So I've followed the story to find out what significance a snake might
have for us.
The story directly referred to is in our lectionary text from Numbers.
The Hebrew people, living out in the wilderness after escaping from
of water. So they complain against God and their leader, Moses.
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A herd of poisonous snakes show up and start killing people with their
venom - venom in exchange for venomous words - perceived as punishment
from God. The people repent - tell Moses they are sorry - and God
arranges for an antidote. God tells Moses to create a Bronze Serpent,
place the idol on a pole and tell people to look at it - so that by
doing so, their lives will be spared.
Now this is a very weird thing - especially coming from a God that
rejects idols and pantheons. How on earth could a bronze snake idol
convey healing and life to a poisoned people? What does this mean?
Well, this story refers back to even older stories, primitive
mythologies out of
Cosmic Serpent, the Great Snake - are found around the world in Pacific-
Rim cultures, in
mythology that describes the paradox of life in this world.
There are ancient stories - as early as 7500 b.c.e. -
of the Great Goddess,
the Original Mother, the material Matrix out of which ALL that IS comes
forth. In her most naked and fundamental form, she is in the shape of a
serpent. She embodies both male and female shape and capability.
She
is cool like water and is fiery with venom and a flashing tongue. She
guards the roots of the Cosmic Tree of Life - and hangs like poisonous
fruit from the branches. And she periodically sheds her skin - becoming
young and vital again.
You can see the symbolism piling up here - encompassing fire and water,
male and female, life and death, death and resurrection, protection and
poison, beauty and terror. Later myths add a consort, also in serpent
form. This one is Lord of Wisdom who knows the food and water of life,
who is a messenger between the underworld and our world - generator of
new lives and new life.
This consort walks a serpentine labyrinth - bringing babies to the womb
for birth - taking the dead back to their resting place below.
And when the Goddess and her consort get together, they intertwine like
a Gordion knot - or like the staff of Hermes - called
Caduceus. You
have seen the Caduceus in many places, I'm sure. It is the universal
symbol for medicine and the healing arts - often incorporated into logos
for hospitals or doctors' organizations.
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These myths are life-affirming, life-explaining metaphors. They explain
the cycles of seasons, the cycles of creation and destruction, the
reality of death and resurrection, change and growth. The serpents ARE
deities - uncontrollable - but interested in teaching humans about
boundaries and hope, meaning and the promise of paradox.
As the Hebrew God YHWH was articulated, he began as an aspect of the
Serpent Power, properly the Serpent Spouse of the Serpent Goddess of the
Caduceus, Mother Earth.
As the story of Genesis was forming, the Goddess Isis ruled in
As the story goes, she caused an asp to bite her father, the Great God
Ra, and stole from him the powers of life and death before giving him
the antidote.
After her husband is dismembered by an enemy,
brings her consort back to life and gives birth to new life in the form
of the rebirth of the river each year. Her symbol is the serpent -
which shows up in one of our stories - the one about Adam and Eve.
The Hebrews - in asserting their monotheism - their
belief in one male
Creator God - retell the serpent story. In many interpretations of
Genesis, the Original Mother is no longer consort to a snake - but is
duped by a snake and punished for her lack of wisdom. A life-affirming
myth suddenly turns deadly. And
power in the presence of YHWH.
Even so, the serpent lives on in the imagination of the Hebrew people.
You might recall that Moses is given a rod by YHWH. When he throws it
on the ground, it becomes a serpent. When he swings the serpent by the
tail, its a rod again. When he raises it, the
lowers it, the sea closes in upon their enemies. When he taps a rock,
water gushes forth in the desert.
And then the poisonous snake incident happens. And a bronze idol is
lifted up on a rod - bronze idol intertwined with consort - allowing
this repentant people to live. This idol exists and sacrifices are
offered before it for many centuries - until the reign of King Hezekiah
719-691 b.c.e. - when he cleanses the temple and
shatters Ningizzida under
his feet.
It is interesting to note that the priestly tribe of Levi,
chief
protagonists of YHWH, derive their name from the same verbal root as the
word "leviathan."
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It is also interesting to note that in the Greco-Roman
period, amulets
were created with pictures of gods on them. Many pictured the God
IAWAHH - a male God with serpent legs.
And it is no longer a great mystery to me why Christ is compared to
Ningizzida, the bronze snake, in the Gospel of
of metaphor, using every one in the book to describe the significance of
the person of Christ in Jesus.
Christ is Light and Door, Bread and Water, Shepherd and Judge, Healer
and Ruler, Gate and Vine. Christ is human and God, with Wisdom as
Spirit consort - born of the Original Mother - the Great Goddess -
divinely conceived.
Christ is killed and resurrected. And the paradox - the
self-contradiction of that is well symbolized by the Cosmic Serpent -
nailed to the Barren Tree of Death - yet entwined in the roots and
branches of the Tree of Life.
This is not easy stuff. But it is ancient and metaphorically true in so
many ways. Life by its very nature is paradoxical. We are mortal -
yet
are promised eternal life in the presence of God. "You can't
experience
being alive without realizing that you have to die... But it's just as
impossible to realize you have to die without thinking how incredibly
amazing it is to be alive." - Sophie's World by Jostein
Gaarder p. 5
In a time of so much danger and death, terrorism and warfare, this
paradox is seen more clearly than ever. Life is so very precious.
And
yet, life is lost and life is given - intentionally - in it's
defense.
It is in this world of paradox that there can be two people
who love their country and their fellow human beings,
who are compassionate and would do anything to reduce suffering in the
world,
who genuinely care about the well-being of their women and men in the
military who serve on their behalf,
who see abuses of power leading to tyranny and genocide - and yet...
...and yet - would choose radically different -
perhaps even opposite courses of action.
One would support government policies, another would dissent.
One would don a uniform and take up arms to defend and rescue a
suffering population, another would work tirelessly
for nonviolent
solutions to the same complicated situation.
One would see warfare as the last option, another
would see it as no
option.
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Each would believe they are choosing life.
Each would be willing to die to protect others - hoping they wouldn't
have to.
Each would be both right and wrong - depending on the ethical standards
they and their cultures abide by - depending on outcomes which even God
may not be able to predict.
Each might even call God by the same name - yet attribute vastly
different character traits to this deity - twin gods of two minds - yin
and yang - intimately known and infinitely incomprehensible.
And for us, Life and Death intertwine on the Cross of Christ, in the
Tree of Wisdom and Life. God promises us Mystery - Paradox -
Contradictions - Contrast - and, always, New Life.
And God signs this covenant with Caduceus - dual serpents - which
generate life and healing - and protect the mystery of Eternity from
the mortal mind - which must wait for death and the final revelation.