The Staff Of Moses
The Very Reverend Sam Candler
The Cathedral of St. Philip
Atlanta, Georgia
25 September 2005
Proper 21A in the Revised Common Lectionary
Exodus 17.1-7
Christmas is coming!
I know it is. I know we didn’t read any lesson about it this morning. But I got word, I got special word this past week.
Amid all the clutter in our mailbox a few days ago, we got a catalog – a catalog from a company we like! – and it had Christmas on the cover. So, it’s been officially announced. Christmas is on its way.
I admit that I like catalogs, shops, markets, boutiques, e-bay: they all get our interest because we think that maybe, just maybe, we’ll find something that will renew us, or even save us –save us from boredom, or inconvenience –something which will renew our spirits.
Catalogs and markets and commercials all sell us the lure of satisfaction. The lure of any merchant is that maybe, just maybe, we will be satisfied in our deepest yearnings.
The ancient civilizations had a name for the god of commerce. He was Hermes (not the handbag), also called Mercury, the god of commerce and interchange, and also the quick, messenger god.
Some of you might know the symbol that the god Hermes carries with him. When you see a depiction of Hermes, you often also see a stick with a snake wrapped around it. Do you remember that rod with a serpent wrapped around it? It is called a caduceus. Sometimes it has two snakes around the stick and a set of wings at the top.
It’s difficult to say why this symbol denotes Hermes, the god of messages and commerce. Let me continue.
That symbol of a stick –a rod-- with a snake around it is also the symbol of something else. Do we have any physicians, or members of the medical profession here this morning?
That’s right. You all have seen the great symbol of the medical profession, the staff with a snake wrapped around it. It is the rod of Asclepius, the god of healing.
Why in the world would this strange image be the sign of healing? Why would a similar image be the sign for industry and commerce? Because they both want to keep us alive.
Some say that the ancient doctors, the ancient healers, were often called to heal folks of parasites, and parasitic worms that burrowed under the skin. We know them today as “guinea worms,” which President Carter and the Carter Center are so devoted to eradicating. But the early healers would make a slit in the victim’s skin and wait for the worm to crawl out from under skin. Then, the healer would let the worm crawl out onto a skin and wrap himself around that stick. That stick, with a small snake wrapped around it, became the sign for healing.
I’m sure some of that is true.
But there are other stories. Let us not forget, today, for instance, the Bible. Let us not forget the great image of the staff, the rod, which appears in the Books of Exodus and in Numbers.
Moses inquired of the LORD, “But suppose the people do not believe me?” The LORD
Said, ‘What is in your hand?’ Moses said, ‘ A staff.” The LORD said, ‘Throw it on the ground.’ So he threw it on the ground, and it became a snake, and Moses drew back from it. Then, the LORD said ‘Reach out your hand and seize it by the tail.’ And Moses did, and it became a staff in his hand.” (Exodus 4.1-4).
Later on, when Moses and Aaron were before Pharoah, Aaron threw the rod to the ground, and it became…what? A snake! And the snake of Moses and Aaron devoured the snakes of Pharoah’s magicians.
Then, Moses lifted up his staff before the Red Sea; and the sea parted. The children of Israel walked across dry ground. (Exodus 14.16).
Later Moses would heal the people of the torment of snakes by placing a snake on a pole. The people would look to that bronze serpent and be healed. (Numbers 21.6).
The story we have read today is but one of the occasions when the staff is used to strike a rock, so that refreshing water can emerge for God’s complaining people. (Exodus 17.6) “Is the Lord among us, or not?” they asked. The staff of Moses showed them that God was present.
What is it with Moses’ staff? Is it some kind of Harry Potter magic wand?
One day, he is lifting up the staff, and the water divides, creating dry ground. But later, their problem is just the opposite. It is too dry for them, deep inside the Sinai Peninsula. This time, Moses raises his staff, and water appears. The rock is split open, and water gushes forth.
Where do we get true satisfaction? Do we get refreshment from the latest catalog appearing in the mail? Do we get ultimate healing from the latest antibiotic, the newest medical procedure? Do we feel alive only when we are shopping?
The staff of Moses symbolizes the mystery of healing and salvation.; it symbolizes the mysterious and creative healing power of God. That healing power of God is never the same. It changes according to the situation. It can make the world dry, and it can make the world wet. In Robert Heinlein’s science fiction novel, Glory Road, the rod of Aaron is a magic spell, which makes limp things go stiff, and it makes stiff things go limp.
One tradition has it that the staff of Moses ultimately became the cross bar for the cross on which Jesus was crucified. And John 3.14 says that “just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him might have eternal life.”
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, thou art with me.
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23).
“Thou art with me.” Now we are at the place of true healing. True healing is simply the presence of God in whatever situation we are in. The staff of Moses is the sign that God is present, right here with us, bringing us water when we need water, dry land when we need dry land, making limp things strong again, and dissolving rigid things that need to be melted.
Do we need the water of mercy to flow, the living water which quenches our deepest thirst? Or do we need God to dry our tears and take us to new territory? God’s presence does both for us.
In the ancient hymn quoted by St. Paul, to the Philippians (at chapter 2), we hear that though Jesus was in the form of God, he emptied himself and became found in human form. He became one of us. That is the truth of Christianity. Salvation occurs, healing occurs, because God redeems human flesh, by becoming one of us!
Joan Osbourne sang the song “What if God were one of us?” Well, God is one of us. “Just a slob like one of us.” That ever-changing staff is one of us. God has mercy. God cares for us.
We are saved by the reality that God, the very God of wholeness and perfection and beauty and truth has taken on human flesh.
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, Thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.”
So what saves us?
Christmas saves us. The Feast of the Incarnation. The feast of God incarnate. It doesn’t come just once a year. It comes today. God knows our tears. God knows our thirst, because God is one of us. God refreshes and renews us in the ever-flowing mercy of Jesus Christ our Lord.
AMEN.
The Very Reverend Samuel G. Candler
Comments? Contact Dean Candler at: SCandler@stphilipscathedral.org