Okay, So I Don’t Pick Up Snakes…

The lectionary text for April 25 1 Peter 5:5-14 | Psalm 89 | Matthew 16:15-20

Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them:
“Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will be condemned.
These signs will accompany those who believe:
in my name they will drive out demons,
they will speak new languages.
They will pick up serpents with their hands,
and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.
They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them,
was taken up into heaven
and took his seat at the right hand of God.
But they went forth and preached everywhere,
while the Lord worked with them
and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.

Matthew 16:15-20

I love the daily readings because they make you think about parts of Scripture that you would rather turn into allegory. The Gospel reading is one of those parts. It talks about the proof of faith being stuff I’ve never done, like driving out demons and speaking new languages. I try to avoid picking up snakes and drinking deadly things at all costs. And I’m pretty sure that most everyone doesn’t do this stuff either. We come together to be made more like Christ, to remember his life, death and resurrection. Does becoming more like Christ mean we should be able to do miracles? No, that’s silly, we now prove our faith through apologetics and reason and the scientific method. We give people tracts or the Case for Christ book if we bother to evangelize at all. It’s much easier that way.

Thankfully the 1 Peter periscope is included in today’s readings. It reminds us that God opposes the proud but bestows favor on the humble. Maybe our pride gets in the way. Maybe we don’t like things like snake handling and casting out demons because it reminds how humble and fragile our body and souls are. Maybe we don’t like speaking in tongues or new languages because we are smart enough to communicate God’s will and message on our own, thank you very much! Miracles also mean that God could intervene and doesn’t for some reason, and what ever that reason is, is very little consolation when you’re the one without the miracle. So I don’t know what to say except that together we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and that we proclaim what we do know about the goodness of God. And someday God may show us how we are to drive out demons, speak new languages, pick up serpents, drink poison and heal the sick because I think that would be really great to walk in this world fearless of demons, serpents, poison, sickness and miscommunication.