Snakes & Salvation

AM Psalm 103 • PM Psalm 111, 114
Exod. 12:28-39 • 1 Cor. 15:12-28 • Mark 16:9-20

I was taken today with the verses found in Mark (the extended edition) when Jesus commissions his disciples to go and spread the good news. He says to them:

“And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

While I can get on board easily with healing the sick, casting out demons seems like a big ask. Handling snakes? Drinking deadly things? Thanks but no thanks. These are strange words to our modern, rational, enlightened ears.

In Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia author Dennis Covington spends time with a group of Christians in the Appalachian Mountains who, when anointed with the Holy Spirit, carry around venomous snakes as part of their worship practice. This practice is dangerous, sometimes deadly, and yet still finds a foothold with people who are marginalized by society for their poverty and lack of formal education.

It is easy to dismiss these practices as backwards, wrong, impossible, or even just plain insanity. But if we look beyond our own prejudices and hang ups, I think what the people of Sand Mountain and what Jesus says to us today is a powerful message: your faith will make you bolder in ways you could not have imagined for yourself.

While I will not be personally picking up a rattlesnake anytime soon, I do wonder what boldness of faith Jesus might be asking of me today. In our own contexts, where can we be a little braver, a little less fearful, to share the good news?

Written by Emma Mitchell

Emma is the Youth Minister at St. Paul’s. When not serving the youth and families of St. Paul’s she can be found thrifting, crafting, and spending time with her husband Dave and their cats.