Lifted Serpent and Lifted Jesus: God’s Saving Grace – Tuesday of the 5th Week of Lent

Today’s Scripture readings starts by recalling us how patient God was with His mercy for the Israelites, even though they were stubbornly sinful, and His saving mercy manifested as the bronze serpent lifted on Moses’ pole (Numbers 21:4-9).

To begin with, as in Numbers 21:5, the sin of the Israelites in this context is mainly the sin of ingratitude to God’s providence, which stretched from delivering them out of the slavery in Egypt through Pesach (Passover), cutting off chasing enemies upon crossing the Red Sea miraculously (Exodus 12-14). The Israelites are forever in debt of gratitude to God for this strain of mighty saving actions. For this reason, the Israelites observe the feast of Pesach, followed by the feast of Chag Hamatzot (unleavened bread). Before crossing the Red Sea, Moses reminded this to his fellow Israelites in the context of the dedication of the firstborn (Exodus 13:3-16). Yes, they praised and gave thanks to God, upon crossing to the shore of freedom, seeing their chasing enemies destroyed in the Red Sea (Exodus 15:1-21). But, the freedom also came with inevitable challenges to navigate through the wilderness. Without faith, it was totally uncharted wilderness, easy to get lost and perished.

Apparently, none of the Israelites were not prepared for these challenges in the freedom beyond the Read through the wilderness on Exodus, before reaching the promised land. Though the challenges were for the Israelites to be tested for their faith, many began to fail this test of faith rather quickly, as they started complaining (Exodus 16:2-3), quickly forgetting how God delivered them to freedom from slavery, for thirst and hunger. In response to their complaints, God provided them and alleviated their challenges with the water from the rock and the manna from heaven along with quail meat (Exodus 16:4-17:7). Nevertheless, they complained again and again (i.e. Numbers 11:1-15; 14:1-9; 20:2-5), as their sinfulness prevented them from understanding what it means to experience that God’s grace is enough, as in Psalm 23:1, as well as in 2 Corinthians 12:9.  This is what precedes to the context of today’s first reading, Numbers 21:4-9, which is also in sequence to Numbers 20:1-13, in which Moses himself sinned for failing to follow God’s instruction in response to the Israelites’ complaints for thirst, costing him his chance to enter the promised land.

Now, today’s Gospel reading (John 8:21-30) reflects ongoing debates about who Jesus was. And, the debates had divided people between those who began to believe in Jesus as the Messiah and those who refuse to believe. At the same time, the darkness of the world, wishing to kill Jesus, had been brewing as the day of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem (John 12:12-19; Matthew 21:1–11//Mark 11:1–11// Luke 19:28–44) drew nearer. The Gospel reading of last Friday (Friday of the 4^th week of Lent), John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30, and the Gospel reading of last Saturday, John 7:40-53) have indicated that the religious leaders were already eager to capture Jesus to kill him. In yesterday’s Gospel reading (John 8:1-11), too, these leaders set up a trap with a legal dilemma to catch Jesus, bringing a woman, accused of adultery. In today’s Gospel (John 8:21-30), we see how the ongoing debates on who Jesus was zeroed in on where Jesus was from and where he was going. And, this debate left people in confusion and division.

So, the question for today’s readings is: How does the first reading (Numbers 21:4-9) is related to the Gospel reading (John 8:21-20) are related?

There is a juxtaposition between the bronze serpent mounted on a pole, made by Moses, as God commanded him (Numbers 21:8-9) and Jesus’ Christological statement on himself being lifted up (John 8:28). Bronze serpent lifted up on a pole of Moses and Jesus being lifted up either on the Cross on the day of his death or into heaven on the day of his Ascension are paralleled. Given the Lenten context, Jesus being lifted in today’s Gospel reading refers to him being hung on the Cross in interpreting John 8:28, along Jesus' Christological discourse to Nicodemus in John 3:14-15, though it is more appropriate to interpret it as Jesus’ Ascension, if read during the Paschal Season.  This way, we can make a better connection between Jesus being lifted up (on the Cross) in John 8:28 and the bronze serpent lifted on a poll of Moses in Numbers 21:8-9, because both of these became reality as results of our sins, but become sources of saving grace for us, sinners.

When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me (John 8:28).

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life (John 3:14-15).

 The lifted bronze serpent on Moses’ pole was made as Moses prayed to God, amidst of God’s punishment of sinful Israelites during the Exodus.  God put Israelites among serpents to punish them for their sin of ingratitude. The serpents killed many Israelites. Then, the surviving Israelites repented and asked Moses to pray to God (Numbers 21:7). And he did, and God instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent on his pole, which became a tool to save those who were bitten by serpents.

Ever since Adam and Eve fell, suffering and death have been with humans. The first sinful act after the fall of Adam and Eve was committed by their elder son, Cain, and it was murdering his younger brother, Abel. The older brother’s sin resulted in death of innocent younger brother. Death. Sufferings and deaths are mentioned throughout the Scriptures, either as God-inflicted as His punishments to sinful humans or as sinful humans’ self-inflicted consequences of their own sinful actions.  In response to these sufferings and deaths, humans cried to God, repented their sins, and asked for help. And, God responded with His mercy. Otherwise, humans would have been extinct long ago.

God has punished humans for their sins, and the punishments resulted in sufferings and deaths. God’s wrath and punishment in response to our sins are real. Nevertheless, it is also true that God still loves us, in spite of our sinfulness, and through His mercy, it is His desire to save us, as we repent and renounce sins, as we return to God upon our penance for reconciliation.

As the surviving Israelites, amidst God’s punishment with serpents, repented and asked Moses to pray to Him, God brought saving grace to them through the bronze serpent on Moses’ pole to look at.

About 2,000 years ago, God, again, responded to evils and sinfulness of the humans with His mercy, by lifting up His only begotten Son, Jesus, the Christ. Though some remained stubbornly sinful, while others repented, as John the Baptist had called, and came to believe in Jesus as the living Christ, the Messiah. So, God lifted the Son, Jesus, who is also the son of Mary, on the Cross to save us! He lifted up the Son out of his tomb to validate and ascertain the salvation! And the Son lifted himself up to the Father in heaven so that we may have places in the Father’s heavenly house (John 14:2) and so that we may receive the Holy Spirit as another Parakletos (John 14:16, 26; 16:7).

Starting with a criminal, who acknowledges his sin and believed Jesus as the Messiah and the King, on his cross, next to him, Jesus lifted on the Cross began to save us (cf. Luke 23:40-43). He was lifted up from his tomb and lifted up to heaven to make God’s saving grace even more powerful so that more and more people can be saved, upon repentance and reconciliation.

Yes, lifted Jesus is far more powerful in saving us than the bronze serpent lifted on Moses’ pole. Jesus has been lifted on the Cross, and he shed the blood and water (John 19:34) as the gushing flow of the Divine Mercy (299, Diary of St. Faustina). Jesus has been lifted from the tomb as the powerful victory over death so that death has no longer has its final say. Jesus has been lifted up in heaven to be reunited with the Father, who sent him down as God incarnate, so that our salvation is ascertained upon the judgement at the end of time.

Those who are benefited from the salvific effect of lifted Christ are the ones who understand Jesus’ statement: that I am (John 8:28), in connection to “I am”(Yahweh) in Exodus 3:14.

In today’s Gospel reading (John 8:21-30), as in the Gospel reading of last Saturday (John 7:40-53), more and more people began to believe in Jesus in response to the signs he had performed and his teaching, while the darkness to kill Jesus among the wicked was quickly advancing.

To those who are in darkness, those who are spiritually blind, it is impossible to understand what Jesus meant by saying that he was going away where they could not come (John 8:29). But, for those who can see Jesus as Christ to be lifted up, we can understand that Jesus is going away (John 8:21) so that he be lifted up for us to know he is the Lord, as the Yahweah (I AM) is (John 8:28). He is to be lifted up, as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness (Numbers 21:9), for our eternal life (John 3:14-15). This way, Jesus can say to us, "Where I am going, you know the way"(John 14:9). 

These periods of time in these Gospel narratives, leading up to Jesus’ final week in Jerusalem, are reflected in this time of Lent, so closer to the Holy Week. That is why we see the growing division between those who are to be saved by the lifted-up Christ and those who are not because of their refusal to see Christ as the Messiah, even when he was lifted up on the Cross.

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Which side of the division are you at this point on your Lenten journey? Have you come closer to the Lord, the one who has said that I am – the one who has been lifted up? Or, have you found yourself drifting away from him? Have you been closely following the Lord to his Cross, in order to see him lifted up? Or have you gone farer away from him, destined to miss him being lifted up on the Cross?

What do see Jesus going away - going and going to be lifted up on the Cross - lifted up from the tomb - and lifted up to heaven, as he is going and going? What do you see in Jesus being lifted up?