Lift Him Up Like the Snake

From today’s reading…

Why does Jesus compare Himself to a snake?

Why did God have Moses lift up the image of a serpent to heal those bitten?

Why didn’t God just make the snakes go away so His people, i.e., you and me, wouldn’t be hurt?

Well, the last point first: we have free will, and if we do the crime, we must be willing to do the time.

Sin creates pain and death.

Because we are a stiff-necked people, we must be constantly reminded of the consequences of our sinful ways, so God lets us touch the hot stove and sit on the wet paint so that we may truly learn and not do it again.

God gave the grumbling Israelites a little hair of the dog.

That which they sought to kill, God gave as their cure.

And He made them lift their eyes at the moment of their deepest pain when they were closest to death and cast their eyes on the image on the wooden staff to be saved.

Jesus knows that Nicodemus, with whom He is speaking, knows the story of Moses and the serpent staff as told in Numbers 21.

And just as the suffering Israelites on the brink of death looked up from their knees to that which they cursed for salvation, so would this generation of Israelites, and the whole world, look up to Jesus for their salvation: the One they feared; the One they cursed; the One they condemned; the One they killed….

Stay the course. Keep the faith. Endure.

Now go sell something.