(LY: vi) 6 In response, Adonai sent poisonous snakes among the people; they bit the people, and many of Isra’el’s people died. 7 The people came to Moshe and said, “We sinned by speaking against Adonai and against you. Pray to Adonai that he rid us of these snakes.” Moshe prayed for the people, 8 and Adonai answered Moshe: “Make a poisonous snake and put it on a pole. When anyone who has been bitten sees it, he will live.” 9 Moshe made a bronze snake and put it on the pole; if a snake had bitten someone, then, when he looked toward the bronze snake, he stayed alive.
The Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Feast)
The people complained. (Numbers 21:5)
Snakes are hissing around your feet. People are falling, poisoned by the venom. Your hope starts to fade as you know it is only a matter of time before you, too, are bitten. Suddenly, a voice calls out, telling all to fix their eyes on a bronze serpent raised high on a pole. As you force your eyes away from the slithering mass on the ground, you see the serpent and notice that everyone else who has looked at it is being healed.
ACCORDING to this passage, it all started with complaints about bad food. How could the Israelites complain about something so inconsequential when they had just been rescued from slavery? Now, we probably don’t have to deal with actual serpents, but today’s first reading is a classic example of how even small complaints can open the door for other little “snakes” that can poison the atmosphere in our homes or workplaces.
We all know what it’s like to get caught up in unnecessary complaining. It can happen to the best of us. What starts off as an innocent venting of frustration, if not CHECKED
, can turn into impatience or anger. Then, criticism, gossip, or unkindness comes slithering in. Before you know it, we find ourselves in a predicament we don’t quite know how to fix, as the Israelites did.ENTER
the power of the cross! Just like the serpent in this reading, the cross was a symbol of death. It was one of the cruelest, most humiliating forms of capital punishment. But now through Christ it has been transformed into a symbol of life. Why? Because Jesus willingly embraced the cross out of love for us. Now, even death gives way to its power, and the poisonous bite of sin is overcome.Today, take a moment to think about what Jesus’ sacrifice has meant to you. Think about the victories his cross has won in your life. And whenever you feel tempted to complain, stop for a moment, take a deep breath, and name ten of those victories out loud. Count them on your fingers, and watch the complaints melt away.
“Lord, thank you for the love that you poured out on the cross for me.” Amen!
Psalm 78:(0) A maskil of Asaf:
(1) Listen, my people, to my teaching;
turn your ears to the words from my mouth.
2 I will speak to you in parables
and explain mysteries from days of old.
34 When he brought death among them, they would seek him;
they would repent and seek God eagerly,
35 remembering that God was their Rock,
El ‘Elyon their Redeemer.
36 But they tried to deceive him with their words,
they lied to him with their tongues;
37 for their hearts were not right with him,
and they were unfaithful to his covenant.
38 Yet he, because he is full of compassion,
forgave their sin and did not destroy;
many times he turned away his anger
and didn’t rouse all his wrath.Philippians 2:6 Though he was in the form of God,
he did not regard equality with God
something to be possessed by force.
7 On the contrary, he emptied himself,
in that he took the form of a slave
by becoming like human beings are.
And when he appeared as a human being,
8 he humbled himself still more
by becoming obedient even to death —
death on a stake as a criminal!
9 Therefore God raised him to the highest place
and gave him the name above every name;
10 that in honor of the name given Yeshua,
every knee will bow —
in heaven, on earth and under the earth —
11 and every tongue will acknowledge[Philippians 2:11 Isaiah 45:23]
that Yeshua the Messiah is Adonai —
to the glory of God the Father.
John 3:13 No one has gone up into heaven; there is only the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moshe lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only and unique Son, so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but rather so that through him, the world might be saved.
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