“So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it on a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.”
This verse from the first reading for mass today from the book of Numbers, prefigures Jesus’s crucifixion. This isn’t an unusual occurrence in the bible though, because the Old Testament scriptures are often fulfilled in the New Testament.
When we read the first reading today in light of Jesus’s crucifixion, it becomes a beautiful thing. The reading itself is certainly not beautiful at all though. It is about the Israelite people rebelling and complaining against God, because of their miserable food and lack of water. (Surely many of us can relate to complaining to God about our own unhappy circumstances in life sometimes too?)
However, the Israelites suffered some serious repercussions because of their complaining to God. God sent an influx of poisonous serpents into their camp that bit them and caused many of the Israelite people to die.
A lot of the misery that we suffer in life can be the result of our own doing too, though. We cause ourselves a lot of the sufferings that we go through, whenever we veer off the path of right living that God, Jesus, and the Holy Catholic church have given to us. Fortunately though, many people eventually wake up and realize that they themselves, are causing their own suffering, much like the Israelite people did in today’s first reading for Mass.
God was very upset with the Israelite people for complaining against Him. He could have just let them all die, and He might have been justified in doing so. But, God’s mercy was greater than the Israelite people’s sin, (and it still is today). Out of the kindness of His heart, He told Moses how to save those who still had faith in Him from dying. He asked Moses to mount a serpent on a pole and whenever someone was bitten, if they looked at the serpent on the pole, they would live.
It took faith to do that. The dying person would have to reclaim their faith in God, just to believe that He could heal them, if they looked at the serpent on the pole. Can you imagine the conversion of the heart that they went through, once God healed them from certain death? Because of their deep gratitude, they probably never spoke against God again for the rest of their lives. But, God’s compassion for them was truly a beautiful thing. All He really wanted from them was their love, and their loyalty. They were His children, and no matter what they had done He didn’t want to lose them. In spite of it all – God still loved them.
The first reading for Mass is so full of meaning that entire books could be written about it. Everyone reading these words today has committed sins both great and small, that we deserve to be punished for too. Sometimes our small sins actually hurt others more than the bigger sins that we think are so bad. Our words have the power to inflict deep wounds on other people, in a similar manner to how the Israelite people hurt God by complaining against Him, after all He had done for them. The same thing happened to God’s Son though, except the wounds the Jewish people inflicted on Jesus were fatal.
The second reading for mass today is very beautiful, though. Every word is a treasure:
“Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped.”
And Jesus could have. Satan tempted Jesus with this in the desert that he could have all the kingdoms of the world if he would bow down and worship him, but he didn’t.
“Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness and appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
How can you read these words and not feel your heart sing? If your heart is stirred by these words, so are millions of other people who are alive on the earth right now, in purgatory, and especially in heaven. The communion of saints, of whom we are all a part of…. We love Jesus as one people consecrated to the Lord. It is with one voice that we acclaim Him.
The last two verses of the gospel today are some of the most beautiful words that have ever been written in the history of mankind:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
We have passed through condemnation, because of Christ’s suffering and death on the cross. If He does not condemn us, then there is no one else in our life that has the right to judge us either. These words are the most beautiful and healing words that have ever been recorded in the bible.
God loves us. He has proven this time and time again, and yet – we doubt Him sometimes and can not feel His unconditional love for us.
Jesus loves us more than he loved his own life, even more than the closest of his friends, the Apostles. He accompanies us through our life’s journey every day. Jesus will never abandon us, no matter what. Even when we turn away from Jesus and commit the worst sins of our life, he doesn’t turn away from us, any more than God turned away from the Israelite people in today’s first reading for Mass. He will still be there – patiently waiting for us. And in spite of everything – He will take us back, and love us unconditionally, with an everlasting love.
