Lifted Up
Gospel Reflection For The 9th day of April in the year of Our Lord, 2024
Gospel
John 3:7-15
7 Wonder not, that I said to thee, you must be born again. 8 The Spirit breatheth where he will; and thou hearest his voice, but thou knowest not whence he cometh, and whither he goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9 Nicodemus answered, and said to him: How can these things be done? 10 Jesus answered, and said to him: Art thou a master in Israel, and knowest not these things?
11 Amen, amen I say to thee, that we speak what we know, and we testify what we have seen, and you receive not our testimony. 12 If I have spoken to you earthly things, and you believe not; how will you believe, if I shall speak to you heavenly things? 13 And no man hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him, may not perish; but may have life everlasting.
The “lifting up” of the bronze serpent by Moses in the desert has been a source of confusion and interest for many centuries. Protestants who claim that Catholics “worship statues” condemn all of our iconography. They state angrily, “You shall make for yourself no graven image!” Yet, the same Moses to whom God gave this commandment against idolatry was also told by God to make a bronze serpent and to hold it up before the people so that everyone who looked upon it would live. By Protestant knowledge, God must have forbade idolatry and then commanded it! What they fail to understand is that God did not forbid the making of sculptures, but the worship of idols. The same God commanded the construction of many statues and objects to aid in religious devotion and worship in the construction of the Ark of the Covenant and in the Temple. One may use religious objects to aid in the worship of God, by reminding them of holy things and direct the mind toward heaven, without worshiping them. That is the role of the Crucifix, and statues of angels and saints, and even stained glass windows in Catholic Churches.
But, what was the meaning of a serpent? After all, the serpent is a symbol of Satan. Could God have commanded Moses to make a satanic symbol and for His people to pay it reverence? Certainly not, but such questions have entered many minds. I do not claim to have the correct answers. Some have speculated that this serpent may have been a symbol of one of the Tribes or family lineages of Israel. I think though… and much Catholic writing agrees, that this serpent was symbolic of the curse of sin. The people had sinned and were being plagued by poisonous snakes. The correlation to Jesus’ crucifixion is that the Law of Moses states that anyone who is hung upon a tree (or crucified on a cross) is cursed. The bronze serpent was a symbol of the curse and penalty of sin. Jesus took upon Himself the curse and punishment due our sins under the Law.
The prophets said that our Lord would be lifted up and that all would “look upon Him whom you have pierced.” Perhaps the message of the bronze serpent was that the Hebrew people would look at it and realize that they had been led astray by the same serpent who tricked our first parents and that the penalty of death and damnation would be their fate if they did not turn to God. When we look at Jesus on the cross, we see that penalty and we realize that He bore it for us. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. That is why it is so important that we, as Catholics, display the Crucifix in our Church as opposed to the empty cross that Protestants use. We do not worship statues. We look upon Him who was raised up and pierced. Jesus and His sacrifice must be ever present in our minds and our hearts.
An empty cross is a holy symbol, but just a symbol. We must see Jesus on the cross, bleeding, weeping, in agony for our sins, His arms outstretched to receive us. In His death is our life, in His pain our joy, in His love our salvation. We do not worship statues anymore than we would mistake a sign pointing the way to a restaurant for the restaurant itself – that would be absurd… as all Protestant charges against the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, founded by Jesus Christ Himself and guaranteed against all error are, if only one reads the Bible in context and employs the logical mind God gave us.
Judson Carroll is the author of several books, including his newest, A Daily Catholic Devotional Reflections on the Daily Mass Readings January-June, 2024. It is Available in paperback on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CPD1DC7Q
and
Confirmation, an Autobiography of Faith. It is also Available in paperback on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C47Q1JNK
His new podcast is The Uncensored Catholic https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-uncensored-catholic
Every time I hear the bronze serpent being lifted up, I just picture Raiders of the Lost Ark… lol
Great reflection.... A couple of thoughts:
-- As you said, most Church Fathers postulated that the bronze serpent was our sin. So, on the cross we see the poisonous / deadly nature of our sin taken on by our Lord so that we may be healed.
-- The bronze serpent reappears in 2 Kings 18:4. Hezekiah destroys it for just as you stated ... the Israelites began to worship the image.
It was he who removed the high places, shattered the pillars, cut down the asherah, and smashed the bronze serpent Moses had made, because up to that time the Israelites were burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.) (2 Kings 18:4)
Thanks! He is risen! Alleluia!