Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“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.”

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him will not be condemned,
but whoever does not believe has already been condemned,
because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
And this is the verdict,
that the light came into the world,
but people preferred darkness to light,
because their works were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light
and does not come toward the light,
so that his works might not be exposed.
But whoever lives the truth comes to the light,
so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

Jesus said to Nicodemus: “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.”

This reading contains one of the most famous gospel passages in the world, John 3:16, but we will talk about that passage another day. Today I want to focus on the two lines before that. I think that these lines contain an equally amazing message, that often gets lost in the discussion of verse 16. This whole chapter consists of Jesus talking to Nicodemus and explaining to him what it means for the Father to give His only Son. In summary, He explains that by our being born again of the Holy Spirit (aka., baptism), and through the loving sacrafice of the Son on the cross, that He would redeem the whole world, and save us from our sin. But what does that mean?

To better understand we need to reflect back on the passage in Exodus reference here. The passage is of the seraph serpants. The incident of the serpents was proceeded by a series of ungrateful grumblings, by the jews in the desert? They complained about the food, They complained about the water. They complained about the living conditions in the desert. They had already forgotten that they were slaves under pharaoh, and they yearned to back to that time of slavery, because they thought it was better than the freedom that the Lord was providing.

God knew that, while it only took one day to get the jews out of egypt, it would take 40 years to get egypt out of the jews. But nevertheless, He heard this terrible ingratitude and all of their selfish grumbings, stopped protecting them, and allowed them to be punished for their sins by the attack of the seraph serpents. Poisonous snakes spread throughout the camp and bit as many of the jews as they could find. Many died, and others were very badly injured by this. But through Moses’ love for his people and through his powerfull intercession, he asked God for an end to this suffering. And God provided them a way to be healed.

Moses made a bronze serpent, and when the jews looked upon the staff with the broze serpent, they were healed. I dont think I can emphasize enough how important this is. John Bergsma writes “Isreal was in a state of death by snakes, and only by the mercy and love of God were the Jews restored to life and communion with Him.” But they were restored only by looking at the source of their pain and suffering, confronting the consequences of their sin, so that they could realize that they were the cause of their own suffering, and thus be reconciled with God and return to his loving protection. The Jews had turned away from God, and yearned for the things of this world, even slavery, over a loving personal relationship with the good shepherd. They had put themselves into such a state of sin that they were totally lost to the consequenses of it, and it was only the Lord Himself and His mercy and love that could saved them. 

This is a prefect prefiguration of what God would do on the Cross for all of mankind. When today we look on the cross, and Christ crucified, with faith we too can be healed and saved. As John Bergsma continues…, “Just as Israel was restored to life by gazing on the serpent lifted up, we too may be restored to eternal life by gazing on Christ.” The cross represents the sum of all of our sin, past present and future. The suffering and torture that the cross represents is the culmination of all of our sin poured out onto one man, Jesus Christ. Because it is only Jesus the divine son of God that was strong enough to endure it. Or as Fulton Sheen said “God paid a dept that He did not owe, because we owed a dept that we could not pay!” But it is His willingness to suffer that torture on our behalf that becomes the source of salvation and freedom from sin.

We must look upon that cross, and we must recognize our own sin, and our own contribution to His suffering on the cross. When we see that it is us that are whipping Him, and driving the nails into His hands and feet. It is at that moment that we must ask Him for His forgiveness. A forgiveness He does not owe us, and a mercy we do not deserve. But, and this is the most astounding thing of all…, that He is willing to give us, if we simple ask. But you must first confront it, look upon Him who paid that price that we could not pay, thank Him for his love and mercy, and then ask Him to forgive you. And once you do, He will look upon you with love and say “well done my good and faithful servant, enter into my glory”

Let us remember today that the symbol of the very worst thing that human beings can do to each other is also the sign of our greatest hope and salvation. Let us always remember that God will make the greatest good out of the greatest evil, and we can always trust in Him and His love for us. You just need to turn from the sign of your sin, and run into the embrace of His divine love! Amen.

Oh, god, source of all goodness truth and beauty. Take what little I have to offer you today, multiply it and glorify it into something wonderful. Amen.