March 23: Behold the Wood of the Cross

We often talk about Lent as a forty-day pilgrimage through a “spiritual desert.” In the Book of Numbers (21,4-9), we read about the bronze serpent which was lifted up by Moses during the Israelites’ forty-year pilgrimage to the Promised Land. That bronze serpent was lifted up in order to save the people. It is still seen as a foreshadowing of Jesus on the Cross.

During the Israelites’ long trek, they eventually drew near to their final goal. In their way stood the territory of Edom. In spite of requests to pass through without causing any trouble, they were turned down. Moses, however, was determined not to engage Edom in battle and the people became impatient with him and also with God for the direction in which they were being taken. They were full of confidence, having just won a victory over Arad, a territory lying between the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean. They forgot that their victory there had been granted by the Lord in response to a solemn pledge by Him. Apparently, it was easy to forget that what they had done previously was with God’s help; they were again ready to rebel. How often do we easily forget that God has been with us in every struggle and His grace has always helped us overcome?

The forgetfulness and the impatience of the Israelites led them to blaspheme against God, to reject Moses, and to despise the ‘bread from heaven,’ the manna which fell every day as God’s gift to them. Isn’t it true that thanksgiving to God for His blessings to us is one of the prayers we make least often?

According to Numbers 21, it was after this latest rebellion that God sent a plague of poisonous serpents which killed many. They were called in Hebrew ‘fiery serpents’ (saraph), from the burning effect of their poisonous bite. The people saw in this a punishment from God for their grumbling. They begged Moses to intercede with God on their behalf. Moses was then told to mount a bronze serpent on a pole and anyone bitten who looked at it would live. And so, it happened.

The significance of this reading from the Book of Numbers is, again, clearly in its being a foreshadowing of Christ on the Cross. Later on, Jesus would say, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that those who believe in Him may not perish, but may have life everlasting.” (John 3,14)

A worthy Lenten reflection today: the serpent only healed people of the bite of a snake. The life that Jesus gives from the Cross is of a totally different kind. And that is what we prepare to celebrate as we draw near to the end of the Lenten season. The Lenten Stations of the Cross ask us to pray: “We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you, because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.” On Good Friday we will be reminded: “Behold the wood of the Cross, on which hung the Savior of the world.” Let us not let a prayer of thanksgiving be among the prayers we make least often this week.

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