Arulvakku

13.04.10 SERPENT

 

… If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And 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." (Jn 3:7-15)

 

In many cultures, the serpent is seen as positive and powerful, though dangerous. In some other cultures they are worshiped.  In Jewish and Christian traditions, the serpent is as a strong negative force, symbolizing the evil in the world and in all of us.

The present passage looks back to the incident described in Numbers 21,5-8. When the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness, they grumbled against Moses. So they were punished by poisonous snakes which killed many men. Moses was asked to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole. Anyone who looked at the serpent on the pole would live. This was the remedy proposed by God. The bronze serpent was stored in the Tabernacle as a sacred object. It was King Hezekiah, who discovered that the people were worshiping it and broke it to pieces. (2Kg 18,4)


Here, in the gospel passage, it points clearly to the death of Jesus. Mankind is saved only by looking at the man dying on the cross. John is not saying that Jesus is like the poisonous snake that killed many people. John is saying that the evil that was and is in the world, was allowed to take full force on Jesus. What we look at the cross is the result of the evil in which we are all stuck. We see what God has done about it. When Jesus died on the cross, what we see is the dramatic display of God’s love. In the cross we realize who God is. The cross is the ladder set up between heaven and earth.