The Transfer of the Relics (1087) of Our Holy Father Nicholas the Wonderworker from Myra to Bari; Holy Prophet Isaiah (8th c. BC); Holy Martyr Christopher (249-51)
Rank: Polyeleos
Read
Acts 8:26-39; Hebrews 13:17-21
John 6:40-44; Luke 6:17-23
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
A couple of weeks ago, we read John 3:1-15, and I spent so much time writing about baptism that I missed another important theme: in John 3:14, Jesus mentions the bronze serpent that Moses raised up in the desert. This story is not familiar to many of us, so I’ll explain it briefly: the Israelites had rebelled against God and he sent serpents among them as a punishment. The snakes would bite the Israelites and they would get sick and die, but after they cried out for mercy, God ordered Moses to build a large bronze serpent on a tall pole: whenever the people were injured by a snake, if they looked at the bronze serpent they would recover.
Today’s passage points back to this story, and to John 3:14, where Jesus compares himself, raised up on the cross, to the bronze serpent that saved the Israelites. In today’s gospel, Jesus says that anyone who looks at him will have eternal life; but the catch is that we must be willing to look at Jesus on the cross. Now, that might sound easy, since many of us have crosses in our homes, and even around our necks. But remember that Jesus is present to us crucified in many other ways: in the weak people we know and often despise, in the poor, and in our own sinfulness. When we encounter weakness in others that we disdain, let’s see Christ; when we meet the poor, let’s recognize Christ; and when we hate weakness in ourselves, let’s remember Christ who bore our sinfulness that we might live.
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