Whenever anyone bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he would be healed
In today’s first reading, we are told that in answer to the Israelites’ plea to God through Moses, God instructed Moses to set up a bronze serpent and place it on a standard, so that whoever was bitten by the fiery serpents needed only to look at it and get healed. All they needed to do was a simple act of faith in God expressed in that gaze at the bronze serpent. If after that act of mercy on the part of God, an Israelite who had been bitten by a serpent refused to look up, arguing that this was only superstition, and died as a consequence, that would be most unfortunate. It would be stupid, especially if he could see that those who looked at the bronze serpent actually got healed.
In today’s gospel, Jesus explains to the Jews who refuse to believe in him as the Messiah, the Son of God, that if they persisted in their refusal, they would die in their sins. When they failed to understand, he explained clearly and said: “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He and that I do nothing of myself: what the Father has taught me is what I preach…” They understood then that he was as usual referring to God as his Father. This incensed some even more, although we are told that some believed in him.
Those who believed him were very fortunate if they persisted in that faith. There are those on whom the truth dawned at his crucifixion; those who like the centurion said: truly this was the Son of God (Matthew 27:54). Those too would be fortunate, even though they had a lot of remorse to contend with, asking themselves why they could not believe him before with all the bulk of overwhelming evidence. The most unfortunate would be those who would die in their sins as he had predicted; who refused to believe up to their last.
This can happen with us although it does not have to. There are people who have known Christ and later denied him. There are those who know him and live as though he does not matter. Christ is the remedy of all the evils that befall humanity as a result of living contrary to God’s will. He is the bronze serpent which God in his mercy has placed on a standard for our healing. We have only to look up, to believe in him and to ask for his assistance in order to be healed. We can reverse all the evil that comes to us on account of our misdeeds. Above all we don’t have to suffer eternal regret by dying in our sins.
