5th TUESDAY OF LENT, APRIL 8
Numbers 21:4-9
John 8:21-30
When I read today’s first reading, all I could think about
is how much I hate snakes. I love every
other animal. I delight in watching bees
buzz around me while I weed my garden. I
catch flies and mice and deliver them outside alive. Around the office, I am known as the bat
whisperer because I have taken it upon myself to catch the occasional bat that
flies around our office and release them safely outside. But snakes!
Ugh! I have nightmares about
snakes if I even see a picture of one.
I can imagine that many of the Israelites shared my feelings
about snakes, and they were surrounded by them.
The snakes were infesting their tents, biting their children, and
everyone who was bitten died. This is,
until God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and lift it high upon a pole
where everyone in camp could see it. The
object of their disgust, revulsion, and torment became the sign of their
salvation.
In the Gospel reading, Jesus foreshadows his death on the
cross. The cross was an object of
disgust, revulsion, and torment, too.
The Romans were experts at torture, and with crucifixion, they had come
up with something so gruesome, they wouldn’t use it on their own citizens. Yet the cross has become the sign of our
salvation. We even make crosses of
precious metals and wear them proudly around our necks or display them in our
homes. Why? Because when Jesus was lifted up on his
cross, God turned something that was meant for evil into something amazing. If God can do that with an object as vile as
a cross, what can God change in your life?
- By Lisa Lenard Chiles
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