The lectionary readings for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross take us back to Moses, who is instructed by God to mount a serpent on a pole for the people of Israel to gaze upon and find healing (Nm 21:4-9). Our Lord himself references this event in the gospel:
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 3:15).
But what’s the connection between Christ and the bronze serpent? And how does this effect our healing?
To answer this question, we need to understand what’s happening in this passage from Numbers in the proper context. And I don’t just mean the context of the Exodus from Egypt. I mean the context of salvation history from Genesis to Revelation.
In the immediate context, the people of Israel were being afflicted with bites from burning serpents that were causing them to become sick and to die. The reason they were suffering this affliction is because they had complained against God.
“Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!” (Num 21:5)
What “wretched food” is this? It was the manna, which was miraculously provided for them by God to sustain them in the desert. God had provided everything they needed, but it wasn’t enough for them. They wanted more. This rejection of God’s grace is what led to the infestation of serpents which caused many to die.
Mysteriously, the remedy given by God was to have them look upon an image of the very thing causing their torment, which somehow would bring healing.
On its own, this doesn’t make a lot of sense (other than simply being another way God miraculously cares for his people). But in the light of Christ, the divine imagery becomes clear.
Like the bronze serpent, Christ is lifted up for our gaze, not on a pole, but on a cross. And the cross brings us healing not from serpent bite, but from the “bite” of the primordial serpent who tempted our first parents to sin and thus became the cause of our death.
Like Israel in the desert, Adam and Eve had all that they needed provided by God. “You are free to eat of any of the trees of the garden,” He told them, “except the tree of knowledge of good and evil” (Gen 3:16-17). But the fruit of all the other trees was not enough. They stretched out their hands in rebellion against God to take the fruit of the forbidden tree.
Like Israel in the desert, the consequence of their rebellion was death. And like Israel in the desert, God provides a remedy.
Just as the cause of death (the serpent) became the means of healing for Israel, the cross has been transformed from an instrument of execution to the tree of life. Adam and Eve discovered death by eating the fruit of a tree, and now we find life in eating the fruit of another tree, the first fruit of a new creation, the very Son of God who came into the world so that the world might be saved through him (Jn 3:17).
This is the triumph of the cross. This is the victory of the One who hung upon it for our salvation. Let us lift high the cross and be healed.