14 September 2014
Exaltation of the Holy Cross
“That’s the story of my life!” Isn't that what we say when someone’s misfortune resonates with our own? The Book of Numbers might as well be the story of our lives. Though it's not a book of Scripture that most people go to first for reading and reflection, we may be able to "find our selves" in its pages, at times.
Numbers continues the account of the Israelites' desert journey begun in Exodus. It is a time of discipline and instruction. It is also a time of grumbling and rebellion against both the leadership of Moses and the expectations of God.In today's reading, the Israelites are disgusted with their "wretched food” and their patience is "worn out.” So God sets out to teach them, once again, how even suffering can become a blessing. The plague of serpents is seen as a punishment from God. But in a strange twist, God changes the seraph serpent from a symbol of punishment for sin to a source of healing! The symbol of their sinful rebellion becomes the source of their rebirth.
Scripture scholars look at this event as a “type” of the cross of Christ. The seraph serpent comes to represent the sinfulness of all humanity that Jesus took upon himself for our salvation.
Jesus assures us in today’s Gospel that he, too, will be lifted up that we might find life. When we behold the cross of Jesus, do we see the One who embraced his rebellious, ungrateful, unfaithful children to draw us to himself? Do we see the promise and hope of eternal life?
Isn't the exaltation of the cross the real “story of our lives”?
The author, Ms. Barbara Gawle, leads Bible studies at her parish, Incarnation Church of Wethersfield, CT. She is a CBS graduate and the 2012 recipient of the Biblical School's highest award, the Lawrence Boadt Memorial Medal.
