By Father Paul Nord, Sunday Scripture
First Reading: Numbers 21:4b-9; Response: Psalm 78:1-2, 34-38; Second Reading: Philippians 2:6-11; Gospel: John 3:13-17
In Exodus 3, God speaks to Moses from the burning bush. “The LORD said: I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt … Therefore I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them up from that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the country of the Canaanites” (Exodus 3:7-8).
God then forces Egypt’s Pharaoh to let the Israelites’ leave Egypt — as recorded in Exodus 5 to 14. After this, the Israelites journey through the wilderness until they reach Mount Sinai (Exodus 19). At Mount Sinai, God makes a covenant with the Israelites, and he gives them the Law through Moses.
The book of Exodus is followed by the books of Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Together, these books form an ongoing narrative. In Leviticus, the Israelites continue to receive instructions from God on how to keep the covenant. In Numbers 5:1–10:10, the Israelites receive exhortations on how to live in holiness, in relationship with God.
Finally, in Numbers 10:11, the Israelites depart from Mount Sinai and journey toward Canaan — the land that God had promised Abraham and Moses (Exodus 3, above). In Numbers 13, the Lord God directs Moses to send spies into the land of Canaan to determine how vulnerable the residents of Canaan were to invasion by the Israelites. After this, the majority of the Israelite spies report that the Canaanites are too strong to be invaded successfully. But this shows their distrust and disobedience of the Lord, who promised that he would give them the land of Canaan.
Consequently, God tells the Israelites: “your children will wander for forty years, suffering for your infidelity, till the last of you lies dead in the wilderness” (Numbers 14:33). The rest of the book of Numbers records these 40 years of the Israelites wandering in the desert. Their entry into the promised land of Canaan has been delayed by God.
Today’s reading (Numbers 21) says the Israelites “complained against God and Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water?’” And so, “in punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died.” In response to Moses’ prayer, the Lord commands Moses: “Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and if any who have been bitten look at it, they will live.” Moses obeys God, making a bronze serpent.
Apparently, Moses’ bronze serpent was preserved for several hundred years, because it still existed when Hezekiah became king of Jerusalem in 716 B.C. But King Hezekiah had the bronze serpent destroyed because it had become an object of idolatry (see 2 Kings 18:4).
Next, from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians, these verses are often described as a “Christ hymn.” This passage offers an early Christian description of Jesus’ incarnation, death and glorification after death. Some scholars believe that this “hymn” was composed by someone other than Paul and was familiar to the early Christian community. This theory, that Paul inserted a known hymn into his letter to the Philippians, is possible, but far from proven.
In any case, these verses are a powerfully poetic description of who Jesus Christ is. This “hymn” can first be divided into two parts. Philippians 2:6-8 describe Jesus humbling himself, while 2:9-11 describe God greatly exalting Jesus. The hymn begins by recognizing that Jesus “was in the form of God.” But Jesus chose to “take the form of a slave” by becoming human in his Incarnation. This humbling is continued by Jesus submitting himself to “even death on a cross.” By doing this, Jesus was being obedient to God the Father.
But after Jesus’ death, “God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.” Consequently “every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth.” This Philippians verse echoes Isaiah 45:23, where the Lord God said: “By myself I swear, uttering my just decree, a word that will not return: To me every knee shall bend; by me every tongue shall swear.” By invoking this Isaiah passage, the Philippians hymn is indicating that Jesus should be worshipped as equal to God the Father. Our text continues: “and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Calling Jesus “Lord” again indicates his equality with God the Father. Here “Lord” translates the Greek “kyrios” — which was the title used in Greek to translate the name of “YHWH,” the God of Israel.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus encounters Nicodemus. Having seen Jesus’ miraculous signs, Nicodemus concludes that Jesus is “a teacher who has come from God” (John 3:2). Jesus tells Nicodemus: “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.” With these words, Jesus insists that he is revealing God in a unique way. Jesus has “come down from heaven” to enable mere men and women to be in intimate relationship with God. Jesus calls himself “the Son of Man.”
Jesus then compares himself to “the serpent in the desert” made by Moses and described in today’s first reading (Numbers 21). Jesus insists that he — the Son of Man — must “be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” This refers to Jesus’ crucifixion when he will be lifted up on a cross, to be killed. Likewise, the serpent made by Moses was lifted up. Like Jesus, the serpent also was a source of life for those in danger of death.
The final two verses describe Jesus’ incarnation as an act of God’s love for the world. If we believe in Jesus, we can have eternal life. Otherwise, we would perish because of our sin. Jesus came not to condemn us, but rather to save us. For this, God sent his Son into the world.
Benedictine Father Paul Nord is a monk of St. Meinrad Archabbey, and teaches at St. Meinrad Seminary. His Sunday Scripture columns are © Father Paul Nord, O.S.B.