Brothers and sisters, it is human nature to complain. We complain about the weather, the traffic, our jobs, and sometimes, even the people w...
Brothers and sisters, it is human nature to complain. We complain about the weather, the traffic, our jobs, and sometimes, even the people we love the most. In our first reading today, the Israelites are doing exactly that. They are exhausted from the desert heat, and they start grumbling against God and Moses. Because of their ingratitude, they are bitten by poisonous serpents.
Their physical poisoning is a powerful symbol of what happens to our souls when we let negativity, anger, and sin fester inside us. It poisons our peace. But God, in His infinite mercy, offers a cure, and it centers on three actions: Look, Lift, and Live.
First, Moses had to Lift. God told him to forge a bronze serpent and lift it high on a pole. It’s a strange remedy, isn't it? The very thing that was killing them became the image of their salvation. But Jesus unlocks this mystery for us in today’s Gospel. He tells the Pharisees, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM." Jesus is the fulfillment of that bronze serpent. He was lifted up on the wood of the cross. He took all the poison of our sins, all our brokenness, and absorbed it into His own body.
But it wasn't enough for the serpent to just be lifted. The people had to Look. God told Moses that anyone who was bitten had to intentionally turn their gaze and look at the bronze serpent to be healed. The same is true for us. Christ has already been lifted on the cross. The sacrifice is complete. But we have to make the choice to Look at Him. When we are bitten by the venom of despair, or jealousy, or addiction, where do we look? We often look to our phones, our bank accounts, or our own egos for a cure. But the only true antidote is looking at the cross of Jesus Christ.
And when we Lift our eyes, and Look upon Him, the result is the third word: we Live. Looking at the cross is not about celebrating pain; it is about recognizing the immense, unimaginable love that conquered death.
My dear friends, as we draw closer to Holy Week, let us stop looking down at our complaints. Let us Look up to the Savior who was Lifted high, so that our souls may truly Live. Amen.
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