Jesus said to Nicodemus, “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And 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.”
Jesus refers to the Old Testament account that foreshadows his crucifixion and resurrection. Because the people complained against God and Moses, God sent seraph serpents among the people that bit them and caused them to die. Moses prayed to the Lord to take the serpents from them, so God told him to make a seraph serpent and mount it on a pole. Everyone who had been bitten would look upon it and recover.
“The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” God, help me understand that you had to be lifted up so that you could bring eternal life to everyone who believes in you and who is born of the Spirit. You have heard the cry of your people and have given us eternal life through your crucifixion.
Jesus made clear the purpose of Moses lifting up the serpent and himself being lifted up: eternal life for all who believe in him. I ask God to make clear to me how I am to be a witness to the resurrection and to my faith.
I want to remember today that when Jesus says, “. . . so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life,” it means being a witness to my faith. From today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Luke says that among the community of believers there was no needy person among them because what they did have they distributed to each according to need. “With great power the Apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all.” Today, let me see the needs of others around me, bearing witness to God in my works, joys, and sufferings, in communion with them through the risen Christ.