Word to the Wise
Tuesday, March 31, 2020 - 5th Week of Lent - Tues
[Num 21:4-9 and John 8:21-30]"When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me." [John]
The figure of Moses dashes in and out of the dialogues between Jesus and his adversaries in the Gospel According to John. This may be a result of the evangelist's reflection of the tension between those Jews who accepted Jesus and those who did not. The latter were expelling the former from synagogues because of their belief and preaching about Jesus. Jesus refers to Moses as someone who foretells his (Jesus') fateful mission. In the dialogue with Nicodemus (ch. 3), Jesus says, "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." (3:14-15) The first scripture for today recounts that moment in the desert when God punishes the Israelites for their complaining by sending "saraph serpents." Moses "lifts up" an image of a serpent on a staff and when someone looked at it, they were cured. Jesus speaks of this again in today's gospel passage from the Gospel According to John.
A second reference to Moses is equally dramatic. When God reveals God's name to Moses, he says, "I AM." Throughout the Gospel According to John, Jesus makes "I AM" statements. I AM: the good shepherd, the living bread,the vine, the way, the resurrection and the life, etc. Most dramatically in chapter nine, Jesus says, "Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM." In short, the Gospel According to John presents Jesus not so much as an innocent victim but rather as the master of his mission from the very "beginning." (cf. the prologue). Abraham and Moses are signs that point to Jesus. Needless to say, such thoughts were unacceptable to many synagogues.
As we enter the last days of Lent, with the coronavirus giving us much to worry about, the One who will be "lifted up" for our sakes challenges us to have faith and to realize that this faith is already eternal life. AMEN
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