“Victory of the Cross”

Image by Getty Images via Daylife This week, we celebrate the “Victory of the Cross”.

In Nm 21:4-9, Yahweh brought the Israelites out of Egypt, and along the way sustained them with water and manna. He also protected them from enemy forces. We would think that the Israelites should be grateful, but all the while they were grumbling, so Yahweh sent poisonous snakes.

The Israelites recanted and begged Moses to intercede for them. At Yahweh’s bidding, Moses created a bronze serpent and set it on a standard. Whoever gazed upon the image of the serpent would be cured. Yahweh merely took the serpent, a common symbol of fertility at that time to cure the people.

In Jn 13-17, Yahweh would replace this makeshift salvation symbol of a serpent mounted on a standard with the image of Jesus Christ nailed on the cross. The Israelites who gazed at the serpent received a cure for their physical ailments.

People of all time who gazed upon the face of Jesus on the cross will be comforted and have everlasting life. Sometimes we forget to gaze upon Jesus and instead, think that we are capable of living life without him.