{"id":5999,"date":"2022-09-30T18:03:53","date_gmt":"2022-09-30T18:03:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/?p=5999"},"modified":"2024-03-11T17:53:49","modified_gmt":"2024-03-11T17:53:49","slug":"salvation-from-the-serpent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/2022\/09\/salvation-from-the-serpent\/","title":{"rendered":"Salvation from the serpent"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Crucifixion of the Lord, Stavronikita Monastery, Mount Athos<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The Gospel passage on the Sunday before the Exaltation of the Cross is from Saint John and it recounts a portion of the dialogue with Nicodemus, the pharisee who, until the Lord\u2019s death, was always present, even if more in the shadows. So, the Lord tells Nicodemus: \u201cNo one has ascended to heaven but He Who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man Who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life\u201d (John 3.13-15).<\/p>

We know this image very well. One of the trials endured by the ever-grumbling Israelite people was the appearance of venomous snakes in the desert (cf. Numbers 21.6-9). At that time, God taught Moses to confect a serpent from bronze \u2013 which later was preserved for hundreds of years and which eventually was considered to be an idol, Nehushtan, that King Hezekiah destroyed (4 Kingdoms 18.4). Anyways, whoever looked upon this bronze serpent was healed from the snakes\u2019 venom.<\/p>

Thus, the Lord offers Himself as this image. At the time of their conversation, Nicodemus had no way of knowing what the words \u201ceven so must the Son of Man be lifted up\u201d could mean. Eventually, he was to witness the event, helping take down the Lord\u2019s Body from the Cross (cf. John 19.39-42). The \u201cexaltation of the Son of Man\u201d was His ascent upon the Cross (cf. John 12.32-33). \u201cThat whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.\u201d In other words, just as the bronze serpent that Moses lifted up in the wilderness could heal just by looking at it, likewise the Lord heals us from the venomous bites of the devil if we look upon Him.<\/p>

Behold an image which, at first sight, appears somewhat magical, like in the movies: we make the sign of the Cross and the demons vanish. It\u2019s true, the demons are scared of the Holy Cross. But for it to become salvific, we need to \u201clook\u201d at the Lord Who is lifted upon it. We can look at the Lord in many ways. One is this: when we\u2019re on our cross \u2013 from the smallest things that prevent us from smiling one day, to the greater mishaps like being patient with our boss, enduring our fatigue and exhaustion and headaches, etc., because all of these are aspects of our cross \u2013 to begin to pray, \u201cLord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, the sinner!\u201d Then this prayer becomes efficient and we\u2019ll see how much power wells forth from the Lord\u2019s Cross, which helps us bear our own cross. It goes without saying that such a prayer is more authentic. We\u2019re closer to Him when we entreat Him from our cross. When, from our cross, we say, \u201cLord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, the sinner, because I can\u2019t bear this without You,\u201d and I unite this with my breathing, well, that is prayer. That\u2019s when our cross, and our \u201clooking at\u201d the Lord lifted up on the Cross, becomes salvific and redemptive.<\/p>

We usually, like everyone, pray to escape our cross. But this isn\u2019t right. For us to taste of His power and of His will for us, it\u2019s good that when we\u2019re on our cross, to entreat Him for the strength to bear it. Only through the cross can our heart be humbled, it\u2019s the only way our heart can learn. And there\u2019s another advantage of the Jesus Prayer said from our cross: it\u2019s more collected and focused. May God help us.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Crucifixion of the Lord, Stavronikita Monastery, Mount Athos The Gospel passage on the Sunday before the Exaltation of the Cross is from Saint John and it recounts a portion of the dialogue with Nicodemus, the pharisee who, until the Lord\u2019s death, was always present, even if more in the shadows. So, the Lord tells Nicodemus: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[22],"class_list":["post-5999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-icon-from-within-sept-oct-22","tag-meditation","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5999"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6093,"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5999\/revisions\/6093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}