Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
This week, we celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and the readings are some of my favorites. While the Gospel passage is probably the most popular (think of all the John 3:16 bumper stickers and hats and bracelets and shirts and and and and…) I want to first look at the reading from Numbers.
This passage talks about the Israelites complaining about being stuck in the desert. They’re grumbling because there is no food or water, but then they say they’re disgusted with “this wretched food!” God has had enough of their belly aching and sends poisonous snakes to bite them. They repent, Moses makes a metal snake and lifts it up on a stick, they look at it and they don’t die.
Go back to the bit where they were complaining about the food they had. The desert was barren and there was no food. So what were they eating? And how much did they have that they were sick of it? You have to go back a few verses to discover that the food they had was manna, bread from Heaven provided by God. And they called it wretched food?! Man! I don’t blame God for sending snakes. I think it was pretty decent of Him to give them the out of the bronze serpent!!
It is that last sentiment that reminds me of my first time trying to read through the books of the Bible. I couldn’t get over how many times God DIRECTLY intervened for this chosen people and how, every time, they still complained about what He asked of them…which didn’t seem like much in comparison. I remember thinking how crazy this was. If God had done these things for me, I would NEVER turn away from Him. Who could be that idiotic? Who could be that arrogant? That stubborn? That selfish and greedy?
Not long after, I had stopped picking up my Bible because I got bogged down in one of the less engaging portions (Leviticus comes to mind) and I went back to living life how I thought it should be. I don’t remember the circumstances, but I do remember falling to the same sin I had struggled with for a very long time.
I don’t know why it hit me this time. I realized God HAS directly intervened for ALL people. And He did so in a way that far surpasses what He did for His people in the desert so long ago. Jump to the Gospel. He sent His only son so that we may have LIFE.
Sin is death.
Jesus freed us from that. He conquered it, redeemed us, paid the debt we owed to God but could never pay ourselves. But He didn’t stop there. Jesus left us the Eucharist…bread from Heavan that IS God! I felt foolish and humbled. I realized that every time I chose my will over His, every time I turned my back on Him…I was treating the Eucharist like “wretched food.”
This would have been a crushing revelation if not for what comes after the most popular verse.
John 3:17