In my last homily, I shared how often the Bible connects the word "see" with salvation. Today we see it again: God says put a bronze serpent on a pole and "everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live."
In Numbers 20 & 21 both Moses’ sister Miriam and brother Aaron have died. Once more the people complain about water, but now God is displeased. Even Moses is under judgement. God says, "Because you did not trust Me enough to honor Me as holy in the eyes of the congregation; you shall not lead them into the land." Seeing is for good and for ill.
God wins a victory for Israel against Edom, which had attacked the Israelites; then they set out "by the way of the Red Sea." Based on the distances, the reference cannot be geographical, but may be a metaphor. In Exodus 15-16, "the way of the Red Sea" is a way of doubt and complaining. There are many parallels to Numbers. Israel pines for a romanticized Egypt and disrespects God. They complain about bitter water, which is made fresh by a piece of wood. They want food and receive manna. Then they complain about water, again, and Moses is told to strike a rock with his staff and water flows.
The church sees Christ in these stories of Israel—the wood is the Cross, the manna is the eucharist, and in 1 Corinthians 10:4, St. Paul says that the rock is Christ. In John 19:34 Christ is struck with a spear and waters pours from His side.
In Numbers, we also see God's judgement. He sends deadly saraph nakash. The saraph are “fiery serpents,” but in Isaiah 6 saraphs are heavenly beings around the throne of God. The snake in the Garden of Eden is also a nakash, which brings death to humanity. The interplay of these stories deepen the mystery of the Numbers’ account.
God hears Moses’ prayer and provides a mysterious remedy: those who see the bronze serpent shall live. This has baffled scholars for centuries. Looking at an image of death brings life; there is, however, no explanation: if one sees it, one lives. In the Gospel reading today, Jesus applies it to Himself—so, the wood, the bread, the flowing water, and now, the bronze serpent are all revelations of the Lord Jesus. When we really see Jesus, we are truly alive.
In Morning Prayer, Mark 8:11-21, we heard Jesus ask the disciples, “Do you not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and fail to see?” I am inclined to answer ‘yes’ to these questions. I seem unable to understand so much. Yet this question helps me in my struggle to grasp the salvific meaning of “to see.”
In John 1:39, 46 the young men encountering Jesus are told “come and see.” The invitation to discipleship is a seeing, it is a process. In 3:3 (the beginning of the story we read today) Jesus tells Nicodemus, “unless one is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven.” Seeing is life in the Kingdom. It encompasses faith (trusting and being trustworthy), obedience and love. 3:38 He who does not believe the Son of God shall not see life. Participating in the life of God is seeing God, the Holy Three and theosis, union with God.
Let us pray for a heart to see this Lent.
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