Gospel of John: John 3:14-21
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
"Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God."
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Poisonous serpents are very dangerous. It is hardly thinkable that any good can come from venomous snakes. However it is not quite the case. Of course that humans try to avoid any contacts with them, but even these dangerous snakes have a role in nature, and they are occasionally seen as a great help of the farmers in their struggle against the rodents, as the snake world has a special place in the the animal food chain, known as the food pyramid.
Also, it may be widely learned that even the US Food and Drug Administration approved a medication, which was originally derived from a rattlesnake venom, and medical professionals commonly prescribe it to heart attack patients, and it works as a blood thinner agent.
Also, it is globally well known, that the symbol of the international health agency is a snake around a staff, copied after the famous serpent-entwined-staff of Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine.
The snakes are definitely valid creatures of the Creator Sky God Grandfather Spirit. We should not blame them for pivotal malevolence just as Rudyard Kipling depicts Kaa, the giant snake in the Book of the Jungle, as a notorious and a deceptive, hypnotizing hunter.
Nonetheless, sometimes we give an excuse to the animals when they regularly spill blood in order to eat. We say that they are just natural in the nature and that is the order of the nature. Big Fishes eat small fishes, predators hunt their victims, and it is all good or at least natural. However, this is not really the original case, because the very Book of the Genesis, in the very first chapter, clarifies the food of the animals, as it is written that the Lord says that“ (30) to every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food; and it was so.”
In the beginning the animals were not allowed to kill in order to eat, aka to eat each other. And it might be a surprise for some people. Consequently, in the beginning humans were not allowed to kill the animals and eat them, as it is similarly written in the very Book of the Genesis, in the same first chapter that God told humans that “ Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food.” And nothing else. There was no permission for spilling blood at all. At the and of the chapter, it is written that “God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.
According to the Bible, after the Great Deluge the ban of eating animal meat was lifted, however it looks like a compromise seeking leniency, where it is known that the Global Flood came to Earth to punish people for waging unbelievably cruel wars and for eating each other.
However this leniency is far from the ideal world of the Kingdom of God, about what Isaiah prophesied in his book, chapter 65, that it will be the ultimate reality one day that “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My Holy Mountain, says the LORD.”
It is clear from Isaiah, that the original holy order was obviously violated by the wolf, the lion and the serpent and the other carnivorous animals.
It can be surprising also that even the animals, just by participating in the food chain, are responsible for their actions according to the Book of Genesis, chapter 9.
This agrees with the Indigenous tradition, that the life of the animals is precious too, and in many cultures the hunters ask for forgiveness from the animals they hunted stating that they hunt out of the necessity only.
This also agrees with some Indigenous traditions, where though they explicitly regard the poisonous snakes as creatures like any other creatures, but with the addition that they are wicked creatures together with the blood-sucking mosquitoes and invasive rats, at least in their attitudes toward the physical world, including the human society.
Of course we think nowadays that an animal is an animal, and it can not be good or bad, but only natural, however it is not quite accurate. Tearing apart an animal fellow for food is an animal level hostility of God’s holy order on the Holy Mountain, thus it is a wicked activity supplied by the wicked spirit working in a wicked animal, having an urge from a divided spiritual world.
In the mystical mindset the snakes are identified with shrewd wickedness, though occasionally with extraordinary wisdom too, and in some cultures with fertility, as well.
In the ancient tradition of the sages the snake originally walked on two legs as it is written in the Book of the Legends, that “Among the animals the serpent was notable. Of all of them he had the most excellent qualities, in some of which he resembled man. Like man he stood upright upon two feet, and in height he was equal to the camel. (...) As a matter of fact, it was the very ability of the serpent that led to the ruin of man and his own ruin. His superior mental gifts caused him to become an infidel.”
The Biblical vision can be confusing a bit when we read about the juxtaposition of the Cross of Jesus together with the Bible story of the Exodus, when in the desert the people rebelled against God and the prophet, then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them as it is written, that:
“They bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.”
The Gospel of John created this association, as it reads that “and just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” The Gospel of John possibly takes it after the Apostle Paul as he wrote in his letter to the Galatians, chapter 3 that “ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”
The metaphor of these associated images, the brass snake on the pole and the cross of the Christ is a compound one. The simile can confuse some, because it does not mean that Jesus was embodying a brass snake idol on his cross.
One of the possible resolution of this theological puzzle is that in the ancient world, sin and sickness belonged together. In order to be healed, sins should have been atoned for, according to the ancient methods, by sacrifices, by making amendments as external practices, and by the repentance in the heart.
Thus, the brass snake was a reminder to the people of their rebellious sins against God and their need to repent. Thus, whosoever obeyed Moses by looking up to the reminder of their sins and when they repented, they were healed, because God forgave their sins.
The reminder of the Cross of Jesus should serve the same cause, to remind us of our sins, to call upon us to truly repent and amend our lives in order to be healed by faith and trust in Jesus. May the Lord heal our lives by the merits of the Christ, who was sanctified on the cross as a holy atoning sacrifice for all the people, as we praise the holy name of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit,
AMEN.
