Lenten Reflection Series- March 23rd, 2021

​Our Old Testament Reading is the story of the Israelites on their journey through the desert after the Exodus Experience.  Freed by God from the bondage of slavery because of the miraculous plagues, and crossing the Red Sea as God parted it for them to pass through the waters, they reach the other side in safety only to begin a season of “complaining against the Lord!”  So God sent serpents to bite the people as a punishment. When the people repented of their sinful complaining, God told Moses to make a model of the serpent out of bronze and mount it on a pole.  Moses did this, and lifted up the serpent. Anyone who was bitten by the snakes, and who looked upon the serpent, was saved by God.
 
In today’s gospel, Jesus tells the Pharisees that “the Son of Man will be lifted up, and then you will realize that “I AM”.  Jesus tells the Pharisees that anyone who does not believe that he is the “I AM” will die in their sins.  It is up to us to gaze upon the one who was lifted up, and decide that we believe!

​Carol