Devotions of the Holy Rood IV: The Bronze Serpent

All: We praise Thee, Lord Jesus Christ, and we bless Thee; for by Thy Cross and Resurrection Thou hast redeemed the World. Amen.

Leader: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. All: As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

First Lesson: Numbers 21:4-9 And they travelled from Mount Hor by way of the Reed Sea to go around the Land of Edom, and the soul of the people became impatient on the road. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why did you make us go up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? Because there is no bread and no water and our soul hates the paltry bread.”

And the LORD sent saraf-serpents among the people and they bit the people, and a large cohort perished from Israel. So the people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD and He will remove the serpents from among us.” So Moses prayed on behalf of the people.

And the LORD said to Moses, “Make for yourself a saraf and place it on a pole, and it will come to pass that all of those bitten who look at it will live.”

Reader: The word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God.

Psalm: Psalm 91:1-9, 13-16 Refrain

Leader: Lord, I surrender my will to you.

All: Crucify my will and give me Christ.

He who dwells in the hiding place of the Highest

Sleeps in the shadow of the Almighty.

I say of the LORD, ‘My shelter and my fastness,

My God, I trust in him.’

For He will snatch you from the trapper’s net,

From the ruinous plague.

In His pinions He will make you safe,

And under His wings you will take refuge;

A shield and a rampart is His truth.

Be not afraid of the terror of night,

Of the arrow that flies by day,

Of the plague that in darkness walks,

Of the devastation that oppresses at noon.

A thousand will fall at your side,

And a multitude at your right hand,

But to you it will come not near.

Only with your eyes you will witness,

And the repayment of the wicked see.

Because You, O LORD, are my shelter;

You make the Highest Your fastness.

On the lion and horned viper will you walk,

You will trammel young lion and dragon.

Because he is attached to Me, so I will deliver him,

I will lift him up because he knows My Name.

Leader: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, All: As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Second Lesson: John 3:9-17 Nikodemus answered and said to him, “How are these things possible?”

Jesus answered and said to him, “You are a teacher of Israel and do not know these things? Amen, amen, I say to you, what we know we say, and what we have seen we bear witness to, but you do not grasp our witness. If I tell you about things of earth and you do not have faith, how will you have faith if I tell you about things of Heaven? And no one has ascended into Heaven except the one who came down from Heaven, the Son of Man, the one who is in Heaven. And like Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, the Son of Man must be lifted up likewise. So that all who have faith in him may not die, but have life eternal. Because God loved the world so that he gave his only son, so all who have faith in him may not die, but have life eternal. Because God did not send his son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be made safe through him.”

Reader: The word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God.

Reflection

Leader: In the Bible, the serpent serves as the symbol of Original Sin. God’s reaction to Israel’s complaint, then, is not arbitrary, but highlights the sin they have committed, and lifting eyes to the symbol of that sin is a call to repentance, as the Mass says “let us call to mind our sins.” But in Christ this is carried further, from a symbol to a reality. St. Paul says that God “made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might be called the righteousness of God.” In Christ our sin is nailed to the Cross and we receive the promise in the words of St. Peter, “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive them and to lead us into righteousness.”

Silence

Collect

Leader: Let us pray. Almighty God, who has nailed the accusations against us to the Cross, grant us grace to rightly discern, confess, and repent our sins that, having received your mercy, we may be healed from the sting of death and enter whole into your Kingdom, through Him who became sin that we might be saved, Jesus Christ our Lord.

All: Amen.

All: Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed by thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory Forever and ever. Amen.

Faithful cross, true sign of triumph, be for all the noblest tree; none in foliage, none in blossom, none in fruit your equal be; symbol of the world's redemption, for the weight that hung on thee!

(Venantius Fortunatus)