“Loved and Saved in Spite of Our Ingratitude” by Colleen O’Sullivan

“Loved and Saved in Spite of Our Ingratitude” by Colleen O’Sullivan

Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who a serpent had bitten looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.  (Numbers 21:9)

 

So, Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me.  The one who sent me is with me.  He has not left me alone because I always do what is pleasing to him.” Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.  (John 8:28-29) 

Piety

Let this be written for the generation to come, and let his future creatures praise the Lord: “The Lord looked down from his holy height, from heaven he beheld the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoners, to release those doomed to die.” (Psalm 102:19-21)

Study

Talk about ingratitude!  God slips the people of Israel out of Egypt right under Pharaoh’s nose.  When the Egyptian army gets wind of this exodus and begins to pursue Pharaoh’s slaves, God parts the Red Sea just long enough for the Hebrew people to escape and then lets the waters close back over Pharaoh’s army’s heads.  God promises Israel a land of their own.  While they wander in the desert on their way there, God wants them to know that the Divine Presence is constant, going ahead of them as a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day.  When they are hungry, the Lord sends manna to sustain them. 

Now it seems the people are tired of manna.  They say it doesn’t taste good.  They’re tired of being in the wilderness altogether. They wish they were back in Egypt, where the meals were tasty and plentiful.  (Exodus 16:3).  They’re furious at God and Moses. 

God is quite displeased with their whining and complaining, their utter lack of gratitude.  So, God sends venomous snakes into the desert, who bite the people and cause them to die.  Quite an effective method of getting things to change!  The Israelites begin to show repentance for their ingratitude.  In return, God tells Moses to cast a bronze serpent, mount it on a tall pole, and tell the people that if they get bitten, gaze upon this bronze sculpture lifted up, and they will live.  The wanderers have no way of knowing this. Still, the uplifted serpent, through which healing, forgiveness, and new life become theirs, foreshadows the power of the Cross, an instrument of torture saved for the very worst of criminals, to become the means of loving forgiveness and eternal life for all. 

The Pharisees listening to Jesus in today’s Gospel probably think he’s speaking in riddles.  However, what they do clearly pick up on is the Lord’s talk about passing on only what the Father has taught him.  Who does Jesus think he is, claiming a direct channel to God?  They believe he is speaking in a blasphemous manner, calling himself I AM, the way God referred to himself when speaking to Moses from the burning bush.  (Exodus 3:14)   John tells us that many come to believe in Jesus on account of his words.  However, the Pharisees add this to their list of reasons to seize and kill our Lord.

Action

Just as Jesus draws nearer to Jerusalem in our Scripture readings, so our Lenten journey is taking us ever closer to the events of Holy Week. We can reflect on our lives as beloved children of God - the blessings we have received from God and how we have responded.  Where we sense a lack of gratitude in our attitude, we can ask for forgiveness. According to St. Ignatius of Loyola, ingratitude is truly the root of all sin.  It might be helpful to pray before a Crucifix.