We humans have an ingrained desire to be saved by something greater than ourselves. Then, Paul calls all of it foolishness and a stumbling block to any of us who try to read these passages literally! Do you see an archetypal pattern developing? So-I am seeing a connection between Asclepius and his symbol of the serpent wound around a staff, Moses’ bronze snake-on-a-stick, and Jesus saying that he had to be “lifted up” so that those who believe may have abundant life or resurrection. He was also associated with resurrection-that is, bringing people back from the dead! Hmm… does that sound familiar? Asclepius was a minor god in the Greek pantheon, but he was the god of healing and medicine. What I find most fascinating about this snake-on-a-stick symbol is the similarity that it has to the Greek myth of Asclepius, who wandered around with his staff entwined by a serpent. Oral histories were passed down with the assumption that everyone already knew all the background information. When we remember that the Israelites wandered around in the desert for forty years, and their scriptures weren’t compiled into written form until hundreds of years later during the Babylonian Exile, it makes sense that some of the stories (many of which are strange to us) seem to be thrown in without any explanation. So, what is going on here? There’s a reason that that these passages are all read together, just as there is a reason that they were all written down in the first place.

There is something much deeper happening here. When we get to Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he says that we shouldn’t be surprised that all of this sounds like nonsense! “The cross of Christ is foolishness to those who are perishing…” Paul was trying to explain that some things just can’t be grasped solely on an intellectual level. Was Jesus predicting that he would be physically fastened to a stick (or a cross) and lifted up so that everyone who saw him could be healed? Or is something else going on here? Again, hold that thought. The passage begins with “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have abundant life.” Huh? Again, this is kind of strange. In the Gospel passage for today, there’s much more going on than that familiar sixteenth verse. Huh? Just look at a bronze snake and be cured? What’s up with that? Now, hold that thought.

In Numbers 21, we read about the Israelites complaining about the food (they do that a lot!) and getting bitten by poisonous snakes to save the people, Moses makes a bronze snake-on-a-stick and is told that snake bite victims can look at it and be healed. If you read all of today’s Scripture passages together, you might notice that there’s a theme.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”ĭid you read that and really concentrate on the words? Or did you just skim over that verse? Many of us have a tendency to skim over familiar verses, not really thinking about them at all, because we think we already know what they say. Today’s reading from the Gospel of John contains what is probably one of the most familiar passages in all of Christian scripture: John 3:16.

Movie with lots of snakes in the desert