Daily Gospel Reflection for September 14, 2023

Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel.

Today's Gospel: John 3:13-17

On this Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, I invite you to ponder how an instrument of death can bring healing and joy.

In our Gospel, Jesus tells Nicodemus,

“And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.”

To understand this reference, we need to go back to the Book of Numbers, chapter 21. The Israelites were getting impatient in their journey through the desert, so the Lord sent poisonous serpents that bit and killed many of the Israelites.

When Moses begged the Lord’s forgiveness, the Lord told him to make a bronze serpent and mount it on a pole. Those bitten by the serpents would be healed if they looked upon it. Imagine the Israelites’ reaction! Moses fashioned an image of the very thing that was killing them and lifted it up on high. They must have thought he was out of his mind.

Imagine cancer patients being asked to gaze upon an image of a malignant tumor or victims of deadly viruses being told to set their sights on a 3-D model of the virus that’s attacking their bodies.

Now contemplate the cross, the instrument of torture that lifted up a bloody and exhausted Jesus. Crucifixion was a terrifying method of execution used by the ancient Romans for 500 years. Can you imagine what ancient Romans would think of all these replicas of their instrument of death now hanging in our rooms and around our necks?

And yet we do lift up the cross because God used it to heal us, to turn His wayward children back to Him. With the cross, He defeated sin and death, and we can rejoice in our God Who loves us so much that He sent His only Son to save us.

Ponder:

In what ways has God healed or loved me that might have been unexpected or unusual?

Pray:

Lord, thank You for never giving up on us. Even when we’ve grown impatient or wandered far from Your love, You’ve always pursued us, wanting only to care for us.