Today is the Sunday before the Feast of the Elevation of the Venerable and Life-Giving Cross and so the Church helps us to prepare for this great Feast by focusing our attention on Jesus’ words in Saint John’s Gospel. In today’s Gospel He tells us how God sent His Son to us to save us, for He wishes all to be saved and to have eternal life.
In this Gospel Jesus Christ uses Old Testament imagery and applies it to Himself. When the people of Israel were afflicted by snake bites while wandering in the desert, God commanded Moses to fashion a bronze serpent so that everyone who looked at it would be healed. This healing was a foreshadowing of the ultimate healing that we find in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. Just as looking at the serpent enabled the Israelites to be healed, so we need to look to the Cross of Christ in order to find healing and salvation.
The Gospel tells us that God desires our salvation, but it also tells us that we need to respond to Him. God will not force salvation on us; instead we need to acknowledge our own need for healing and turn to Him. The Fathers tell us that, just as the people of Israel had to leave behind their slavery in Egypt, so we need to turn our backs on sin and to enter into the promised land of salvation. By looking to the Cross, we seek to be healed from our sins as we seek the vision of God’s Glory that is displayed on the Cross of Christ.