THE SNAKE

In a bold transposition, John compares the bronze serpent that Moses raised in the desert to Christ crucified. However, there is one aspect to keep in mind which enriches our reading. The terms “serpent” and “Messiah” in Hebrew have the same numerical value (the sum of their letters is 358). Messiah, however, has an extra letter, the yod, the first of the unpronounceable name of God, of the Tetragrammaton (YHWH). What does it mean? That only in Jesus, the Christ/Messiah raised on the cross, can humanity contemplate the supreme revelation of God. In the Man hanging on the cross, God therefore definitively expressed himself and gave himself totally. On the cross, God manifested himself in an unprecedented way. Three times the Fourth Gospel speaks of the raising of the Son of Man (cf. John 3.14; 8.28; 12.32). The parallel with the three announcements we find in the Synoptics is evident. In all three times there is a promise. In John 3:14 the elevation brings eternal life; in John 8:28 he discloses the revelation of the Name (“I am”); in John 12.32 it marks the attraction of everything in Christ. The verb “to raise” (hypsousthai) then has a double meaning. It can be understood as both physical elevation and exaltation/glorification. It is known, in this regard, how John read the Passion of Christ as a path of glory. Glory that radiates from the cross and has a luminous sign in the open side from which the living water of the Holy Spirit flows incessantly. This communicated glory introduces humanity into divine communion, thus realizing the unity of all believers in God (cf. John 17.3). One last aspect. On the cross the love of Jesus seems defeated. In fact, however, he is victorious. The sign? His resurrection. The genius of Piero della Francesca also senses this in the Resurrection (1463) of Borgo Sansepolcro, his hometown. In the solemn moment of Christ’s exit from the tomb, set with peremptory solemnity, history and nature seem to be divided into two parts, one remote, arid, dormant and the other flourishing, alert and alive. On the body of the glorified, the bright red blood from his side attests to a love that has failed.

Commentary by b. Sandro Carotta, osb
Abbazia di Praglia (Italy)

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves,
Prinknash Abbey