The first reading today is one of the most unusual scenes in the Old Testament.

The people of Israel are travelling through the wilderness. They have been freed from slavery in Egypt, they are being led toward the promised land, yet along the way they begin to complain.

Scripture says: “The people became impatient on the way.”

And impatience quickly turns into resentment.

They begin to speak against God and against Moses.

“Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?”

This is one of the great temptations of the human heart.

God has already done extraordinary things for them. He has freed them from slavery. He has parted the Red Sea. He has given them manna in the desert.

Yet when the journey becomes difficult, they forget all of that.

They focus only on the hardship of the present moment.

And so they complain.

The result is striking. Poisonous serpents enter the camp, and many people are bitten.

Only then do the people realise the seriousness of what they have done. They come to Moses and say: “We have sinned.”

So Moses prays for them, and God gives an unusual command.

Moses is told to make a bronze serpent and lift it up on a pole.

Anyone who has been bitten and looks at the serpent will live.

It seems strange at first. Why should looking at a bronze serpent bring healing?

But the point is not the object itself. The act of looking is an act of trust.

It means believing that God can save even when the situation seems hopeless.

Those who refuse to look remain trapped in the consequences of the poison.

Those who look in faith are healed.

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The Gospel shows how this Old Testament event points forward to Christ.

Jesus is speaking to the people in the temple, and He says something mysterious:

“When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he.”

The phrase “lifted up” has a double meaning.

It refers to Jesus being raised up on the Cross.

And at the same time it points to His glory.

The Cross, which looks like defeat, will actually reveal who He truly is.

This is exactly what the bronze serpent foreshadowed.

Just as the serpent was lifted up in the desert so that those who looked upon it might live, Christ will be lifted up on the Cross so that those who look to Him in faith may receive life.

The poison that wounds humanity is not snake venom. It is sin.

Sin spreads through the human heart the way poison spreads through the body.

It distorts our loves. It weakens our will. It separates us from God.

And just as the Israelites could not heal themselves, we cannot heal ourselves from sin.

We need a saviour.

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That is why Jesus says something sobering in the Gospel:

“If you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”

These words are not meant to frighten us.

They are meant to reveal the seriousness of the situation.

Without Christ, the wound of sin remains.

But with Christ, healing becomes possible.

Because the Cross is not merely a symbol of suffering.

It is the place where God confronts sin and defeats it.

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There is also an important lesson here for the spiritual life.

The Israelites were healed by looking.

And the Christian life begins in the same way.

We are healed by looking to Christ.

Looking to Him in faith.

Looking to Him in prayer.

Looking to Him especially in the sacraments.

Every time we turn our attention toward Christ, we open ourselves again to the life He offers.

Every time we turn away, we drift back toward the poison that wounds the soul.

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As Lent moves toward its final weeks, the Church asks us to lift our eyes again to the Cross.

The Cross shows us both the seriousness of sin and the greatness of God’s mercy.

It shows us how far God was willing to go to rescue us.

Just as the Israelites in the desert found life when they looked upon the bronze serpent, we find life when we look upon Christ crucified.

Because the One who was lifted up on the Cross

is the same One who lifts us from death into life.