Bible Diary

Daily Reading

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

LECTIONARY
638

FIRST READING

NM 21:4B-9

With their patience worn out by the journey,
the people complained against God and Moses,
“Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert,
where there is no food or water?
We are disgusted with this wretched food!”

In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents,
which bit the people so that many of them died.
Then the people came to Moses and said,
“We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you.
Pray the LORD to take the serpents from us.”
So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses,
“Make a saraph and mount it on a pole,
and if any who have been bitten look at it, they will live.”
Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole,
and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent
looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

PSALM

PS 78:1BC-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38

Response: Do not forget the works of the Lord!

Hearken, my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable,
I will utter mysteries from of old.

While he slew them they sought him
and inquired after God again,
Remembering that God was their rock
and the Most High God, their redeemer.

But they flattered him with their mouths
and lied to him with their tongues,
Though their hearts were not steadfast toward him,
nor were they faithful to his covenant.

But he, being merciful, forgave their sin
and destroyed them not;
Often he turned back his anger
and let none of his wrath be roused.

SECOND READING

PHIL 2:6-11

Brothers and sisters:
Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

GOSPEL

JN 3:13-17

Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“No one has gone up to heaven
except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.

Daily Reflection

How does a symbol of failure turn into a sign of victory? Paul, in the letter to the Philippians, explains that Jesus, though divine, humbled himself to become man and embraced this symbol. Jesus, being raised and receiving the ‘Highest Name’, changes the cross from a symbol of death into a doorway to eternal life.

God often uses the very means of our downfall to become the means of our redemption - He uses the image of a serpent on a standard as a remedy for those who were bitten by the serpents. All that is needed is the gaze of faith. The Gospel shows Jesus introducing Nicodemus to the image of the Cross as God’s act of love - an act that focuses on salvation and not condemnation.

At Calvary, when the Son of Man is lifted up, He exemplifies this very teaching - by forgiving, promising Paradise and indeed giving his Mother as well as the last drops of blood and water for the salvation of the world.