Making Connections

The Gospel reading is taken from Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus on what it means to be born again, or born anew, where Jesus mentions an incident in the story of Moses and Israel in the wilderness.

The people are complaining once more about Moses and about God, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food." (Numbers 21:7). To appreciate the ingratitude expressed in their complaint, we have to look at the whole picture. God has rescued the people from slavery where many died. God delivered them from the hands of the Egyptians, who pursued and sought to destroy them. In the wilderness God miraculously provided food and water on a daily basis. Now, once more, they complain: they should never have left Egypt, God doesn’t care, God has brought them to the wilderness to die. The funny thing is, that in the complaint itself they admit that do not appreciate what God has done, first they say “there is no food” and at the same time they say, “we detest this miserable food”. If only they could hear themselves. God’s solution: Plagued with ‘fiery’ serpents, they had a choice—they could continue complaining and downplay or deny the truth about God’s providence, or by focusing on a bronze serpent on a pole be restored; that is, in focusing on this symbol, they are refocusing their minds on the God who loves and cared for them. It is this change of mindset that Jesus calls as a new birth, a rebirth into light and truth.
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