So let's talk about today's readings 9/14/09

  • Thread starter Thread starter cheeto1
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
C

cheeto1

Guest
September 14, 2009

http://www.usccb.org/images/solidline.gif

Reading 1
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.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 78:1bc-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38

R. (see 7b) 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.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
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.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
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.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
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.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!

Reading II
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.
 
“We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you.”
–How did the people know the snakes were a punishment? If I came into a desert
land and there were poisonous snakes, that thought wouldn’t cross my mind, that
I was being punished for complaining about being in a desert with no water.

Do not forget the works of the Lord!
**-- **I guess that by now, all our faith should be so strong that we should keep it,
even if in a desert with no water.

Christ Jesus…
did not regard equality with God something to be grasped
– Don’t we love to know that we are children of God? I wonder how I grasp that,
holding on to the happiness of my church and all the people there? I would rather
just live there sometimes, then “out in the world”. I wonder if I’m “grasping”

“And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,”
– I acknowledge the mystery of the cross on earth…

So what struck you about today’s readings? :bible1::twocents:
 
To be obedient unto death. That God sent Jesus to save us from the fires of Hell, and that we should give praise to the Lord Most High.
And that no matter how gravely we sin, because we love and trust the Lord, he will forgive us.
 
I think the serpent is a rather odd symbol. Because Satan was the serpent, but the bronze serpent that Moses made could cure the people of snake bites. But what is it the symbol of? Jesus could give the people eternal life by being lifted up like the bronze serpent, but I am still a little confused. I don’t think it has anything to do with the medical symbol of the caduceus (2 snakes enterwined on a staff), nor the the rod of Asclepius, an ancient symbol associated with astrology, the Greek god Asclepius and with healing. It consists of a serpent entwined around a staff.

So what is the bronze snake that Moses raised?
 
So what is the bronze snake that Moses raised?
Ah, so many things to think about…isn’t it fun?
Not only all that, but our priest said the snake was called a “seraph”.
Doesn’t that make you think of Seraphim (angels)?

But for Distracted, and others who are troubled thinking about all these questions,
the point is that God turned the instrument of death into the instrument of life,
both for the Israelites (snakes), and all of us through the mysterious cross of Christ.
 
To be obedient unto death. That God sent Jesus to save us from the fires of Hell, and that we should give praise to the Lord Most High.
And that no matter how gravely we sin, because we love and trust the Lord, he will forgive us.
Yes, the great mystery of the cross of Christ, in a very few words.
How can any religion get the idea that they are equal to Christianity?
He is a mysterious force, drawing all toward Him…in love…
 
Ah, so many things to think about…isn’t it fun?
Not only all that, but our priest said the snake was called a “seraph”.
Doesn’t that make you think of Seraphim (angels)?

But for Distracted, and others who are troubled thinking about all these questions,
the point is that God turned the instrument of death into the instrument of life,
both for the Israelites (snakes), and all of us through the mysterious cross of Christ.
These readings are really great the way they tie the Old and the New Testament together. It’s so enlightening!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top