Homily for Tuesday of the 5th Week of Lent
Theme: THE HEALING CROSS
By: Fr. Gerald Musa
Homily for Tuesday April 5 2022
The people of Israel complained against God and their leader Moses. Their disobedience brought about fiery serpents that tormented and bit them. God asked Moses to set up a bronze serpent and that anyone who looked at the bronze serpent would be healed (Numbers 21:8-9). The bronze serpent foreshadowed the healing power of the cross and this explains why Jesus said to the Pharisees, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man then you know that I AM HE (John 8:28). Jesus points to His divinity when He says, ‘I AM’ which is the name of God revealed to Moses (Exodus 3:14). Just as the cross brought healing in the wilderness so will Jesus and His cross bring healing to those who believe in Him, look up to Him, and never lose sight of Him. “He was pierced for our sins, crushed for our iniquity. He bore the punishment that makes us whole, by his wounds we were healed” (Isaiah 53:5). The cross reminds us of the infinite love of God who sacrificed Himself for our salvation; the cross reminds us that suffering is temporal and that glory comes afterward; the cross reminds us that the triumph of evil over good is only temporary. “A God on the Cross! That is all my theology,” says Jean-Baptiste Lacodaire. In this season of Lent, we can look up to the cross of Jesus for hope and healing mercy?
NUMBERS 21:4-9; JOHN 8:21-30 Tuesday, 5th Week Of Lent