Raise Up the Snake
by Rev. Cory Coberforward
John 8:27-30
They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” Even as he spoke, many believed in him.
Responsive Reading – Psalm 25:6-10a
Remember, Lord,
your great mercy and love,
for they are from of old.
Do not remember the sins of my youth
and my rebellious ways;
according to your love remember me,
for you, Lord, are good.
Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.
He guides the humble in what is right
and teaches them his way.
All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful
Read the written message below with music videos
So, Jesus says that we must “lift up the Son of Man” and then we will know that Christ is he, serving the Lord. Cryptic, wouldn’t you say? How do we lift up the Son of Man before knowing that it’s Christ? The beauty of this statement is that it’s so obvious, and yet it can seem quite off-the-wall at the same time. Christ often talked about the Son of Man, but in negative terms, saying that the Son of Man has no place to lay his head and that he must undergo many trials. Typically, we would lay this term at Jesus’ feet, thinking that it has nothing to do with our own experience of trials and having no place to truly rest. And yet, here I believe we have Christ saying that we must lift up ourselves as the “Son of Man” before we can see what Christ truly is, a son of man raised up to be a Son of God.
We’ve spent a good part of this year exploring how Christ was so often telling us that no matter our religion, we can look and turn within to find unity in God. And so, it stands to reason that when he spoke about “the Son of Man,” often couched in negative terms, he may also be speaking about our own personal journeys as well. As some say, scripture is a living thing that lives among and within the people, about the people.
There’s a trope in scripture that uses some of Christ’s particular imagery from the reading today, and that is the raising up of something low into something more whole and holy. We see it when Moses picks up the snake and it turns into his holy, miracle-working staff, and in other stories about snakes and staffs in the Hebrew scriptures. As well as more broadly in the story of the Israelites who God “picks up” into his holy people. We also see it in Christ’s story, where it is said that he was not yet finished being “glorified” until he was lifted up not only onto the cross but out of the grave.
It's understandable then that we might read Christ’s words in John 8 from today as only an homage to his own later death and resurrection. And yet, we each know from experience that even after Christ’s raising from the dead there were and are many who don’t believe or are not sure if they believe. So, what does he mean when he says, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own”?
I believe he means that we must raise up ourselves, we must allow God to raise us up, and then we will see that Jesus is one with us in this. In fact, this intuitively means realizing that there isn’t many “Son of Men” but one, the entirety of the Lord’s church throughout the cosmos, Christian or not. We must not only raise up our estimation of Christ, which alone would make this phrase mean something like “you must believe more in Jesus, then you will believe in Jesus,” but also believe in ourselves and allow ourselves to be lifted into our higher nature. The snake must be raised into a miracle-working staff.
There’s a reason that many healthcare-related organizations use a snake rising up around a staff as their logo, as it’s a symbol for healing. It’s no secret that in our ignorant state, we are often characterized as a snake, not because snakes are inherently evil, but because a human slithering across the ground seeking someone to swallow whole brings up connotations of too much earthliness, shallowness, cold-bloodedness, lack of humanity, etc. And, of course, it’s a call back to the book of Genesis! And so, a snake being raised, as we see in scripture, denotes spiritual growth, healing, freedom from bondage, and an escape from the clutches of ignorance and its resulting evils.
This means that even the imagery of Christ up on the cross was no accident. It brings to mind these very images of something low being raise up (like a snake rising up a staff), and as it says, it was through his death and resurrection that he was glorified. But how do we reconcile this with our own lives? How is it all connected?
Often, we can feel quite oppressed ourselves. Either by our predicaments, our habits, or the world itself. Life can feel stifling at times, like a snake that finds it hard to lift up off the ground, or one even under the boot of God.
The teachings of Christ, the Buddha, Krishna, and many others are designed to help us allow ourselves to be picked up. It’s a tricky balance, because on one hand, it often feels like it takes miraculous coincidences around us to help us find a higher place, and it also will sometimes feel like we have to do all the lifting ourselves. However, these teachings can serve as guidance and support along the way, all of which work through our consciousness to help us see the light at the end of the tunnel leading us heavenward.
As Christ said of himself, we have to lay down our own lives so that we can pick them back up again. We have to be willing to allow our lower natures to fall away for the glory of our true hearts and our true wisdom, sourced from Divinity. This means letting go of the inner habits that are weighing us down, such as beating ourselves up or giving into some other bad or unconscious habit. And more so, letting go of the heaviness of our worries and habitual thoughts and urges. We can hold these things in our lives with less investment, knowing that they are not us and are meant to pass away as our higher selves are revealed.
So, yes, we are called to lift up our “Son of Man” so that we can become a Child of God and know other Children of God, just as Christ asked us to become. But even when it feels like a struggle to do this, we must realize that our strength and glory come from something greater than what we often call ourselves, so it is less a working upward than it is a letting go and letting God (although this can feel like quite the work). Our limited idea of ourselves and the world, our mind’s habits, is what you might call the “Son of Man,” the offspring of our current situation as people on this planet. Our limitation-oriented minds are what have to struggle when we are called to endure all the things that Christ said that the Son of Man must endure, as yes, we too can feel persecuted, hurt, restless, and rejected as it says the Son of Man will feel. This aspect of ourselves must eventually be laid down and humbled of its false idea of itself if we are to allow God to shine through us in accordance with God’s destiny and hope for us, and only then can we actually see Jesus Christ for what he truly was. We have to eventually take a step back from our habitual modes of thinking and see that only something fresh will do, only a risen mind will serve, only a resurrected Lord will lead, and only what already fully is will ever truly be.
Peace to you,
Cory