Sabbath Devotional :: Look and Live

Image: *Moses and the Brazen Serpent* by Esteban March, in the Public Domain

My mom has a truly debilitating fear of snakes. So when construction behind her house stirred up several nests a few summers ago, she found herself literally unable to walk into her own backyard. Professional therapy, countless precautionary measures, priesthood blessings all failed to rid her of intense, overwhelming terror. One day, while discussing the matter over the phone, my mom tearfully and desperately described how the only way she could manage to even walk across the driveway to her car was to get on her knees and plead for help before opening the back door. A sudden spiritual realization caused me to blurt out in response, “Mom, it probably isn’t the worst thing in the world to have to fall to your knees and pray for help every time you leave the house.” However insensitive it might have been to say, the truth of it resonated with both of us, and it has expanded our understanding of the atonement of Jesus Christ.

It was because of this discussion that I took a special interest in learning more about the story of Moses and the fiery serpents. In Numbers 21, we read about how the people were tormented by fiery serpents shortly after they spoke against God and Moses, complaining about a lack of water and how much their souls loathed the light bread. Because of the snakes, the people repented, and the Lord told Moses to “Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.”

This story is recounted a few times throughout the scriptures, and the symbolism of the serpent is explained in Alma 33:19, “Behold, [Jesus Christ] was spoken of by Moses; yea, and behold a type was raised up in the wilderness, that whosoever would look upon it might live. And many did look and live.” I have often found myself confused by the rest of the explanation offered by both Nephi and Alma — that the “easiness of [the way]” caused many to perish because “they did not believe that it would heal them.” (1 Nephi 17:41, Alma 33:19-22)

I have sort of struggled with the implication that it is so easy to just “look and live.” While it might seem easy for any of us who were not there to imagine just faithfully casting our eyes upon a symbolic snake, it certainly wouldn’t be quite so easy for someone like my mom. And wouldn’t any of the children of Israel who had been bitten or lost loved ones to these fiery serpents have been perfectly justified in being equally paralyzed with fear or even anger? Can the commandment they received really be detached from the context in which the commandment arose? I think the answer must be no.

While one message of this story might be that the children of Israel were so stubborn and hard-hearted that they wouldn’t even believe in the possibility of a Savior, it makes much more gospel sense to me that they were too afraid or ashamed or proud to acknowledge the cause of their needing to be saved at all. The children of Israel were specifically commanded to face the thing they least wanted to see — the thing they most feared, the consequences of their sins, the thing that threatened to destroy them — SO THAT they would be forced to lift their eyes upon the only one who can save.

The Lord taught this pattern in the Book of Mormon, saying: “And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.” (Ether 12:27)

In other words, it is the struggle that brings us to our knees that will ultimately direct our vision to Jesus Christ, who rescues us. The focus was never supposed to be a serpent on a cross, but rather a Savior lifted up to save us from the serpents in our lives, whatever they may be. We cannot allow our reverence for symbols or even representatives of the Savior to distract us from our devotion to Jesus Christ himself, for He alone is “the way, the truth, and the life.”