SNAKEBITES

4th Sunday of Lent
John 3: 14-21

Fr. Robert Reyes, more popularly known as “The Running Priest”, once told me that while not all snakes are venomous. He said that there are only very few snakes whose bite is fatal. Known for his collection of exotic animals, including various reptiles, Fr. Reyes also said that several snakes have bitten him already. Fr. Reyes is still up and about despite the snakebites. He still runs for a cause until today.

Fr. Reyes is himself the proof of what he claims: not all snakes are venomous. He sounds very convincing when he told me that very few snakes are deadly. But still, I will never have a snake for a pet. Will you?

If each time we sin against God and against one another, a snake would bite us, we would have died long time ago, if not by the venom of very few deadly snakes, at least by infection because of snakebites. We could have also been squeezed to death or eaten alive by some of them already. But because no snake appears each time we sin, the fear of sinning could be remote to many of us.

Sin is like venom. It is fatal. It kills. Once it spreads, there is not stopping to its deadly consequences.

Scripture tells us, “The wage of sin is death” (Rom 6:23). Death is not a punishment for sin. It is its natural consequence. As death is inevitable when venom flows freely through a person’s bloodstream so is death inescapable for a person living in sin. Allow any poisonous substance to travel towards a person’s heart, that person expires. Let sin reign in the heart, that heart dies. Death is the ultimate result of acute poisoning. It is likewise the natural consequence of sin. And I mean here, as the Apostle Paul refers to in Romans 6:23, not only physical demise but spiritual and eternal death as well.

The death of Jesus on the cross is the antidote for the poison of sin because sin is disobedience to God while the death of Jesus is obedience to Him. To someone bitten by a snake, we apply medical remedy. To someone afflicted by sin, only the merits of Jesus apply themselves.

Very few among us, if any, have already been bitten by a snake. But “we have all fallen short of the grace of God” (Romans 3:23). Very few among us need an antidote for snakebites. But we all need the merits of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins.
While effective antidote for snakebites may not be always within our reach, the merits of Jesus are always available to us. The merits of Jesus are for free. The merits of Jesus are constantly available. The merits of Jesus are for everyone. The merits of Jesus are consistently effective, for He is the same yesterday, today and forever. But the merits of Jesus must be consciously and sincerely accepted. St. Augustine said, “God who created you without asking you will not save you without consulting you.”

Now, God consults us. Do we want to be saved? If we do, then we must believe in Jesus the Savior. Do we want to be healed? If we do, then we must receive not healing but the Jesus, the Healer Himself. Do we want to be forgiven? Then we must accept Jesus – He is God’s loving forgiveness to us.

But how can we believe in Jesus when we do not read the Scripture? Read the Scripture. Believe what we read and practice what we believe. How can we receive Jesus when we do not pray? Pray. I mean, really pray. Commune with the Father who, the Gospel today tells us, gave us His only Son so that we may not perish but may have eternal life. How can we accept Jesus when we do not frequent the sacraments? The sacraments were not only instituted by Christ; they are divine actions of Christ Himself through His Church and ministers.

Unless we believe in Jesus, we cannot be saved. Unless we receive Jesus, we cannot be healed. Unless we accept Jesus, we cannot be forgiven and made whole again.

Be not afraid; God loves us more than we know. The darkness of our past may be large, the wounds of our bodies may be deep, the sins of our souls may be great, but God’s love for us is always larger, deeper and greater. Be not afraid; God loves us more than we know. No matter how many our sins are, no matter how great they are, no matter how many times we fall into sin, no matter how many times we fall even into the same sins, God will forgive us through Jesus His Son each time we confess our guilt from our hearts and beg for His loving mercy. Be not afraid; God loves us more than we know.

God waits. What is our response? The Lenten refrain sounds even louder, “If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts” (Ps. 95:8). Do not delay, for the more we delay the more the venom of sin spreads. When the venom reaches the heart of any person, it is really fatal. And the death it inflicts is eternal.