THE TEXT BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPTION OF THE VIDEO COMMENTARY BY FR. FERNANDO ARMELLINI

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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.

Greetings to all. 

We are celebrating a feast: the Exaltation of the Cross. We know that early Christians did not initially favor this symbol. They used other symbols to represent their faith, such as the anchor, the shepherd, and the fish. Then, when Constantine arrived, he placed the golden cross on Calvary, and Christians began to see the cross as their chosen symbol of life. This is how the festival of the Triumph or Exaltation of the Cross came into existence. What does this exaltation mean? 

Today’s Gospel centers on one word: ‘lifting.’ The Son of Man, who must be ‘raised,’ is to be glorious. In the Gospel of John, this word carries a different meaning than usual. Let’s look at this passage in Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus—we remember this character well, who, according to traditional interpretation, symbolizes those seeking light at night. He’s a rabbi and a Pharisee, raised with a mindset rooted in tradition, and he’s surprised by Jesus’ signs and drawn to Jesus’ light. 

Therefore, we should also join Nicodemus to listen to this very important discourse that Jesus delivers: believe in this Son of Man who is raised. What does it mean to believe, to be lifted up, and to receive eternal life? We will study, almost word for word, Jesus’ discourse with Nicodemus. And alongside this character, we will hear Jesus, a figure who is even sympathetic because later he will receive the fullness of light at the foot of the cross. 

Jesus says: “No one has ascended to heaven except he who came down from heaven: the Son of Man.” This means no one has gone to heaven to see the face of God, His plan of salvation, or His infinite love. You cannot see God by simply ‘going up’ to heaven. No one has done so. But there is a Son of Man who has come from heaven. He has seen the face of the Father and can reveal it to us. That is Jesus of Nazareth, the Word of the Father, who became flesh and took on our humanity to show us the true face of God. And how will He reveal it? He says in this gospel that the face of God will be fully revealed at the highest point, when He is lifted up on the cross.

Thus, the words ‘exaltation’ and ‘uprising’ are ambiguous because they are not used in the same way as in everyday language. Jesus refers to an image in the book of Numbers, chapter 21, where the episode of the snakes that bite the Israelites is narrated as they cross the Sinai desert. It describes an incident in which the people complain, and God tells Moses, “Make a bronze serpent and put it on a standard; whoever has been bitten and then looks at it shall live.”
It is clearly a gesture alluding to the image of the snake, long associated with healing… 

Remember the ‘snake of Aesculapius’ (Asclepius for the Greeks and Aesculapius for the Romans), a Greek god of healing and medicine, depicted with a staff wrapped by a coiled snake, which is today the symbol of medicine. The serpent symbolizes both death and life. It also references the magical beliefs associated with these gestures at that time… This does not concern us. Instead, we focus on how Jesus interprets this sign found in the book of Numbers: A serpent is praised, and those who look at it are healed. 

And Jesus applies this to what will happen to him. It is necessary that the Son of Man, who has come down from heaven to reveal to us what he has seen and contemplated-the face of the Father and His plan for humanity’s true nature, His Son—must be lifted up. This ‘it is necessary’ is very important because it does not imply a fatalistic outcome… ‘this misadventure will happen, this misfortune’… NO. In order for this Son of Man to truly reveal the face of the Father, His great capacity to love and His desire to love humanity, he must be lifted up. 

What does this uprising mean? It signifies rising to reveal our full glory. We understand that to achieve glory, we must rise up and make ourselves visible. Often, to be seen, we feel compelled to defeat others, using them as stepping stones to elevate ourselves and gain recognition. However, there is another kind of uprising—the true uprising, the genuine glory, the authentic face of God expressed through love and only love. This is the only way God can demonstrate His immense love for us. It is not that God desired the death of His Son; rather, through this act committed by people, God has revealed His masterpiece: He has shown us how deeply He loves us. Therefore, when one is in love, there is a unique opportunity to demonstrate the ultimate expression of love: to give one’s life for the one they love. 

The word ‘uprising’ appears three times in the Gospel of John. In chapter 12, for the third time, John uses a beautiful expression, saying that ‘All will look back … the day will come when everyone contemplates, and they will believe in the Son, the elevated Man.’ This is the true uplifting—the one that makes you truly glorious if you resemble him. Jesus continues by saying: “that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” Who believes in this Son of Man? 

What does this ‘eternal life’ mean? When we say ‘eternal,’ we understand a life that will never end. We think of eternal life as a life given to us after death; this life ends, and then another is provided. It is not like that. ‘Eternal life’ does not mainly refer to a life that will always go on… hence, the ‘duration’. Instead, it refers to its character, which is definitive and indestructible by nature, because it is the life of the Eternal—the divine life. And to attain this life, one must be born. 

This is what Jesus said to Nicodemus: “It is necessary to be born from above.” Nicodemus does not understand what Jesus means by this ‘birth’ into the life of the Eternal. Life is always a gift. No one gives themselves life; it is always given. We must recognize that, no matter how hard we try, life is given to us. The same is true of ‘eternal life,’ the life of the Eternal. If it is not given to us, we will only have the first gift: biological life, which does not last long, although it is important… it is a gift. 

But Jesus says to Nicodemus: ‘If that indestructible life is not given to you from the Eternal, at the end of biological life you end forever.’
Jesus came to tell us that the Father has given us this gift. This gift is accepted when you believe in Jesus’ exaltation.
’Look and believe’ means, first of all, understanding what the sign of that uprising is. For us, the cross is a sign of pain and death. NOT SO! 

The cross symbolizes one thing: complete, boundless love. It is a reminder we are called to reflect on. We may ask what ‘to believe’ truly means. To believe is to understand that the cross signifies God’s profound love for us. In His Son, God reveals His face. In the Semitic view, the Son is the one who resembles the Father. On the cross, we see the ultimate unveiling of God’s love. To ‘believe’ means grasping this truth and accepting His call to us: to love our neighbors as He has loved us. This truly is the mark of a fulfilled person. All other achievements and victories can strip us of our humanity. The real person is the one who internalizes this capacity to love, even to the point of giving himself completely. 

‘Believe’ means to trust Jesus’ proposal.
And what does this reference to the book of Numbers mean, namely that Jesus did what the serpent that was raised did? Those who looked at this snake after being bitten were healed; contemplating the bronze serpent was the antidote to the poison that had been injected.
When we consider what happens in our lives, we realize that we are continually fighting serpents that poison our existence. 

They are the dangers that come from inside us and from outside… Think of the advertisements, television, junk magazines, and empty speeches… that offer us a proposal not of life but of death. All of this is poison injected into us, and it is inevitable. We recognize these poisons well: the desire to possess, the frenzy of power, and the urge to pretend to achieve all those results. We selfishly look out for ourselves, do not consider others, take advantage, and use others to reach our goals.


Looking toward Him who is lifted up reveals the true face of God and the true face of man. He is the one who heals us of the poison of death that these serpents are always seeking to inject into our hearts. This is how the world is judged by the cross of Christ. The world is tested, not to be condemned, but by contemplating this cross, this Son of Man, the world recognizes that it has become dehumanized. And the meditation continues—meditation that is no longer the discourse Jesus gives, but the meditation of the evangelist after Easter. 

It is the evangelist who reflects on what happened at Easter and says: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him does not die, but has eternal life.” This is what God did: he loved humanity so much that He gave His Son, who revealed the Father’s face. And “he did not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but for the world to be saved through him.” Some say: if we talk about this unconditional love of God, then people become bad… It is the opposite. 

If we understand God’s love, we won’t be bad. It’s the only way to see that, to be truly God’s children, we must love as he demonstrated through the Son of Man raised on the cross. 

I wish you all a good week.