Church of the Bronze Serpent

I was reading john 3 with some friends tonight and we came across the following verse:

14 "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up."

I asked what serpent was Jesus referring to. Was it the serpent and the staff story?

We weren't sure so we looked at the footnotes. It is a reference to Numbers 21:4-9 which says:

They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!"

Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people.

The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.

I'm sure it's not true, but I felt as though I had never heard that story before.

Jesus compares himself with this bronze serpent? What can that mean?

Just as those bitten by the serpents were saved by looking at the bronze serpent, so can we be saved by looking to Jesus.

I think I was most struck how unlike western Christianity this story seems. And to think Jesus himself uses this story to describe himself and his role.

Turns out there's a lot of good stuff in the Bible!