Consider the Ravens!

Jesus told His disciples not to worry about what they would eat for their life or what they would wear for their body. He said, “Consider the ravens” (Luke 12:24). However, to the Jews of that time, the raven was considered an unclean bird (Leviticus 11:15; Deuteronomy 14:14) (Hokma). Why then did Jesus tell them to consider an unclean bird like the raven? I believe it is because Jesus' words are something we cannot obey without faith.

When I meditate on this passage, I am reminded of God’s command to Moses: “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live” (Numbers 21:8). The reason is that many of the Israelites who had grumbled against God and Moses were bitten by fiery serpents and died. So why did God command Moses to make a fiery serpent and put it on a pole? It’s a command that is difficult to understand with human reasoning. I believe it is God's word that cannot be obeyed without faith.

When I meditate on this, I also think of John 3:14–15: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.” The apostle John refers to the “fiery serpent” that was lifted up in Numbers 21:8 and says that Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, must also be lifted up. Indeed, just as the fiery serpent was hung on a pole, Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross. For the Jews, the cross was a symbol of someone cursed by God: “…anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse” (Deuteronomy 21:23b); “The Scripture says, ‘Anyone who is hung on a tree is cursed’” (Galatians 3:13b, Korean Contemporary Bible). They believed that Jesus died on the cursed tree, the cross, as a punishment from God for claiming to be the Son of God (blasphemy) and for desecrating the temple (sacrilege). Could the Jews believe in Jesus, who had been lifted up on the cross like that? “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household” (Acts 16:31). I believe this, too, is God's word that cannot be obeyed without faith.

Here is Ephesians 2:8–9 from the Korean Contemporary Bible: “You have been saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ. This did not come from your own efforts; it is God’s gift. It is not the result of your good deeds, so no one can boast.”