And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes may have eternal life. John 3:14-15

I don’t like snakes. I never have and don’t anticipate that I ever will. I know that we are called to love all of God’s creatures, but poisonous or not snakes give me the creeps. I don’t go into reptile houses at zoos and frankly, can’t believe I’m writing a devotional about a snake. But I was fascinated to learn about the Egyptian cobra that escaped her enclosure two weeks ago at the Bronx Zoo. The Egyptian cobra is actually most commonly found in Africa and the venom can kill a human being in fifteen minutes. Fortunately the snake was found alive and did not harm anyone or anything.

Now, here’s what’s fascinating - it took the zoo staff an entire week to find the snake. In a news conference, when asked what took the search effort so long, Jim Breheny, director of the Bronx Zoo, explained, "The key strategy here in recovering this snake was patience."

I am ready for Easter! It comes late this year and I cannot wait for the powerful voices singing in the Levy Baptist Sanctuary, “Christ the Lord is Risen Today!” Easter lilies will adorn the Sanctuary. I like everything about Easter Sunday.

Before we can get to Easter, though, we must go through Holy Week. We must hear the cries of the crowd, “Hosanna!” on Palm Sunday and go with Jesus to the last Supper on Maundy Thursday and to the Cross on Good Friday.

Like me, you may want to rush through this season, get past Good Friday as quickly as possible and get to the Easter hallelujahs. But somehow it won’t be quite as powerful if we don’t patiently make our way through the last week of Christ.

Follow Jesus to Jerusalem, feast on the Last Supper, and be introspective about what it is that needs to die within you so that you can be raised with Christ. Don’t rush – Easter will be here. It is the promise of our faith.