Medieval Christians: "There are so many allegories for Christ! Like, Christ is a lamb, he's a unicorn, he's a peacock!"

Me, nodding: "Uh huh, that all makes sense."

Medieval Christians: "And, ofc, he's a giant brazen serpent."

Me: "Wut." #MedievalTwitter

Moses put a brazen serpent on a pillar on God's command in the Book of Numbers. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says that the son of man must be raised like Moses raised the serpent.

These are from the same manuscript page, to show the parallel.

(Morgan, MS M.359., f. 111v)

Another page designed to show the parallel. Sometimes the serpent is drawn like a little dragon, as here.

(Bodleian Library, MS. Rawl. liturg. e. 36, f. 82v-83r)

Medieval Catholicism can be weird!

"Hey. It's me. Your very normal god."

(Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 638)