Saturday April 9, 2022

Saturday of 5th Week in Lent

 

Gathering What Is Scattered

At a time of the purifying trial of the exile, Ezekiel preaches God’s utopian dream: Israel will be gathered into one: one nation, one land, one sanctuary, ruled by one shepherd and servant king under one God in a covenant of peace.

After the resurrection of Lazarus, the cynical high priest and leaders decide to put embarrassing troublemaker Jesus to death for opportunistic reasons of state. But John, and Christians with him, realize that Jesus’ death for the sake of all will ultimately unify us all in his kingdom.

We are today still scattered and divided tribes, within the Church and outside it. Is unity for us utopia or a firm hope? Do we realize it can be attained only by respect, love and sacrifice?

                

First Reading: Ezekiel 37:21-28 

“Then take the sticks you’ve inscribed and hold them up so the people can see them. Tell them, ‘God, the Master, says, Watch me! I’m taking the Israelites out of the nations in which they’ve been exiled. I’ll gather them in from all directions and bring them back home. I’ll make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and give them one king—one king over all of them. Never again will they be divided into two nations, two kingdoms. Never again will they pollute their lives with their no-god idols and all those vile obscenities and rebellions. I’ll save them out of all their old sinful haunts. I’ll clean them up. They’ll be my people! I’ll be their God! My servant David will be king over them. They’ll all be under one shepherd.

 “‘They’ll follow my laws and keep my statutes. They’ll live in the same land I gave my servant Jacob, the land where your ancestors lived. They and their children and their grandchildren will live there forever, and my servant David will be their prince forever. I’ll make a covenant of peace with them that will hold everything together, an everlasting covenant. I’ll make them secure and place my holy place of worship at the center of their lives forever. I’ll live right there with them. I’ll be their God! They’ll be my people!

 “‘The nations will realize that I, God, make Israel holy when my holy place of worship is established at the center of their lives forever.’”

 

Gospel: John 11:45-56 

 That was a turnaround for many of the Jews who were with Mary. They saw what Jesus did, and believed in him. But some went back to the Pharisees and told on Jesus. The high priests and Pharisees called a meeting of the Jewish ruling body. “What do we do now?” they asked. “This man keeps on doing things, creating God-signs. If we let him go on, pretty soon everyone will be believing in him and the Romans will come and remove what little power and privilege we still have.”

Then one of them—it was Caiaphas, the designated Chief Priest that year—spoke up, “Don’t you know anything? Can’t you see that it’s to our advantage that one man dies for the people rather than the whole nation be destroyed?” He didn’t say this of his own accord, but as Chief Priest that year he unwittingly prophesied that Jesus was about to die sacrificially for the nation, and not only for the nation but so that all God’s exile-scattered children might be gathered together into one people.

From that day on, they plotted to kill him. So Jesus no longer went out in public among the Jews. He withdrew into the country bordering the desert to a town called Ephraim and secluded himself there with his disciples.

The Jewish Passover was coming up. Crowds of people were making their way from the country up to Jerusalem to get themselves ready for the Feast. They were curious about Jesus. There was a lot of talk of him among those standing around in the Temple: “What do you think? Do you think he’ll show up at the Feast or not?”

                                         

Prayer

Lord God, creator and Father of all,
your sons and daughters
are still scattered and divided:
Christians and non-Christians,
various Churches and sects
claiming exclusive rights on your Son,
and each of them full of factions.
Make us dream again the dream
which you alone can make possible:
that we can all be one
if we believe and follow him
who died to unite all that is scattered,
Jesus Christ, our Lord for ever. Amen.

 

Reflection: 

To give us life, He walks to his death.
We are now on the threshold of the Holy Week, and today’s Gospel sets the stage for the coming events. The tension between Jesus and the opposing Pharisees and high priests has reached a point of no return. An official meeting at the highest level is held, and a full-fledged decision is made. Instructions are given for its implementation. It is both tragic and paradoxical that the final reason for the decision to put him to death is because Jesus has brought a man back to life. By raising Lazarus to life, Jesus has sealed his death sentence.
“…it is better for you that one man dies for the sake of the people than that the whole nation is destroyed.”

Caiaphas, the high priest, did not know the God of Jesus. His “god” was the devil, a murderer from the beginning, the one from whom they inherited their unquestioned attitude to death [8:44]. He coolly passes the judgement: “it is better that one man dies”.
Caiaphas’s cold-blooded pragmatism has been followed across the centuries by various national leaders. Their so-called national interest so often overrides the right to life of ordinary people. Even in the modern world, the excuse of nationalism is used as justification for immoral procedures, suppression of political or religious minorities or pre-emptive military strikes and torture.

The members of the Sanhedrin were more concerned about their own power base than any national interest. They deliberately rejected Jesus’ message of love as the only way to life and freedom. Caiaphas succeeded in convincing the Sanhedrin that if the ordinary people followed Jesus, there could be riots in the society and the Romans would come and destroy them and their temple. They opted to kill the prince of peace to avoid riots!

The raising of Lazarus from death to life finally led to the killing of Jesus. However, through his death, Jesus manifested the glory of God. Jesus, in his free will, determined the Hour of Grace – and it was not decided by political decision-makers.

Jesus chose the Feast of the Passover for the journey to his life-giving death and freedom because the Israelites had taken their first steps towards freedom with the original Passover. During the first Passover, lambs were killed, and their blood sprinkled on doorsteps; the Israelites were saved from the sword of the angel of destruction. In the new Passover of Jesus, a new liberation begins. The actual liberation would no longer be by the blood of lambs but by the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God.

Tomorrow, on Palm Sunday, we enter the Holy Week. Let us prepare ourselves to walk with Jesus to witness his passion, death and resurrection.

 

Video available on Youtube: To give us life, He walks to his death.