Ezekiel 37:21-28,PSALM Jeremiah 31: 10.11-12ab. 13,
John 11:45-57 Full Readings
Jesus died to make us one people: Christians
Brethren, for the whole of this week, the general message was about Jesus as a Son of God, which raised an accusation upon him and which led to his sentence to death. Today's Gospel points out more reasons why Jesus had to be arrested and tried until he was crucified, that is: doing many miracles and gaining popularity, and the fear of the Jews that Romans would destroy their nation because of following Jesus. They thought that Jesus had become a threat. They were worried that people would follow Jesus and incite the Romans to take away their nation. It is further important for us to start putting our focus on the suffering and death of Jesus. Holy Week begins this Sunday, so this is the time of year when God wants us to look intently at His Cross. It’s important to look at it from all angles, to try to understand what was going on, what Jesus was experiencing, what the disciples were experiencing and even what the Pharisees and high priests were experiencing.
In today’s Gospel, we see the thinking of Caiaphas, the high priest, that, it is better for one man to die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed. His words are interesting in that they are both sad and prophetic at the same time. He, along with the other chief priests and the Pharisees, were now determined to plot Jesus’ death. They were no longer in fear of what the crowd and those who believed in him would say. This was because of their selfish reasons to protect their state at the expense of the truth which Jesus revealed to them. If they were interested in the truth they would have at least seen the divinity and the glory of God in the miracles he did. It's surprising that even doing miracles was one of the accusations laid upon him. They feared that Romans would put them to destruction if they would start believing in him, and so they had to eliminate him as he was seen as a threat. In our daily life, the desire to protect one's fame, position, status, reputation is at its peak, and therefore, one can do anything even murdering a number of people to protect and secure himself. This is done at the expense of truth and justice. As it was in Jesus' time, we see people who rise up to stand for the truth, freedom and justice are either killed in cold war or even violently. As Christians, we should stand together and fight such injustices, which start by conversion of an individual to the whole society. We have to follow the example of Jesus who with all those plots had to stand for truth by challenging all their discriminating systems.
The prophecy of Caiphas was indeed very true, could we say that God spoke through him, that Jesus was to die for the whole world. We more that, according to the Gospel, Jesus was not only to die for the nation but also to bring in unity the scattered children of God. This is what the prophet Ezekiel in first Reading announced, God will gather all the people of Israel and bring them home, forgive and cleanse them from their wickedness and unfaithfulness, make them into one nation, his own and one king would reign over them, David, and will make eternal covenant with them, and to remain with them forever. Indeed Jesus by dying in the cross fulfilled this prophecy. It is because of Jesus dying that we are called Christians and we have one king, who will get hailed tomorrow, Jesus Christ who is the head of the Church, his mystical body, and after the resurrection, he promised to be with us always (Mt 28:20), as he sent his Holy Spirit who dwells among us forever. The as Christians no need to worry, the Lord our King is always with us, present in our midst, when we pray, when we are gathered together, when in mass in the Eucharist and in the Eucharist minister, in his Word and when we sing (Sacrosanctum Concillium no. 7).
Then if Jesus is present among us what are we expected to do? To follow him promptly and especially in this coming Holy week as hostility of the Jews and Romans to Jesus is very much. We have to move with him, experience his pain and suffering as our King and withdraw strength from him to face our daily crosses and sufferings. We ask ourselves, What would I do if I was with Jesus during his trials, suffering, persecution and crucifixion? Would you continue to stand with Jesus despite the attacks from others? As the hostility towards Jesus grew, would you have moved back away from Him or moved closer to Him in love and commitment? Let's move with him during this coming week and our goal is to find ourselves at the feet of the cross with him on good Friday, as we wait for the conquering of sin and death and receive new light in Christ.
Let's pray
That we may draw strength and inspiration from the suffering Lord, in this holy week in order to face our own suffering and persecution. Amen.
Blessed Holy Week.
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