 |
| ”Christ and Caiaphas” by Giovanni Battista Caracciolo, 1611-20 |
Reading 1: Ezekiel 37:21-28
Thus says the Lord GOD:
I will take the children of Israel
to which they have come,
and gather them from all
sides to bring them back to their land.
I will make them one nation
upon the land,
in the mountains of Israel
and there shall be one prince
for them all.
Never again shall they be two
nations,
and never again shall they be
divided into two kingdoms.
No longer shall they defile
themselves with their idols,
their abominations, and all
their transgressions.
I will deliver them from all
their sins of apostasy,
and cleanse them so that they
may be my people
and I may be their God.
My servant David shall be
prince over them,
and there shall be one
shepherd for them all;
they shall live by my
statutes and carefully observe my decrees.
They shall live on the land
that I gave to my servant Jacob,
the land where their fathers
lived;
they shall live on it
forever,
they, and their children, and
their children's children,
with my servant David their
prince forever.
I will make with them a
covenant of peace;
it shall be an everlasting
covenant with them,
and I will multiply them, and
put my sanctuary among them forever.
My dwelling shall be with
them;
I will be their God, and they
shall be my people.
Thus the nations shall know
that it is I, the LORD,
who make Israel
when my sanctuary shall be
set up among them forever.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary
on Ez 37:21-28
The Prophet Ezekiel was probably not aware that this oracle would have
great meaning beyond what even he foresaw. He predicts the return of the Hebrew
people from their exile in Babylon, and the restoration of Israel under a king
from David’s line. In this return, the Prophet sees a conversion of the people (“…I
will deliver them from all their sins of apostasy, and cleanse them so that
they may be my people”), a return also to the law of the Lord which they
abandoned during the exile, and a return to God’s covenant.
For us, looking back at his words we can see him (Ezekiel) predict the
coming of the Messiah, Jesus the Christ, and how he will be the one prince over
the entire world. It will be Jesus that establishes the covenant of peace and
reveals God’s love.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm: Jeremiah 31:10, 11-12abcd, 13
R. (see 10d) The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd
guards his flock.
Hear the word of the LORD, O
nations,
proclaim it on distant isles,
and say:
He who scattered Israel
he guards them as a shepherd
his flock.
R. The Lord will guard us,
as a shepherd guards his flock.
The LORD shall ransom Jacob,
he shall redeem him from the
hand of his conqueror.
Shouting, they shall mount
the heights of Zion
they shall come streaming to
the LORD's blessings:
The grain, the wine, and the
oil,
the sheep and the oxen.
R. The Lord will guard us,
as a shepherd guards his flock.
Then the virgins shall make
merry and dance,
and young men and old as
well.
I will turn their mourning
into joy,
I will console and gladden
them after their sorrows.
R. The Lord will guard us,
as a shepherd guards his flock.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary
on Jer 31:10, 11-12abcd, 13
The song from Jeremiah recalls the
Diaspora, the exile of the Hebrews. In these strophes, the prophet sees the
salvific work of God who shepherds his people as they return from exile in the
“New Exodus,” and the reunification of the people. He prophesies
their return to the land from which they had been driven, giving praise to God
for his mercy.
CCC: Jer 31 1611
----------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel: John 11:45-56
Many of the Jews who had come
to Mary
and seen what Jesus had done
began to believe in him.
But some of them went to the
Pharisees
and told them what Jesus had
done.
So the chief priests and the
Pharisees
convened the Sanhedrin and
said,
"What are we going to
do?
This man is performing many
signs.
If we leave him alone, all
will believe in him,
and the Romans will come
and take away both our land
and our nation."
But one of them, Caiaphas,
who was high priest that
year, said to them,
"You know nothing,
nor do you consider that it
is better for you
that one man should die
instead of the people,
so that the whole nation may
not perish."
He did not say this on his
own,
but since he was high priest
for that year,
he prophesied that Jesus was
going to die for the nation,
and not only for the nation,
but also to gather into one
the dispersed children of God.
So from that day on they
planned to kill him.
So Jesus no longer walked
about in public among the Jews,
but he left for the region
near the desert,
to a town called Ephraim,
and there he remained with
his disciples.
Now the Passover of the Jews
was near,
and many went up from the
country to Jerusalem
before Passover to purify
themselves.
They looked for Jesus and
said to one another
as they were in the temple
area, "What do you think?
That he will not come to the
feast?"
----------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary
on Jn 11:45-56
In the first section of this Gospel reading, we can see the dilemma facing the Sanhedrin. The Messiah that God has sent is not the “Royal Messiah” coming to destroy the Roman domination, but a humble servant. If the people of Israel follow him, Rome will continue its domination and occupation of Israel.
Caiaphas is introduced as the
architect of the ultimate plot to kill Jesus. He unwittingly predicts that
Jesus will die to save the whole nation. He does so unwittingly because he does
not understand that Jesus is God’s Son. He considers Jesus only as a political
threat. It is ironic that, in making this suggestion, Caiaphas has prophetically
identified Jesus as the Christ, who offers God's salvation to all peoples of
all nations.
This ends the period when Jesus was
teaching openly in the temple area. He now leaves Jerusalem for a time. The
plotting, however, continues as the scribes and Pharisees plan to seize him
during the Passover.
CCC: Jn 11:47-48 548; Jn
11:48 596; Jn
11:49-50 596; Jn
11:52 58,
60, 706, 2793
----------------------------------------------------------------
Reflection:
If we were making a movie of
salvation history, or perhaps one of those epic mini-series, we would use a
cinematic device of overlays when we get to the part about Caiaphas speaking to
the Sanhedrin. As he was speaking we
would see overlaid a flash back to the ancient prophecy of Jeremiah, and then
perhaps Ezekiel speaking about the reunification of Israel. We would understand what motivated the Jews,
who, in their utter confusion about the nature of the Messiah, find Jesus to be
a political threat. The background music
would grow ominous, and we would feel the whole weight of the Law and the
Prophets rushing down to crush this young man from Galilee.
The stage is set for the
climax of Jesus' ministry on earth. He
has bearded the lion in its den, and challenged the long held traditions of the
scribes and Pharisees. He has frightened
the most powerful people in his region of the world at a time when Roman
dominance and decadence had made human life cheap. We all know what happens when those who love
power are frightened: they lash out without compassion or mercy to utterly
destroy the threat to their power. That
is the storm we see gathering in scripture.
And Jesus, the consummate reader of human souls, knows it.
But to bring God’s entire
plan to fulfillment, his part must be played.
God’s own feast of deliverance is at hand, the Feast of the Passover,
celebrating the deliverance of the Hebrews from cruel bondage in Egypt. The great and near-great of land are
gathering at the Temple in Jerusalem for this high feast, and the Lord senses
the time has come. He is well known, a
prophet, miracle worker, a rebellious rabbi.
To his closest friends he is strongly suspected of being the Messiah,
the Incarnate Son of God.
For us, the roller coaster of our spiritual emotions
begins with the climb that will take us to the pinnacle of holy week, to the
Feast of the Lord’s Supper. Then we take
that long plunge into Good Friday and all of our Lenten journey will be
recalled as we wait with the world for what must come.
Today we recall how the
dreams of the great and powerful are so easily used by the Evil One, and the
mysterious interplay between the forces of good and evil that must come soon to
its glorious end.
Pax
[1]The
picture used is ”Christ and Caiaphas” by Giovanni Battista Caracciolo, 1611-20
[3]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the
Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and
is for private use only.
No comments:
Post a Comment