Saturday in the Fifth Week of Lent, April, 1, 2023

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?”

The Gospel Reading for today’s Mass comes just after the Lord had raised Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, from the dead.  Having witnessed this most amazing miracle, many people came to believe in Jesus, though their faith in him might have been based on their expectations of a political Messiah.  Others, however, rejected the miracle and went to the Pharisees.  Perhaps they thought that the miracle had been staged.  These were alarmed.  “So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin.”  The Sanhedrin, a sort of Supreme Court of the Jews consisting of rabbis, felt the need to make some decision as to how to deal with Jesus.  The Sanhedrin was set against him from the start but until now had played no public role as a body against him.

“What are we going to do? This man is performing many signs. If we leave him alone, all will believe in him.”  These words seem silly at a distance of two thousand years, for this was what the Messiah, whom they awaited, was supposed to do.  What else could they have expected?  But the members of the Sanhedrin were not thinking of a Messiah who would come for the forgiveness of sins and the redemption of the world; they were thinking of one who would free Israel and they did not think Jesus was that Messiah.  Instead, they thought he was a rabble-rouser who would incite a riot or even a rebellion that the Romans would crush, resulting in a large loss of life and probably making Israel part of a province.  They admit that he performs signs but somehow they manage to not see their proof of his divinity, or, at the very least, that they are a sign of divine approval of him.  “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.”  The high priest speaks as though he cares for the nation of Israel, but this cloaks a personal hatred.

“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.”  This is St. John’s comment.  The “dispersed children of God” are those among the Gentiles throughout the world who would one day convert and become Christians.  In the third Eucharistic Prayer the priest prays: “In your compassion, O merciful Father, gather to yourself all your children scattered throughout the world.”  The priest is praying for the peace and security of all Catholics wherever they may be.

“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.”  This town was thirteen miles northeast of Jerusalem and was set on a high hill so that all the surrounding country could be seen from it.  His move there would have delayed the plans of the Sanhedrin till the Passover, when the Lord had chosen to die.  But they were on the watch for him: “They looked for Jesus and said to one another as they were in the temple area.”

We watch for Jesus, but for him to come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.  The Jews asked themselves, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?”, reassuring each other that he would come.  Let us also be certain of his coming, and prepare ourselves for it — not with schemes and weapons, but with virtues and faith.