Easter Sunday, April 9, 2023

John 20, 1–9

On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead. 

“On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark.”  St. Matthew says that she (and other women) came to the tomb at dawn, as the sun began to rise.  We can understand from this that she and her helpers made the preparations for the proper care of the Lord’s Body — obtaining oils and cloths and perhaps a donkey to convey these things, for the oil might be heavy (John had already said that Nicodemus brought a hundred pound jar of oil to the tomb).  By the time all was ready, the dawn began to break.  Or, we can understand that they started their journey at dark and arrived at the dawn.  It would not have made a long journey, but they would have to send their way through the streets of Jerusalem.  “And [she] saw the stone removed from the tomb.”  John does not mention the guards, for they were extraneous, and he does not mention the angel(s) that the other Evangelists do.  This could be because John wanted to highlight the announcement to the Apostles and their subsequent actions.  Matthew, in a similar way, tells us that the angel who spoke to the women told them to look inside the womb and they almost certainly did, but he does not say so.  

The fact that the stone was moved, in John’s account, moved Mary Magdalene to run to the Apostles.  She does not run home in despair.  She knows something unprecedented has happened.  The sort of tomb in which the Lord’s Body was laid belonged to a rich family — everyone else was buried in the ground.  It was a vault carved out of the rock in the hills near the city.  It would have been large enough to hold several bodies, though this tomb has never been used before.  The opening would have been wide enough for bearers to carry in a body, and a rock of a size sufficient would have covered the opening.  The rock was fitted to the opening so that air did not go in or out.  Some tombs were hermetically sealed by a round slab of a rock, and that may have been true here.  It could have been opened only by a number of men equipped with ropes and wedges.  Opening a tomb in ancient times was a significant undertaking and it would have been well-known.  When Mary Magdalene saw that that rock was moved, she wondered.  The thing was impossible.  Even if someone had hired men and provided the tools to do this work, they would have had to perform this arduous work in the dark, lit only by torches, and on the Sabbath, for the Sabbath began at sunset on Friday, when work was not allowed.  When the Sanhedrin had gotten wind of this, there would be severe repercussions.  And there was no reason to think that the Sanhedrin would have moved the Lord’s dead Body., but if anyone had moved it, they were most likely involved.

“They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.”  Mary Magdalene seems to assume that the Sanhedrin or the Pharisees had taken his Body.  Her “we don’t know” confirms that other women were with her at the tomb.  Her concern is “where they put him”.  It is not that a law has been broken or the horror of a grave robbery, but the place of his Body that concerns her.  She wants to be with her Lord, even in Death, wherever his Body was.

“So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.”. John also recalls that “they both ran”.  John ran because of his love for his Master, and Peter ran, racked with guilt over his denials.  “They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb.”  John is careful to note the sequence of events here.  In physical terms, John may have run faster because he was younger than the married Peter.  Spiritually, John teaches us that love precedes faith, for John, “the beloved disciple”, signifies love of Jesus, and Peter, who confessed before all the others that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, signifies faith.  We become Christians because we fall in love with the Lord, and this love leads us to belief in him and his teachings.  Thus, John arrived at the tomb first, but then Peter arrived.  Peter went in that he might believe more.

“[He] saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.”  Clearly, this was not the scene of a hurried grave robbery in which the invaders grab the corpse, burial cloths and all, and make their getaway.  The tomb had the orderly appearance of a bedroom attended to by a maid in the morning.  

“Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed.”  The more knowledge of the loved one the lover gains, the more the lover loves and believes.  “For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.”  The Greek text translated here as “they did not know” actually means “had not known” — the verb is in the pluperfect.  This is an important detail because it tells us that they did not previously know the Scriptures about the Resurrection of the Lord until some later time, possibly when he told them about it after the Transfiguration or at the Last Supper (in John’s Gospel).  And so John is saying that at the time of the crucifixion and burial they did not remember or if they did remember, they did not understand the teaching about his rising, but when they saw the empty tomb, they did.

“This is the day the Lord has made: let us be glad and rejoice in it!” (Psalm 118, 24).  Our love for the Lord Jesus causes us to rejoice in his rising from the dead, and our belief in him gives us extra reason to be glad, for his Resurrection is ours, and we, who are members of his Body, shall rise in his to glory.

May God bless you all on this Easter Sunday and fill you with faith and love! And thank you for your prayers for my eye problems!

Holy Saturday, April 4, 2026

“And the Lord God brought forth of the ground all manner of trees, fair to behold, and pleasant to eat of: the tree of life also in the midst of paradise: and the tree of knowledge of good and evil . . .  And he commanded him, saying: Of every tree of paradise you shall eat: But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat. For in what day soever you shall eat of it, you shall die the death” (Genesis 2: 9, 16-17).

When we contemplate Adam as he came forth from the hand of God, we must set aside every image of frailty or decay that now clings to our experience. He stands in the garden not as we know ourselves, but as man in his original harmony: body and soul ordered, desires at peace, creation itself answering gently to his presence.

In the midst of that garden stood two trees, and between them, as it were, the whole drama of human history.

God had placed there the Tree of Life — not as a mere ornament, but as a sign and instrument of a deeper truth. Adam’s life, though real and full, was not self-sufficient. His body, formed from the earth, was by nature capable of dissolution. Yet he did not decay. He did not weaken. He did not approach death as we do now. Why? Because he lived not only from himself, but from God.

The Tree of Life was the visible pledge of that dependence.

To eat of it was to receive, again and again, the quiet gift of preservation. It was as if God had woven into creation a sacrament of life, by which man was sustained—not made immortal by nature, but kept from death by grace. Adam lived, therefore, in a kind of continual reception. His life was not something he possessed absolutely, but something he was always being given.

And this is why the command concerning the other tree carries such weight: “Of every tree of paradise you shall eat: but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, 

you shall not eat” (Genesis 2:16–17).

The prohibition was not arbitrary. It marked the boundary between receiving life from God and seizing autonomy apart from Him.

When Adam chose to eat of the forbidden tree, he did not merely break a rule — he altered the very posture of his existence. He turned from dependence to self-assertion, from trust to grasping. And in that turning, something profound was lost: not his nature, but the grace that upheld it.

Then comes that mysterious and solemn moment after the Fall: “Lest perhaps he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever…” And so he is sent out.

The Tree of Life is not destroyed — but it is barred.

Why? Not as punishment alone, but as a kind of mercy. For to eat of it now would mean to continue indefinitely in a wounded, disordered state — to prolong corruption rather than heal it. What had once preserved life would, in fallen man, preserve misery.

And so Adam is placed outside the garden — no longer sustained, now subject to time, to aging, to death. The body that had been held in harmony begins to return to the dust from which it was taken.

Yet even here, something astonishing remains.

The Tree of Life is not forgotten.

It stands, as it were, at the beginning of Scripture as a promise suspended — withdrawn, but not abolished. And all of salvation history moves toward its restoration.

For in the end, life will again be given—not now in the garden, but through another tree.

And man, once barred, will be invited again — not merely to preservation, but to a life that death itself cannot touch.

Good Friday, April 3, 2026

The Gospel reading today is the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to St. John.

Just a few notes on St. John’s Passion.  When we hear it or read it today, we should pay attention to the majesty with which John presents the Lord throughout his sufferings.  We see the Lord utterly in command in the Garden of Gethsemane when the thugs come to arrest him.  The Lord completely maintains his composure while his enemies fall down and seem to lose heart.  We get the impression that the Lord could only have been arrested if he had positively willed it.  He is not so much brought to the Sanhedrin as that he goes along with the crowd to it.  He stands unimpressed by the chief priests.  When he is brought before Pilate, the procurator almost treats him as an equal.  He is clearly of a mind to release the Lord and hands him over for crucifixion only under great duress.  Then, hanging on the Cross, the Lord is the one on control, giving his Mother into the care of his Apostle John.  He is careful to fulfill even the last bit of Scripture, calling out, “I thirst”.  And then, as John tells us, “He gave up his spirit.”  That is, it was not taken from him, nor did it depart solely out of the weakness of his Body, but the Lord sent it forth.  He died because he willed to die.

Such is the dignity and majesty of our Savior even in his terrible sufferings.  In like manner we are called to live our lives, ever looking beyond this world to the blessed repose in the next, alongside our Lord.

Holy Thursday, April 2, 2026

John 13, 1–15

Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Master, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.” Jesus said to him, “Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over; so you are clean, but not all.” For he knew who would betray him; for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.” 

“Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father.”  For us, to know the exact hour and day of our deaths would be a terrible agony, but the Lord could hardly constrain himself, waiting for it: “I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished!” (Luke 12, 49-50).  This “fire” is the grace of redemption that “burns” away our sins.  “He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end.”  In John 1, 11, the Evangelist had said plainly that “his own” did not receive him, by which we can understand the greater part of his family or of the Jews or of the world.  They did not receive him, but he did not let this stop him from loving them even to the end.  One of these was Judas: “The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over.”  

“Fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God.”  The Son of God was both sent by the Father and came of his own will.  He also both conducted himself on earth in obedience to the Father and according to his will.  He had revealed on an earlier occasion, “The Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, that the Son does likewise” (John 5, 19).  By this he explains that he acts only in concert with the Father and does not act on his own.  We should strive to imitate him in this, for the conformity of our will to that of the Father is crucial for our salvation.

“He rose from supper and took off his outer garments.”  He does this to show how he had put off the glory he had with the Father in order to go to the floor, as it were, and take on a human nature for our service.  “Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist.”  He made himself the slave of all in order to save all.  The water signifies his Blood with which he wiped clean our bodies and souls from sin, signified by the feet.  The towel signifies the grace which makes us capable of living in heaven, signified by the house in which they ate the Last Supper.  “You will never wash my feet.”  Peter did not understand the sign.  He objected to his Master taking the place of a slave to wash his feet and he saw this as an injustice, just as John the Baptist had not understood why Jesus insisted on being baptized.  Or, Peter may have seen this as a test to see which of the Apostles would declare that he was unworthy that the Messiah should was him in this way.  “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.”  That is, unless Peter accepted the sign of service to the Church with the other Apostles, he would exclude himself from God’s plan for him.

“You are clean, but not all.”  The heart of Judas was already hardened against the Lord and against his grace.  Grace is not magic.  It can be refused.  The forgiveness of God can be refused, the prospect of heaven can be refused.  

We pray that we may gratefully receive the grace of Almighty God, won for us at a terrible cost by his Son, so that we may dwell in heaven with all the angels and saints.

Wednesday in Holy Week, April 1, 2026

Matthew 26, 14-25

One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.  On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples approached Jesus and said, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The teacher says, ‘My appointed time draws near; in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.’ ” The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered, and prepared the Passover.  When it was evening, he reclined at table with the Twelve. And while they were eating, he said, “Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” Deeply distressed at this, they began to say to him one after another, “Surely it is not I, Lord?” He said in reply, “He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me is the one who will betray me. The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born.” Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply, “Surely it is not I, Rabbi?” He answered, “You have said so.”

Two preparations are made in today’s Gospel Reading: that of Judas to hand over Jesus, and that of Jesus to hand over himself as a Sacrifice for sins.

“What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?”  St. Thomas Aquinas points out that this question shows how little Judas valued Jesus.  Thomas says that when a person values a thing he wants to sell, he tells the prospective buyer what the price will be.  He sets the price.  But a person who does not care much about what he is selling only asks what a prospective buyer is willing to pay.  He lets the buyer set the price, and he will set it as low as he can.  Thus, Judas did not offer Jesus to the Sanhedrin for his price, but let them set the price as though he were glad to be rid of Jesus, as though he did not need him anymore.  Once we add the consideration that Judas was a greedy man, as shown in yesterday’s Gospel Reading, and we can see the contempt in which Judas held the Lord.  There are those who have a misplaced sympathy for Judas.  Let this help them see him in a different light.

“Go into the city to a certain man.”  It is not clear if Jesus names a man or describes him in more detail than St. Matthew tells us here, or if he simply says, Go to the first man you see.  The first case would tell us that he knew one particular man was eager to give Jesus a room for the Passover but did not know how to find him.  He looks for Jesus, but Jesus finds him.  The second case shows the Lord’s power, that he seemingly chooses a man at random and such is the Lord’s reputation with the man that he is glad to offer him his room.

Normally in the division of household responsibilities the women of the house prepared the meals, but the Passover meal was prepared by the men.

“My appointed time draws near.”  The Greek text only says “time”, but the word can also mean, “a fitting season”.  But the question would have struck the Apostles as unusual.  What did it mean that his “time” was drawing near?  The time for taking over Jerusalem?  They would not have understood its significance.  The Lord’s time draws near just as the time of the Paschal lamb was drawing near.  “Surely it is not I, Lord?”  We might wonder about the Apostles asking this question.  After all, they should know whether or not they planned to betray Jesus.  They speak as though fearful that one of them was fated to betray him even against his will.  Or, they were speaking out of shock at what he had said.  Or, they wanted him to know it was not them.  “He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me is the one who will betray me.”  They were all dipping their morsels into the one dish.  The Lord is simply emphasizing how that the traitor was of their fellowship.  “Woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born.”  Judas betrayed Jesus through his own freewill.  This was foreseen by the Prophets and foreknown by Almighty God.  Because he acted wickedly in betraying Christ despite all the attempts the Lord made to get him to repent, he was to be punished so severely that it “would be better for that man if he had never been born.”  

“Surely it is not I, Rabbi?” He answered, ‘You have said so.’ ”  In the ongoing commotion, Jesus tells Judas directly that he knows the truth about him.  Any prudent man would have broken off the plan and either have done nothing, hoping that the Lord would not give him away to the others, or he would have run for his life.  Judas had such contempt for the Lord that even this display of foreknowledge did not impress him and he continued on with what he intended to do.

There are many sinners today so hardened in their ways that their conscience is in effect dead.  Let us pray for their conversion, for the conversion of the worst of sinners may especially glorified Almighty God.

Tuesday in Holy Week, March 31, 2026

John 13, 21-33; 36-38

Reclining at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified, “Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant. One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was reclining at Jesus’ side. So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant. He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him, “Master, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.” So he dipped the morsel and took it and handed it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him. So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” Now none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him. Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or to give something to the poor. So Judas took the morsel and left at once. And it was night.  When he had left, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him at once. My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. You will look for me, and as I told the Jews, ‘Where I go you cannot come,’ so now I say it to you.”   Simon Peter said to him, “Master, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, though you will follow later.” Peter said to him, “Master, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow before you deny me three times.”

The Gospel Reading for today’s Mass is taken from a section of St. John’s Gospel.  The Last Supper has commenced.  St. John presents a contrast of two men, Judas and Peter.  The first did not speak and betrayed Jesus; the second spoke up and denied Jesus.  We learn from this that anyone, even the best disposed person, can sin against Jesus.  In order to avoid doing this we must, first, avoid evil and, second, not presume on our own strength.

John also shows us how many chances Jesus gives us to repent, to turn away from committing mortal sin, and that no one is fated to commit it.  In today’s Gospel Reading, Judas receives three very plain notices from the Lord that he knows he has planned to betray him: the first when Jesus says, “Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”; the second, “He is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.”; the third, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”  Judas knew, then, that Jesus knew, and that of Jesus wanted to, he could order the other Apostles seize and kill him.  But he lets neither shame nor fear prevent him from carrying out his plan.  No blood ever ran colder than Judas’s.  The Lord further gives him chances to repent even right to the moment when Judas leads his gang of thugs into the garden to point the Lord out to them.  Even after betraying him and he had thrown away the money the Sanhedrin had paid him, he could have gone back to the Lord.  Peter, who denied Jesus three times, was at least as remorseful of his sin as Judas was of his own, but Peter did not despair and reconciled with his Master after he rose from the dead.

“Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.”  Jesus waits for Judas to depart before he announces his glorification because his sufferings begin now, with the betrayal.  The Lord sees this as glory rather than disaster because his obedience to the Father’s will reveals his love for him and for us.  The Lord also sees that the beginning of his Passion will end in his Resurrection.  His Death is not an end in itself but a means to an end, that of his rising again.  He already looks forward to that day.  “You will look for me, and as I told the Jews, ‘Where I go you cannot come,’ so now I say it to you.”  You will look for me in the tomb, Jesus says to them, but you will not find me there.  Rather, I have come down from heaven to find you, O lost sheep, and I will return from death to shepherd you always.  “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, though you will follow later.”  St. John quotes Jesus twice in his Gospel speaking of Peter’s death.  Perhaps John wrote his Gospel shortly after he received news that Peter had been crucified at Rome.  “Master, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”  St. Thomas Aquinas comments that Peter’s protestation that he would die for the Lord takes different forms and occurs st different times before, during, or after the Last Supper.  He concludes that Peter made several of these protestations, either out of bravado or in order to work up his courage.

The Lord gives us numerous opportunities throughout our lives to renounce sin and draw ever nearer to him.  Let us deny the devil and not Jesus.

Monday in Holy Week, March 30, 2026

John 12, 1-11

Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served, while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him. Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. Then Judas the Iscariot, one of his disciples, and the one who would betray him, said, “Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages and given to the poor?” He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions. So Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”  The large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came, not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too, because many of the Jews were turning away and believing in Jesus because of him.

Mary’s anointing of Jesus at the house of Lazarus while Martha served is often confused with another anointing — that by a person identified only as “a sinful woman”, whom some think to have been Mary Magdalene.  This is, however, an anointing distinct from that as shown by a comparison of the times, places, circumstances, and the details of the actions.

“They gave a dinner for him there.”  The dinner occurred not long after the Lord had raised Lazarus from the dead and may have been given in thanks to the Lord for his gracious deed.  The dinner was held “six days before Passover”, that is, on the Monday before the Lord died.  “Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard.”  She would have purchased this for this purpose.  There are many different types of nard and in ancient times certain kinds were used to flavor foods and add a spicy taste to wine.  St. John notes that it was “genuine aromatic nard”, which tells us that it was very expensive, which further gives us an idea of the wealth this little family possessed.  “[She] anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair.”  This act of obeisance may have been motivated by her deep gratitude for Jesus giving her brother back to her or as a sign of her regret over her behavior when Jesus arrived to raise him.  “The house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.”  We can understand the spiritual meaning of Mary’s action as the faithful soul in silent and humble prayer to the Lord, the  fragrance of which he finds most pleasing.  

“Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages and given to the poor?”  This is the price of the nard, nearly a year’s wages for a working man.  Judas’s objection comes across not as pious but as rude.  He seems to usurp the place of Jesus, his Master and the one to whom the anointing was done.  If anyone was to object, it would have been the Lord.  Of course, St. John points out that he was motivated by greed.  “Let her keep this for the day of my burial.”  It is unclear if this nard was carried to the tomb on Easter morning by the holy women.  Mary of Bethany’s name is not mentioned as being among them by the Evangelists.  The Lord could have been speaking in terms of a sign that his Death and burial were near at hand.

“You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”  In a fallen world inhabited by men and women whose human nature is wounded, there will always be those who, through their own fault or that of others or as a result of some disaster, have been rendered poor.  The “poor” here are those who are destitute and beg on the streets for their bread.  “But you do not always have me”, that is, walking among them.  We who believe in the Lord know that he is with us always, unto the consummation of the world (Matthew 28, 20): through his Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament, through the grace that he imparts to us, and through his words in the Holy Gospels.  

“But also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.”  These curiosity seekers came not to see the one who raised from the dead but the one who had been dead.  “The chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too, because many of the Jews were turning away and believing in Jesus because of him.”  The chief priests reveal their hardness of heart.  Indeed, they behave very much like the Pharaoh with Moses: no matter how many signs they see, they cling to their judgment that Jesus is not the Messiah.

The Sanhedrin and the Pharisees had to work very hard in order to deny the divine origin of the Lord’s miracles. Motivated by sheer, unrelenting hatred, they contorted themselves into all kinds of shapes, making absurd claims such as that he expelled demons by power of the Prince of Demons. So many people in our society today foster similar hostility. Let us pray for their conversion and persevere in our faith despite their attacks,