Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent – March 27, 2010
John 11:45 – 56
Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.
"What are we accomplishing?" they asked. "Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation."
Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, "You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish."
He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. So from that day on they plotted to take his life.
Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the Jews. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.
When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, "What do you think? Isn't he coming to the Festival at all?"
This passage follows the raising of Lazarus from death. The dialogue and deliberations you read here are brought about by Jesus stretching his hand of life into the tomb, a precursor to his death and resurrection.
The first half of John’s Gospel is given to the breadth of Jesus’ ministry. The second half of his Gospel is devoted to the last week of Jesus’ life. Tomorrow is Palm Sunday and next week is Holy Week, so it is appropriate that the daily text for today leads us into these days leading up to crucifixion and resurrection.
Much has been made of the high priest Caiaphas’ “prophecy” regarding Jesus. It may be more helpful to think about John’s motive for including this bit of information in his Gospel. He devotes an entire paragraph to editorializing about the comments of Caiaphas.
John, known as the “mystical Gospel,” knows that Jesus is about one-ing (see Jesus’ prayer in John 17:1 – 26) people to God, to himself, and to one another. That God desires this intentional connection with us is assumed in John’s Gospel. “Divine union” or “transforming union” might be the names we would give this one-ing in modern language.
So when John hears the words of Caiaphas that it is expedient for one person to die for the people rather than the whole nation perish, he uses it as an opportunity to extend the gospel even wider. He writes, “not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.”
For John, then, Jesus death is not merely about sacrifice and the benefits that you and I receive from the offering of his life.
Jesus’ death brings us into union with God, drawing us together from all the ways we have been scattered from Divine Love.
Jesus’ death puts together all the ways we have been scattered within ourselves, bringing us into union with our deepest, most authentic selves.
Jesus’ death gathers us from the far corners from which we are scattered from one another, bringing us together as a common humanity with common yearnings for the One God.
We cannot achieve this kind of one-ing on our own. We are invited into it by the One who walks toward the Cross.
Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.
"What are we accomplishing?" they asked. "Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation."
Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, "You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish."
He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. So from that day on they plotted to take his life.
Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the Jews. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.
When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, "What do you think? Isn't he coming to the Festival at all?"
This passage follows the raising of Lazarus from death. The dialogue and deliberations you read here are brought about by Jesus stretching his hand of life into the tomb, a precursor to his death and resurrection.
The first half of John’s Gospel is given to the breadth of Jesus’ ministry. The second half of his Gospel is devoted to the last week of Jesus’ life. Tomorrow is Palm Sunday and next week is Holy Week, so it is appropriate that the daily text for today leads us into these days leading up to crucifixion and resurrection.
Much has been made of the high priest Caiaphas’ “prophecy” regarding Jesus. It may be more helpful to think about John’s motive for including this bit of information in his Gospel. He devotes an entire paragraph to editorializing about the comments of Caiaphas.
John, known as the “mystical Gospel,” knows that Jesus is about one-ing (see Jesus’ prayer in John 17:1 – 26) people to God, to himself, and to one another. That God desires this intentional connection with us is assumed in John’s Gospel. “Divine union” or “transforming union” might be the names we would give this one-ing in modern language.
So when John hears the words of Caiaphas that it is expedient for one person to die for the people rather than the whole nation perish, he uses it as an opportunity to extend the gospel even wider. He writes, “not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.”
For John, then, Jesus death is not merely about sacrifice and the benefits that you and I receive from the offering of his life.
Jesus’ death brings us into union with God, drawing us together from all the ways we have been scattered from Divine Love.
Jesus’ death puts together all the ways we have been scattered within ourselves, bringing us into union with our deepest, most authentic selves.
Jesus’ death gathers us from the far corners from which we are scattered from one another, bringing us together as a common humanity with common yearnings for the One God.
We cannot achieve this kind of one-ing on our own. We are invited into it by the One who walks toward the Cross.
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