20200404
RECONCILING
THE PEOPLE OF GOD
04 April, 2020, Saturday, 5th
Week in Lent
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Violet.
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First reading
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Ezekiel 37:21-28 ©
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I will bring them home and make them one nation
The Lord says
this: ‘I am going to take the sons of Israel from the nations where they have
gone. I shall gather them together from everywhere and bring them home to their
own soil. I shall make them into one nation in my own land and on the mountains
of Israel, and one king is to be king of them all; they will no longer form two
nations, nor be two separate kingdoms. They will no longer defile themselves
with their idols and their filthy practices and all their sins. I shall rescue
them from all the betrayals they have been guilty of; I shall cleanse them;
they shall be my people and I will be their God. My servant David will reign
over them, one shepherd for all; they will follow my observances, respect my
laws and practise them. They will live in the land that I gave my servant
Jacob, the land in which your ancestors lived. They will live in it, they,
their children, their children’s children, for ever. David my servant is to be
their prince for ever. I shall make a covenant of peace with them, an eternal
covenant with them. I shall resettle them and increase them; I shall settle my
sanctuary among them for ever. I shall make my home above them; I will be their
God, they shall be my people. And the nations will learn that I am the Lord,
the sanctifier of Israel, when my sanctuary is with them for ever.’
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Jeremiah 31:10-13 ©
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The
Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.
O
nations, hear the word of the Lord,
proclaim
it to the far-off coasts.
Say:
‘He who scattered Israel will gather him
and
guard him as a shepherd guards his flock.’
The
Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.
For
the Lord has ransomed Jacob,
has
saved him from an overpowering hand.
They
will come and shout for joy on Mount Zion,
they
will stream to the blessings of the Lord.
The
Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.
Then
the young girls will rejoice and dance,
the
men, young and old, will be glad.
I
will turn their mourning into joy,
I
will console them, give gladness for grief.
The
Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Ezk18:31
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Praise
to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
Shake
off all your sins – it is the Lord who speaks –
and
make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.
Praise
to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
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Or:
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Jn3:16
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Praise
to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
God
loved the world so much that he gave his only Son:
everyone
who believes in him has eternal life.
Praise
to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
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Gospel
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John 11:45-56 ©
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Jesus was to die to gather together the scattered children of God
Many of the Jews
who had come to visit Mary and had seen what Jesus did believed in him, but
some of them went to tell the Pharisees what Jesus had done. Then the chief
priests and Pharisees called a meeting. ‘Here is this man working all these
signs’ they said ‘and what action are we taking? If we let him go on in this
way everybody will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy the
Holy Place and our nation.’ One of them, Caiaphas, the high priest that year,
said, ‘You do not seem to have grasped the situation at all; you fail to see
that it is better for one man to die for the people, than for the whole nation
to be destroyed.’ He did not speak in his own person, it was as high priest
that he made this prophecy that Jesus was to die for the nation – and not
for the nation only, but to gather together in unity the scattered children of
God. From that day they were determined to kill him. So Jesus no longer went
about openly among the Jews, but left the district for a town called Ephraim, in
the country bordering on the desert, and stayed there with his disciples.
The
Jewish Passover drew near, and many of the country people who had gone up to
Jerusalem to purify themselves looked out for Jesus, saying to one another as
they stood about in the Temple, ‘What do you think? Will he come to the
festival or not?’
RECONCILING THE
PEOPLE OF GOD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [EZEKIEL
37:21-28; JER 31:10-13; JN
11:45-56 ]
David’s kingdom was
divided after the death of Solomon. The
kingdom that God wanted to establish collapsed. The Northern
Kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians and later the Southern Kingdom of Judah
to the Babylonians. They were exiled and the temple was in ruins.
The people were already scattered before the kingdom fell because their leaders
were corrupt. But through Ezekiel, the Lord promised that He would make them
one nation again. “I am going to take the sons of Israel from the nations
where they have gone. I shall gather them together from everywhere and bring
them home to their own soil. I shall make them into one nation in my own land
and on the mountains of Israel, and one king is to be king of them all; they
will no longer form two nations, nor be two separate kingdoms.”
But they would need a
new king to reunite the People of Israel. “My servant David will reign over them,
one shepherd for all; they will follow my observances, respect my laws and
practise them. They will live in the land that I gave my servant Jacob, the
land in which your ancestors lived. They will live in it, they, their children,
their children’s children, forever. I shall make a covenant of peace with them,
an eternal covenant with them. I shall resettle them and increase them; I shall
settle my sanctuary among them forever. I shall make my home above them; I will
be their God, they shall be my people.” This New David that Ezekiel
prophesied would be realized by Jesus, who would establish the New Covenant as
foretold by Jeremiah. (Cf Jer
31:33-34)
Unwittingly, Caiaphas
was inspired by the Holy Spirit to utter the prophetic words confirming the role of Jesus when he
said, “You don’t seem to have grasped the situation at all; you fail to see
that it is better for one man to die for the people, than for the whole nation
to be destroyed.” And the evangelist remarked, “He did not speak in his
own person, it was as high priest that he made this prophecy that Jesus was to
die for the nation – and not for the nation only, but to gather together in
unity the scattered children of God.” Indeed, Jesus is the One designated
by God to bring unity not just to Israel but to the whole of humanity so
divided by sin. St Paul remarked, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once
were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our
peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the
dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.” Christ, therefore,
reconciles us with each other and with God. Indeed, Jesus understood that
it would be His death and resurrection that would reconcile the people when He
said, “‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to
myself.’ He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.” (Jn 12:32)
Indeed, the death of
Jesus is the key to the new reign of God on earth. By His vicarious and
innocent death for us all, He will reunite all of humanity into one
people. In
the final analysis, the division in humanity today cannot be resolved simply
through dialogue and reason alone. Only faith in God can unite us
all together as one family. Secularism, agnosticism, relativism and
individualism have rendered the world into a fragile fragmented humanity where
no one can agree on anything. We no longer hold common values and what is
right and wrong. That is why we are all dispersed. This is
precisely what the devil is seeking, to divide and destroy. The works of
the Evil One is to sow division, through lies, half-truths, fake news, fear,
selfishness, distrust and competition. The Evil One has managed to spread
the culture of division by destroying the integrity of the human person,
marriage and family, narrow nationalistic trends. The Evil One has
propagated the culture of death through despair, suicide, abortion, euthanasia,
killing, terrorism, violence, wars and drug abuse. Indeed, the world is
the most unsafe place today. Have we ever asked, what causes it?
Simply because the world
has rejected Christ and the gospel of peace. Like the Jewish leaders who were not concerned
about the nation but only their self-interest. Caiaphas thought that by
putting Christ to death, it would ensure political peace in Israel and the
survival of the nation. It is nothing but expediency. They were
intent on securing their positions and status quo. They saw Jesus as a
threat to their authority and they feared that the gospel that Jesus preached
would unsettle the Romans and cause them to intervene. So in the name of
protecting the people, he advocated the elimination of our Lord. Isn’t
this the way the world works today? In the name of unity, they proclaim
religions to be a threat to peace and so only secularism can promote unity,
secure peace and progress. How can secularism that says that no truth can
be found establish unity among all peoples? On what basis will
unity and peace be found? Like Caiaphas, Jesus was but a pawn to get his
agenda accomplished. Truth and morality are surrendered to expediency.
The cross of Christ will
heal humanity because it shows the foolishness of the world. “For since, in the wisdom of God, the
world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of
our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and
Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block
to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both
Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s
foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than
human strength.” (1 Cor
1:21-25)
The cross is where the
blessings and graces of God flow.
In the cross, we see the love of God made visible. Of course, not just in
the cross alone but in His resurrection. Only in the resurrection, is the
wisdom and power of God manifested. Only because of His resurrection can
we see the cross as truly the love of God. Only because of the
resurrection, are we able to draw strength from the cross, believing that it
will not end in disgrace but grace, not death but life. Without
Jesus being lifted up a second time in His glory as the resurrected Lord, the
cross does not make sense. It will not provide inspiration.
The cross without the resurrection would be a tragedy.
What is required of us
is faith! This is what the world does not have. They think that by
marginalizing religions, they can solve the world’s problems. This, too, was the irony of the
Jewish leaders. Instead of being humble to admit that Jesus was the
Messiah, sent by God in fulfillment of the scriptures, they condemned Him to
death. They thought by destroying the temple of Jesus’ body (cf Jn 2:19-21)
they would be secure. But this did not prevent the Romans from destroying
their temple and their nation, nor did it prevent the disciples of Jesus from
growing in number. On the contrary, the death and resurrection of our
Lord was the basis of the early Christians’ proclamation. The kerygma, the
passion, death and resurrection of our Lord was what brought about belief and
conversion in the early Church.
Faith requires freedom
just as Jesus freely gave Himself to death. We read that “from that day they were
determined to kill him. So Jesus no longer went about openly among the Jews,
but left the district for a town called Ephraim, in the country bordering on
the desert, and stayed there with his disciples.” In the final analysis,
His death would not be determined by the chief priests and the religious
leaders or by the Romans. Jesus was in charge of His life. In fact,
He told Pilate when He was brought before Him. “You would have no power
over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed
me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” (Jn 19:11)
It was Jesus who put Pilate and the people on trial for their complicity in
killing an innocent man. The gospel made it clear that Jesus did not die
tragically as if it was unplanned. He told the disciples at Emmaus after
His resurrection, “Everything written about me in the law of Moses, the
prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled. Thus it is written, that the
Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that
repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all
nations, beginning from Jerusalem.’ (Lk
24:44-47) Until then, no one could lay hands on Him.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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