20240323 THE INEXORABLE PLAN OF GOD DEFEATS ALL HUMAN IMAGINATION
23 March 2024, Saturday, 5th Week of Lent
First reading |
Ezekiel 37:21-28 © |
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.’
Responsorial Psalm |
Jeremiah 31:10-13 © |
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.
Gospel Acclamation | Ezk18:31 |
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!
Or: | Jn3:16 |
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!
Gospel | John 11:45-56 © |
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?’
THE INEXORABLE PLAN OF GOD DEFEATS ALL HUMAN IMAGINATION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [EZEKIEL 37:21-28; JEREMIAH 31:10-13; JOHN 11:45-56]
It is the deepest hope of everyone to live in unity with their loved ones, their family, their colleagues, their community, and with the rest of the world. We are all seeking for unity and peace. There is nothing more beautiful than to find a community where we are accepted, loved, forgiven and able to share our lives with. But this common goal of humanity seems illusive. There is so much division everywhere. People do not seem to be able to get along with each other, even in a small family of three persons. Divisions happen because of differences in opinion, incompatibility in character, human weakness, greed, selfishness and pride. These are the things that continue to divide us.
Israel, too, was divided and scattered among the nations because of their sins. The Northern Kingdom of Israel was united with the Southern Kingdom of Judah under King David. Under David, there was unity and peace in Israel for all the Twelve Tribes were united. As a consequence, the country grew, became strong, prosperous and was looked upon as a great nation by others. Under King Solomon, Israel reached its zenith in glory, splendour, wealth and power. Unfortunately, as in the history of humanity, when a nation becomes rich, powerful and influential, complacency, greed, ambition and moral decadence will set in. The kings after David were not as God-fearing as him. Solomon started well but success, pride and lust got into his head. After him, the nation started to deteriorate because all the kings that came after them did not have the moral integrity and the wisdom of David and Solomon to govern the people justly and unselfishly. When leaders lack upright living and righteousness, when they have no fear of God, they become arrogant and believed only in themselves.
Isn’t this what the world and humanity are moving towards? The irony is that with all the globalization that is taking place in migration, economics and trade, multi-culturalism, mass communication and digital communication, the world is more than ever so divided, both between and among nations and within the country itself. People cannot agree with each other on anything because everyone has his or her own presuppositions and starting point. The real dictator in the world is not any world or religious leader but the ideology of relativism. Truth, today, is no longer based on objectivity but on personal preferences, clever arguments, cultural conditioning, propaganda, influence and popularity. The unity of the world and of society is simply based on trying to create a common space through dialogue and accommodating each other’s preferences. No one dares to claim that he is right or wrong anymore. No one knows what is truth or morality. No government today wants to be the moral compass or leader for society, but they are simply mediators seeking to gain consensus from the majority. In other words, their role is not to decide what is right or wrong but to be peacemakers and brokers for unity among their citizens so that all can live in peace and harmony with each other.
This pursuit of peace and unity seems very illusive. In the first reading from the prophet Ezekiel, the Lord promised that one day He would “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.” Was this promise ever fulfilled? In truth, not the way Israel was, and is still hoping.
The religious and political leaders during the time of Jesus, too, had their own hopes and vision for peace and unity in Israel. They were under Roman domination and were hoping that the Messiah would come and deliver them from the foreign empire. But Jesus was not acceptable to the Jewish leaders, especially the Temple priests, because they were afraid that the Romans might step in and take over their authority as Jesus was becoming too popular and the Romans might think He could be causing disorder. On the other hand, the people were hoping that Jesus would be their political messiah to liberate them. After the multiplication of loaves, “When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’ When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.” (Jn 6:14f) Such hope was echoed by the disciples at Emmaus. “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” (Lk 24:19-21)
So, in order to protect their interests and secure their power and privileges, they thought that having Jesus put to death was the way to protect public order, preserve their religious institutions and political power. “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.'” Again, in his own thinking and reasoning, “One of them, Caiaphas, the high priest that year, 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.'” His prophecy was also not fulfilled the way he thought. On the contrary, St John saw his unintended prophecy in the light of faith. St John gave us the commentary. “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, God would use the death of Jesus to bring about the unity of His people, not according to what Caiaphas thought. On the contrary, the nation as well as the Temple were destroyed by the Romans in AD 70 and the people were scattered.
What is the great lesson we can learn from all this? We know that Christ is the fulfilment of the prophecy of Ezekiel. He is that Shepherd whom the Lord said, “My servant David will reign over them, one shepherd for all; they will follow my observances, respect my laws and practise them … 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.” St Paul wrote, “He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.” (Col 1:18-20) To the Ephesians, he said, “In former generations this mystery was not made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that is, the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” (Eph 3: 5f)
However, we can never envisage how the plan of God would unfold itself eventually. As Isaiah says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isa 55:8f) All we know is that God’s plan to unite all the peoples in the world will ultimately be realized. The eternal plan of God is to unite all humanity into one family. All we are called to do is to play our role in revealing Christ to the world, and as Church, to become more and more the sign and instrument of unity for the human race through witnessing in words and deeds, living in unity, truth, love and compassion for the poor.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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