A reading from the prophet Ezekiel (37:21-28)
Thus says the Lord God: ‘Look, I am taking the Israelites 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 the country, 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, their horrors and any of their crimes. I shall save them from the acts of infidelity which they have committed and I shall cleanse them; they will be my people and I shall be their God. My servant David will reign over them, one shepherd for all; they will follow my judgements, respect my laws and practise them. They will live in the land which I gave to 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 make them grow; I shall set my sanctuary among them for ever. I shall make my home above them; I shall be their God and they will be my people. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, the sanctifier of Israel, when my sanctuary is with them for evermore.’
In his words of promise about the future, after the return from exile, the prophet Ezekiel speaks of a reunited people. Many centuries earlier, after the death of king Solomon, the kingdom of David had split into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah (1 Kings 12). God now instructs Ezekiel to perform the symbolic act of bringing together two sticks to symbolise reunion (37:15-20). The two nations shall become one, under one ruler, and the covenant shall be restored, an ‘eternal covenant of peace’. It is twice stated that ‘David’ will rule over them, for David was the ideal king in a time of unity. The sanctuary of God shall be among them for ever. God proclaims: ‘I shall be their God, and they will be my people.’ The nations will know by this the greatness of the God of Israel
Jer 31:10-31 In this prophetic poem Jeremiah looks forward to a time of consolation.
A reading from the holy gospel according to John (11:45-56)
Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what he did, believed in him, but some of them went to the Pharisees to tell them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and Pharisees called a meeting and said, ‘What are we doing? This man is working many signs. If we let him go on in this way everybody will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take from us the Holy Place and our nation.’ One of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said, ‘You know nothing at all; you have not worked out that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, rather than that the whole nation should perish.’ He did not speak in his own person, but as high priest of that year he was prophesying that Jesus was to die for the nation – and not for the nation only, but also to gather together into one the dispersed children of God. From that day onwards they planned to kill him. So Jesus no longer went about openly among the Jews, but left there for the district near the desert, to a town called Ephraim, and stayed there with the disciples.
The Passover of the Jews was near, and many people came up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. They were looking out for Jesus, saying to one another as they stood in the Temple, ‘What do you think? Surely he will not come to the festival, will he?’
After the final ‘sign’ of Jesus, the raising of Lazarus from the dead, many more come to believe in him. But others report the event, and the chief priests and Pharisees consider the way forward. The high priest, who was both the religious and political leader, reasons that the death of an innocent man, Jesus, is justified in order to protect the people against Roman repression. To allow this ‘messiah’ to continue would be to invite further Roman violence against the people. The evangelist considers the statement of Caiaphas to be prophetic, for Jesus will indeed die not only ‘for the people’, but ‘to gather together the dispersed children of God’. The authorities will eventually plot to kill not only Jesus, but Lazarus too (12:10). The evangelist once again reports that Jesus withdraws, this time to the desert and to ‘a town called Ephraim’. The last gospel reading before Holy Week begins leaves us in suspense. Will Jesus come to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover? Or will he avoid such a dangerous situation? For their part, the leaders are resolved to have him killed.
Why does leadership so often disregard justice and truth?
We pray that politicians will enlist the power of truth and of justice.