April 12, 2014
Saturday, 5th Week of Lent 1st Reading: Ezk 37:21–28
Gospel: Jn 11:45–56
Many of the Jews who had come with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw what he did; but some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees called the Sanhedrin Council.
They said, “What are we to do? For this man keeps on giving miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this, all the people will believe in him and, as a result of this, the Romans will come and sweep away our Holy Place and our nation.”Then one of them, Caiaphas, who was High Priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all nor do you see clearly what you need. It is better to have one man die for the people than to let the whole nation be destroyed.”
In saying this Caiaphas did not speak for himself, but being High Priest that year, he fore-told as a prophet that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the scattered children of God. So, from that day on, they were determined to kill him.Because of this, Jesus no longer moved about freely among the Jews. He withdrew instead to the country near the wilderness and stayed with his disciples in a town called Ephraim.The Passover of the Jews was at hand and people from everywhere were coming to Jerusalem to purify themselves before the Passover. (…)
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE (Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
“Synedrion” is Greek for “sitting together”. From this word “Sanhedrin” was derived. The Sanhedrin was a group of 23 people sitting together as judges in every city of the Land of Israel in Biblical times. They also had a Supreme Court called the Great
Sanhedrin composed of a chief justice (called the High Priest), a vice chief justice, and 69 members. Since the Romans allowed the Jews to manage their own affairs for as long as they did not rebel, the Sanhedrin wielded so much power over the Jewish people.
In today’s Gospel we read about how the Sanhedrin monitored Jesus’ movement. They were worried about the growing number of Jesus’ followers. If they allowed Jesus to continue performing miracles, the number could swell to a level that would make the
Romans suspect a rebellion was brewing. Their final decision was: “It is better to have one man die for the people than to let the whole nation be destroyed.” So it did not matter to them anymore that Jesus could have been innocent.
Like the members of the Sanhedrin whose concern was not the truth but political convenience, many of us too easily set faith aside where physical convenience is at stake. May we come out from this Season of Lent with a firm resolve to stand up for our faith! – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com.
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