Many Believed And Are Saved

𝐀𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐋 𝟏𝟐, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐅𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐇 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓

𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐄𝐳𝐞 𝟑𝟕:𝟐𝟏-𝟐𝟖

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐉𝐞𝐫 𝟑𝟏: 𝟏𝟎-𝟏𝟐, 𝟏𝟑 “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐮𝐬, 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐉𝐍 𝟏𝟏:𝟒𝟓-𝟒𝟔

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒅𝒊𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑱𝒆𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏.” (v.51)

Some years back I was blessed to have listened to a recollection given by a prominent lay theologian and he presented the life of Jesus in a very simple and easy to understand progression of events that every layman could relate to.

In his talk, he revealed that our lives are closely hewn to the life of Jesus such that what Jesus experienced in his passion, death and resurrection is the same thing that we are experiencing and that we shouldn’t run away from it but accept it because it is part of the plan of God for us.

The Gospel in 𝐉𝐧 𝟏𝟏:𝟒𝟓-𝟓𝟔 also gives us an idea of what it is to be persecuted as many of us have been. In this Gospel reading we see that Jesus was to die than for the whole nation to perish (𝐯.𝟓𝟎). This was what the council of religious leaders led by Caiaphas the high priest decided on in an apparent attempt to offset the growing popularity of Jesus in whom the people were beginning to have faith.

Similarly, we also need to die to that part of our lives that separate us from God. These may be our pride, arrogance, unforgiveness, bitterness and resentments we have been harboring in our lives, idolatry and we must put these away lest it corrupts our entire nature.

What raised concern among the Pharisees was when Jesus brought Lazarus back to life in Bethany that led many people to believe in Jesus and for the Chief Priests and the Pharisees this was the last straw as they convened the Sanhedrin to discuss what to do with Jesus.

The Sanhedrin was the governing council that brings together the Pharisees and the Sadducees. This was an unusual gathering because the Pharisees and the Sadducees are poles apart as the Pharisees was apolitical and its only interest was simply to live in accordance with the Mosaic law.

The Sadducees, on the other hand, were political and its members were wealthy and influential, and they will collaborate and cooperate with anyone the way they did with the Roman conquerors for as long as they will be allowed to retain their wealth and positions of authority. All the priests were Sadducees and it was Caiaphas who was the Chief Priest at the time when the Sanhedrin was convened to decide what to do with Jesus.

It was clear that the religious leaders did not know what to make out of Jesus whom they regarded as a threat to their positions of influence – “𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐?” (𝒗.47) and it was evident that the miracles and countless instances of healing that Jesus did were drawing people to Jesus.

“𝑰𝒇 𝒘𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒚 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏.” (𝒗.48) At this point in time, the Sanhedrin didn’t even care whether Jesus was right or was he really the Son of God whom he claimed to be because their only concern was its effect on their positions of authority and influence.

It was clear that the Sanhedrin have lost all sense of scruples as they judged the situation in terms of their fear of Jesus whom they could not accept as the Messiah and this scenario presents a parallelism in what is also happening today when men prioritize their position before the Will of God and such is present not just in the political sphere but even in the religious setting when leaders of the church or community create their own cliques to hold on to their authority and influence.

The decision meted out by Caiaphas “𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒅𝒊𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆” (𝒗.50) was not debatable because by tradition the Jews regard the Chief Priest as speaking for God (𝐍𝐮𝐦 𝟐𝟕:𝟏𝟖-𝟐𝟏) and while it was true that Jesus has been willed to die to save the people, his death was not in the way that Caiaphas meant. What Caiaphas also did not know at the time was that he was also being used by God to proclaim that Jesus must die although he was not yet aware of its implications.

And what was so glaring was the stubbornness and hard-heartedness of the Sanhedrin who persisted in rejecting Jesus instead of humbling themselves and admit they were wrong in not accepting Jesus as the Son of God.

In other words, pride became the order of the day when the Sanhedrin decided that Jesus must die. Similarly, we too must be aware that in each one of us we are filled with pride that lies hidden in our hearts.

We are proud of our achievements, our positions, our influence and what we have become in our careers, in our social and civic circle and or in the church organization where we belong. But such pride can lead us into enormous sin if we allow it to manifest and take on our nature as well as circumstances in our lives.

Pride is what leads us to lie and camouflage our intentions such that the Word of God can come out of our lips to hide our intentions and project the holiness that we want people to see just so we can manipulate situations in our favor.

We can do all these because we have placed our own preferences over and above the Will of God and our steadfast desire to keep the degree of our influence and authority that prevents us from being objective in the way we deal with things.

In our Lenten journey, it will help if we reflect on the remaining days of Jesus who did not deem equality with God as something to be grasped but he looked at the impending scenario on Calvary with objectivity. He knew the kind of suffering that awaits him and yet he went through it because this was what needed to be done.

The prophet Ezekiel announced that God would establish one people, one land, one prince, and one sanctuary forever. And Luke adds the prophecy made by Caiaphas who did not know he was being used by God, that Jesus would gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

Jesus indeed came to lay down his life for the many, but not in a foolish reckless manner to throw it away before his work was done. He retired to Ephraim (𝐯.𝟓𝟓) until the time had come when nothing would stop his coming to Jerusalem to fulfill his Father's mission (𝐋𝐤 𝟗:𝟓𝟏; 𝐈𝐬𝐚 𝟓𝟎:𝟕).

Indeed, his death brought all peoples and nations together to establish a one, holy, Catholic and universal church that has remained the same from the foot of the cross to Rome and to all the nations throughout the world.

Make no mistake about it – that there is only one Catholic Church regardless of where it has been established. The question is: Are you ready to die for Jesus? (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘈𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘭 12, 2025)