Gospel: John 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 together the Council.They said, “What are we to do? For this man keeps on performing many 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 destroy our Holy Place and our nation.”Then one of them, Caiaphas, who was High Priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! 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 foretold like

a prophet that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also would die in order 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. They looked for Jesus and, as they stood in the temple, they talked with one another, “What do you think? Will he come to the festival?”

Reflections

“It is better to have one man die for the people than to let the whole nation be destroyed.”When one is so concerned about preserving one’s status, he becomes paranoid. When Jesus performs many signs or miracles and many of the Jews come to believe in him, those who are in establishment interpret this as a bad sign. They multiply their unfounded fears, saying the Romans will come and get them. So it is better for him to die, says Caiaphas. Seems logical, but he has no basis for saying this. He has not done his homework. Yet death lurks on the side of Jesus.We can waste a life of an innocent man who is supposed to help us go to heaven, if we allow ourselves to be carried by our own fallacies. It is not easy to verify and to wait, to know the truth of the matter. A just man can be condemned to die, when the process is done in haste, backed up with false premises and false witnesses. Justice is not served when there is fear.They did this to Jesus. They also do it to others. Let us remember there is time of reckoning. God vindicates the innocent and erases the wicked from the face of the earth. Where are they now?
© Copyright Bible Diary 2019