April 3, 2004 - Saturday, 5th Week of Lent

Gathering What Is Scattered

Readings:
Ez 37:21-28; Jeremiah 31:10, 11-12abcd, 13; Jn 11:45-57

Introduction

At a time of the purifying trial of the exile, Ezekiel preaches God’s utopian dream: Israel will be gathered into one: one nation, one land, one sanctuary, ruled by one shepherd and servant king under one God in a covenant of peace.

After the resurrection of Lazarus, the cynical high priest and leaders decide to put embarrassing troublemaker Jesus to death for opportunistic reasons of state. But John, and Christians with him, realize that Jesus’ death for the sake of all will ultimately unify us all in his kingdom.

We are today still scattered and divided tribes, within the Church and outside it. Is unity for us utopia or a firm hope? Do we realize it can be attained only by respect, love and sacrifice?

Opening Prayer

Lord God, creator and Father of all,
your sons and daughters
are still scattered and divided:
Christians and non-Christians,
various Churches and sects
claiming exclusive rights on your Son,
and each of them full of factions.
Make us dream again the dream
which you alone can make possible:
that we can all be one
if we believe and follow him
who died to unite all that is scattered,
Jesus Christ, our Lord for ever.

Scripture Readings

First Reading: Ez 37:21-28

Thus says the Lord God:
I will take the children of Israel from among the nations
to which they have come,
and gather them from all sides to bring them back to their land.
I will make them one nation upon the land,
in the mountains of Israel,
and there shall be one prince for them all.
Never again shall they be two nations,
and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms.

No longer shall they defile themselves with their idols,
their abominations, and all their transgressions.
I will deliver them from all their sins of apostasy,
and cleanse them so that they may be my people
and I may be their God.
My servant David shall be prince over them,
and there shall be one shepherd for them all;
they shall live by my statutes and carefully observe my decrees.
They shall live on the land that I gave to my servant Jacob,
the land where their fathers lived;
they shall live on it forever,
they, and their children, and their children's children,
with my servant David their prince forever.
I will make with them a covenant of peace;
it shall be an everlasting covenant with them,
and I will multiply them, and put my sanctuary among them forever.
My dwelling shall be with them;
I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Thus the nations shall know that it is I, the LORD,
who make Israel holy,
when my sanctuary shall be set up among them forever.

Responsorial Psalm: Jeremiah 31:10, 11-12abcd, 13

R (see 10d) The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.

Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,
proclaim it on distant isles, and say:
He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together,
he guards them as a shepherd his flock.
R The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.

The LORD shall ransom Jacob,
he shall redeem him from the hand of his conqueror.
Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion,
they shall come streaming to the LORD's blessings:
The grain, the wine, and the oil,
the sheep and the oxen.
R The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.

Then the virgins shall make merry and dance,
and young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will console and gladden them after their sorrows.
R The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.

Gospel Reading: Jn 11:45-57

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 foretold 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. 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?" Meanwhile the chief priests and the elders had given orders that anyone who knew where he was should let them know so that they could arrest him.

Commentary

"POETRY makes nothing happen: it survives
In the valley of its saying where executives
Would never want to tamper" (W.H. Auden)
These lines are part of a poem written in memory of the poet W.B. Yeats, but I think Yeats was not so sure that poetry made nothing happen. He once had reason to wonder:
        "Did that play of mine send out
        Certain men the English shot?"

Sometimes words can be a substitute for action (see yesterday's reading). But they don't always "survive in the valley of their saying," as Auden put it; sometimes they flood down from the mountaintops and shake an Empire. The Sanhedrin knew this.

"The Romans will come and sweep away our Holy Place and our nation." So they were determined to kill him. "It is better to have one man die for the people than to let the whole nation be destroyed," said the High Priest, exactly according to Nietzsche's observation.

They were not the first, and they were not the last, to kill someone in order to silence him. Most of us don't go that far, but we go some of the way! An interesting list to compile: all the people I silence in subtle or unsubtle ways.

General Intercessions

–   That our world may become one in seeking peace for all, with access for all nations to the goods of our world and respect and understanding for every people on earth, we pray:

–   That the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus may bring together the divided and scattered Churches, we pray:

–   That our communities may be find unity in prayer, sharing and mutual service, we pray:

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord our God,
you have called us together
at the table of your Son.
Unite us in him,
make us one of heart and mind,
that we may become to a divided world
a sign that unity is possible
when we can meet in Christ Jesus,
your Son and our Lord for ever.

Prayer after Communion

Lord, our God and Father,
you want us to become one
under Christ, our shepherd and servant.
May we learn from him
to be servants of love and truth
and to sacrifice our clannish interests
for the sake of the good of all.
Under the guidance of your Son
may we truly be your people
and you our God for ever and ever.

Blessing

How far we are still from the ideal of one heart and one mind, be it  in our world, our Churches, our communities. May God bring his scattered children together and bless us, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

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