My dear friends in Christ, if we look at the news today, or sometimes even inside our own families, we see a world fractured by conflict. To...
My dear friends in Christ, if we look at the news today, or sometimes even inside our own families, we see a world fractured by conflict. Today, on the very edge of Holy Week, our readings speak directly to this brokenness through three words: Division, Death, and Deliverance.
We start with Division. In the time of the prophet Ezekiel, Israel was shattered. They were exiled, scattered across foreign lands, and broken into divided kingdoms. In our Gospel today, we see another kind of division. The religious leaders are in a panic. Jesus has just raised Lazarus from the dead, and the Sanhedrin is terrified. They are afraid of losing their power, their land, and their status to the Romans. Fear always breeds Division. It makes us look at others not as brothers and sisters, but as threats to be eliminated.
This Division leads the council to plot a Death. Caiaphas, the high priest, stands up and gives a cold, calculated political speech. He says, "It is better for you that one man should die instead of the people." He thinks he is just solving a political problem by executing an innocent man. He intends to murder Jesus to keep the peace.
But here is the absolute genius of God's grace: Deliverance. St. John tells us that Caiaphas didn't realize he was actually speaking a prophecy. God took the darkest, most corrupt plot of murder—the Death of Jesus—and used it to bring about our Deliverance. By dying on the cross, Jesus fulfilled the promise from Ezekiel. His sacrifice became the magnet that gathers the scattered children of God back into one family. God subverted their evil plan to orchestrate the greatest act of love in human history.
Brothers and sisters, tomorrow is Palm Sunday. As we enter the holiest days of the year, remember this: God is bigger than our Divisions. He is more powerful than Death. Whatever scattered pieces exist in your life, whatever broken relationships or deep anxieties you carry, bring them to the cross. Because it is there, in the shadow of the cross, that God works His greatest Deliverance. Amen.
No comments