＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Ezekiel 37:21-28*

(…..)Thus says Yahweh:

I am about to withdraw the Israelites from where they were among the nations. I shall gather them from all around and bring them back to their land. I shall make them into one people on the mountains of Israel and one king is to be king of them all.

They will no longer form two nations or be two separate kingdoms, nor will they defile themselves again with their idols, their detestable prac­tices and their sins. I shall free them from the guilt of their treachery; I shall cleanse them and they will be for me a people and I shall be God for them.

 My servant David will reign over them, one shepherd for all. They will live according to my laws and follow and practice my de­crees. They will settle in the land I gave to my ser­vant Jacob where their ancestors lived. There they will live forever, their children and their chil­dren’s children. David my servant will be their prince forever.(…….)

 

Jer 31:10, 11-12abcd, 13

The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.

 

＊＊＊＊ 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 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?”

 

Gospel Reflection：

The religious authorities are now perplexed at the mighty works that Jesus performs. It attracted a great following. Soon the Roman conquerors will take notice and perhaps suppress the Jesus movement.

It bodes ill for the religious authorities. It might destroy the status quo they have painstakingly cultivated with their foreign occupiers. It is time to put a stop to what Jesus is doing.

The funny thing is, they miss the significance of Jesus’ actions. The messianic time is now unfolding before their eyes. Their hopes and aspirations are now slowly realized in Jesus.

Yet they can only think of their own survival, of the preservation of their privileges and the continuation of the business as usual collaboration with the foreign invaders. Thus they plotted to kill the bearer of their deepest wish. When personal good and wellbeing is at stake, our minds become clouded and can not see clearly beyond our own narrow interest.