Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent Year 1 2023

Title

Unity with God

Outline

All around us there are calls for unity

The United Nations is an attempt to work together in unity

Nato is a defensive alliance seeking an outward facing unity that provides security

We see coalitions among ecclesiastical communities of various types from denominations to regional alliances

The list could go on, but the issue is that there is more disunity than ever - the United States is anything but united with radical polarization on any number of issues. Indeed, on the personal and the corporate level this is a divorcing culture, as it has been put.

Could it be because we are seeking the wrong unity, unity for our advantage rather than out of a common commitment to God and his ways?

It is not that God does not want unity

This is especially true among his people, perhaps because they are the ones with a basis for unity.

In Ezekiel he promises to bring them back from being scattered among the nations

He promises them “their land” again

He promises them an undivided government, one nation rather than two as it was from about 930 BC to the Exile

The basis of this will be repentance from idolatry, for that led to splitting in two and then downfall.

Because they are the people of the one God and the one God is their God, “David my servant shall be king over them” and they will keep God’s ordinances.

This is why God says, “I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them. I will multiply them and put my sanctuary among them forever.” Unity over time, unity in worship, unity in peace.

[This is, of course, why the present nation of Israel is not the envisioned fulfillment of this prophecy.]

And this unity will be missional: “Then the nations shall know that I, the LORD, make Israel holy, by putting my sanctuary among them forever.” Which, we know from other passages, makes Israel a light to the nations who will turn to God.

Notice that real unity does not flow from self-interest, but from a covenantal unity with the one God that leads to unified right worship.

Now look at the unity attempted by Caiaphas

Jesus was attracting people to himself via miracles - a lot of this was, of course, self-interest and/or the desire to use Jesus for their program of political independence.

The Sanhedrin fears that it will be an independence move bypassing them and resulting in Roman retaliation in which both the national identity and the land is lost - and their rule in the process. Notice that the Temple is not mentioned.

Caiaphas desires unity under the Sanhedrin and thus counsels: “it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish.” Assassinate Jesus (that is was done “legally” was simply not to alienate the people) for the good of the whole. This is unity without God, for one will not find such Realpolitik in the Torah, even if it is justified by good of the people.

The Fourth Evangelist, however, sees God’s plan: “Since he was high priest for that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not only for the nation, but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God.” He unwittingly spoke prophesy due to his office before God; Jesus would die for the true good and unity of the true nation (not the nation as the Sanhedrin saw it) and also to gather the Gentiles into that unity, a unity of humanity, which, as one sees in Ezekiel, was one of the four jobs of the Messiah.

What do we see here?

First, God is indeed for unity - political unity under a divine Lord, unity in worship, unity in God-given law. The division we see today is a demonic Babel let loose in the world. Where it is most horrible is in the Church, which is supposed to be the City of God on earth. That does not mean that we plot against the divisions we see, but we do pray and we do speak gently but clearly as God gives opportunity.

Second, we need not live in fear, even fear of divisive figures in the Church, for God can use even a Caiaphas’ evil to move history towards his good.

Third, we need to keep God’s vision before us and live it without fear. We remain loyal to Christ and to his ways with our hope set on the coming unity, for then, while we may go through our own Gethsemane and Calvary with him, we will also go through the resurrection to see the united City of God descending from heaven.

Readings

Catholic Daily Readings 4-1-2023: Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent

FIRST READING

Ezekiel 37:21–28

21 Say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD: I will soon take the Israelites from among the nations to which they have gone and gather them from all around to bring them back to their land. 22 I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel, and there shall be one king for them all. They shall never again be two nations, never again be divided into two kingdoms.

23 No longer shall they defile themselves with their idols, their abominations, and all their transgressions. I will deliver them from all their apostasy through which they sinned. I will cleanse them so that they will be my people, and I will be their God. 24 David my servant shall be king over them; they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my ordinances, observe my statutes, and keep them. 25 They shall live on the land I gave to Jacob my servant, the land where their ancestors lived; they shall live on it always, they, their children, and their children’s children, with David my servant as their prince forever. 26 I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them. I will multiply them and put my sanctuary among them forever. 27 My dwelling shall be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. 28 Then the nations shall know that I, the LORD, make Israel holy, by putting my sanctuary among them forever.

Catholic Daily Readings 4-1-2023: Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent

RESPONSE

Jeremiah 31:10d

10 Hear the word of the LORD, you nations,

proclaim it on distant coasts, and say:

The One who scattered Israel, now gathers them;

he guards them as a shepherd his flock.

PSALM

Jeremiah 31:10–13

10 Hear the word of the LORD, you nations,

proclaim it on distant coasts, and say:

The One who scattered Israel, now gathers them;

he guards them as a shepherd his flock.

11 The LORD shall ransom Jacob,

he shall redeem him from a hand too strong for him.

12 Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion,

they shall come streaming to the LORD’s blessings:

The grain, the wine, and the oil,

flocks of sheep and cattle;

They themselves shall be like watered gardens,

never again neglected.

13 Then young women shall make merry and dance,

young men and old as well.

I will turn their mourning into joy,

I will show them compassion and have them rejoice after their sorrows.

Catholic Daily Readings 4-1-2023: Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Ezekiel 18:31

31 Cast away from you all the crimes you have committed, and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, house of Israel?

GOSPEL

John 11:45–56

45 Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what he had done began to believe in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we going to do? This man is performing many signs. 48 If we leave him alone, all will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our land and our nation.” 49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing, 50 nor do you consider that it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish.” 51 He did not say this on his own, but since he was high priest for that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, 52 and not only for the nation, but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God. 53 So from that day on they planned to kill him.

54 So Jesus no longer walked about in public among the Jews, but he left for the region near the desert, to a town called Ephraim, and there he remained with his disciples.

55 Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before Passover to purify themselves. 56 They looked for Jesus and said to one another as they were in the temple area, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?”

Notes

Catholic Daily Readings 4-1-2023: Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent

SATURDAY, APRIL 1, 2023 | LENT

SATURDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF LENT

YEARS 1 & 2 | ROMAN MISSAL | LECTIONARY

First Reading Ezekiel 37:21–28

Response Jeremiah 31:10d

Psalm Jeremiah 31:10–13

Gospel Acclamation Ezekiel 18:31

Gospel John 11:45–56

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