Scripture reading: John 11:45-56

Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen what Jesus did believed in him, but some of them went to tell the Pharisees what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and Pharisees called a meeting.

Here is this man working all these signs they said and what action are we taking? If we let him go on in this way everybody will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy the Holy Place and our nation.

One of them, Caiaphas, the high priest that year, said,
You don't seem to have grasped the situation at all;
you fail to see that it is better for one man to die for the people,
than for the whole nation to be destroyed.

Caiaphas did not speak in his own person, it was as high priest that he made this prophecy that Jesus was to die for the nation - and not for the nation only, but to gather together in unity the scattered children of God. From that day they were determined to kill him. So Jesus no longer went about openly among the Jews, but left the district for a town called Ephraim, in the country bordering on the desert, and stayed there with his disciples.

Short Reflection: Why Jesus had to die

It seems to me that only one person in the Gospels understood the significance
of what Jesus was doing. It wasn't any of the apostles, or his mother, or any of
the women who followed Jesus - it was Caiphas, the High Priest, when he said:
It is better that one man should die than the nation perish.(John 11:50)

One didn't have to be a prophet to foresee that Jesus' fellowship with those whom his society
wished to exclude would lead to his death. 'Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners.' This simple
act of friendship was at the same time a profoundly political act. And Jesus knew it. And the
religious leaders knew it. It led to a confrontation between them, - and Jesus lost.

The crucifixion was just another political act, the inevitable consequence of the political act of
eating with tax collectors,siding with sinners, healing the sick and raising the dead. Jesus was
becoming a threat to the establishment with every action he did and word he spoke.

Story: The boy learned his lesson

Thomas Edison, the great scientist, after many hundreds of attempts and failures, invented the electric light bulb. He was finally satisfied with it and handed the bulb to a young lad who was helping him and asked him to put it safely away ... and the boy dropped it!

Edison set to work again and after a while finished making another bulb, tested it, switched it off and handed it to the same boy to put away.

Another worker asked, 'Are you sure you want him to put it away for you? 

Edison replied, ‘Yes I am, he has learned his lesson'. He'll never drop anything again:

God trusts those whom he forgives. Making mistakes is not really the problem, learning from them is what it is all about.
(Kenneth Payne, What shall I say, www.columba.ie)

A prophet a day can keep the devil away: Job  - 400BC 

If you have ever asked yourself ‘Why do good people suffer?' The prophet Job is for you...   Job (the
name Job rhymes with robe) was a good decent man who had it all, loving wife, family, lands, cattle
and money to boot.
Then he was struck by a series of disasters, his animals were stolen, property lost, children killed
while at a party, servants died, and he became covered from head to toe with boils. (And all this happens
by Chaper 2 in his book!) In Chapter 3, Verse 2 Job wished he had never been born.

In the remaining 35 chapters Job tries to discover why bad things happen to good people.
His surviving family and ‘friends' advise him his sins were the reason. (- Job's comfortors!)
From Ch 38-41, God makes a personal appearance and Job learns something really important about God
and our relationship with Him - we need to trust Him whatever comes our way!

A gentle call to action
Caiphas knew the real danger Jesus posed - Jesus was calling everyone to renewal and a more real faith in God's Kingdom but his self-interest and love of authority took over. Jesus’ passion was compassion and he lived that daily.

The question for me is:
Do I need to re-think my values?
What values do I hold dear?
What do I spend most of my time doing?
Am I always ‘on the make’ or watching for the ‘angle’, or reaching out to others in their need?
Do i loose faith when I fail at things

Prayer

Jesus, you are compassion and love;
your forgiveness and mercy give us hope in life.

Open our minds
to your presence in our lives,
to your wisdom and your care in our sufferings,
to the humility we need to admit our faults,
to the courage we need grow beyond our selfishness,
and to the faith we need to carry on living generously.
Never let my actions be as a result of mere self-interest.

I ask all this in Jesus name, Amen

Prayer image of the Day.

I will make them into one nation. ......Ezekiel 37: 21f

All truth passes through three stages.
Firstly, it is ridiculed.
Secondly, it is violently opposed.
Thirdly, it is accepted as self-evident.
....Arthur Schopenhauer