Readings of the day: Ezekiel 37:21-28; Responsorial Canticle: Jeremiah 31:10, 11-12abcd, 13; John 11:45-56
Who are prophets among us today, those
whom we recognize and those whom we do not recognize?
Our Gospel reading today from John
presents us with an unlikely prophet: The high priest Caiaphas. How many of us
are thinking, “Caiaphas, a prophet, really? Does Caiaphas not contribute to the
evil that results in Jesus’ death?”
Indeed Caiaphas contributes to Jesus’
death, but he speaks some of the most prophetic words in John’s Gospel to the
Sanhedrin, the governing body of Jewish religious authorities in Jesus’ time.
Caiaphas says: “You know nothing, 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.” John explains that Caiaphas prophesies Jesus’ death “not only for the
nation, but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God.”
Let us put John’s explanation here into
historical context: By the time of Jesus, the people of Israel had a long
history of failing to listen to prophets. True prophets like Ezekiel, whom we
have heard in our first reading today, and Jeremiah, whom we have heard in our
Responsorial Canticle, were ignored, persecuted, or even killed for doing
exactly what Jesus did: Trying to gather Israel, God’s chosen people, into one
nation. Because these true prophets were ignored and prosecuted, the people of
Israel suffered periods of exile and occupation by neighboring nations.
Ironically, precisely because most
religious authorities ignored and then planned to kill Jesus, Caiaphas’
prophecy that Jesus was the one “to gather into one the dispersed children of
God” by his death came true; is still coming true today. We are a people being
gathered together under Christ our Lord.
Who are the prophets today who signal
our being gathered together as one people; as God’s people? Who are the
unrecognized; unheralded prophets among us? Can we think of anybody today who,
like the high priest Caiaphas, is disagreeable or even wicked, but who
occasionally speaks profound words of truth, even unintentionally: Words that
unite; words that examine our motivations; words that might expose some of our
own sin; our own need for repentance?
Who are the Caiaphas
figures of our time? Does it not take more discernment; more effort on our part
to find the grain of truth that a false prophet like Caiaphas speaks, and to
live this truth for our own good? This it does, and yet this is the calling to
us through the Word of God today: To discern prophecy; to discern truth even
from the unlikeliest of sources. The dull, those of weak faith, the
disagreeable, and even the wicked are sometimes as much instruments of God as
the strong, true, and faithful prophets to do God’s work: To gather us together
as one people under Christ our Lord.
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