March 28, 2026
Saturday of the Fifth Week of
Lent
Lectionary: 256
Reading
1
Thus says the Lord
GOD:
I will take the children of Israel from among the nations
to which they have come,
and gather them from all sides to bring them back to their land.
I will make them one nation upon the land,
in the mountains of Israel,
and there shall be one prince for them all.
Never again shall they be two nations,
and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms.
No longer shall
they defile themselves with their idols,
their abominations, and all their transgressions.
I will deliver them from all their sins of apostasy,
and cleanse them so that they may be my people
and I may be their God.
My servant David shall be prince over them,
and there shall be one shepherd for them all;
they shall live by my statutes and carefully observe my decrees.
They shall live on the land that I gave to my servant Jacob,
the land where their fathers lived;
they shall live on it forever,
they, and their children, and their children’s children,
with my servant David their prince forever.
I will make with them a covenant of peace;
it shall be an everlasting covenant with them,
and I will multiply them, and put my sanctuary among them forever.
My dwelling shall be with them;
I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Thus the nations shall know that it is I, the LORD,
who make Israel holy,
when my sanctuary shall be set up among them forever.
Responsorial
Psalm
R.
(see 10d) The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his
flock.
Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,
proclaim it on distant isles, and say:
He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together,
he guards them as a shepherd his flock.
R. The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.
The LORD shall ransom Jacob,
he shall redeem him from the hand of his conqueror.
Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion,
they shall come streaming to the LORD’s blessings:
The grain, the wine, and the oil,
the sheep and the oxen.
R. The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.
Then the virgins shall make merry and dance,
and young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will console and gladden them after their sorrows.
R. The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.
Verse
Before the Gospel
Cast away from you
all the crimes you have committed, says the LORD,
and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.
Gospel
Many of the Jews
who had come to Mary
and seen what Jesus had done began to believe in him.
But some of them went to the Pharisees
and told them what Jesus had done.
So the chief priests and the Pharisees
convened the Sanhedrin and said,
“What are we going to do?
This man is performing many signs.
If we leave him alone, all will believe in him,
and the Romans will come
and take away both our land and our nation.”
But one of them, Caiaphas,
who was high priest that year, said to them,
“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.”
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,
and not only for the nation,
but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God.
So from that day on they planned to kill him.
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.
Now the Passover
of the Jews was near,
and many went up from the country to Jerusalem
before Passover to purify themselves.
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?”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032826.cfm
Commentary on
Ezekiel 37:21-28
About today’s First Reading, the St Joseph Weekday
Missal says:
“The union of all tribes is a frequent element in messianic
prophecy. God is to unite the nation in a new covenant in which there are five
essential elements:
•Yahweh, its God;
•Israel, his people;
•Life, ‘on the land where their fathers lived’;
•‘My sanctuary among them’, as a sign of the presence of the Lord and law;
•David, as the one shepherd over them.”
The prophet foresees a time when the two divided kingdoms of
the Jews (Israel or Ephraim and Judah, the Northern and Southern kingdoms) will
be united forever into one, and when all those living abroad who belong to
Israel will come back. This will be a feature of the Messianic age.
The reading says:
I will take the people of Israel from the nations among
which they have gone and will gather them from every quarter and bring them to
their own land.
This sentence is echoed in the Gospel when John says about
the unwitting prophecy of the high priest Caiaphas:
…he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the
nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed
children of God. (John 11:51-52)
These will then give up all their sinful ways and all forms
of idolatry and abominations, with which they had been plagued for so many
generations, and will be cleansed by God.
My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall
all have one shepherd.
The coming Messianic ruler is called David because he will
be a descendant of David and will achieve for Israel what David had—except more
fully. He is likened to a shepherd, who cares for his flock, echoing where
Yahweh says he will be the “shepherd of my sheep” (Ezek 34:14). We recognise
Jesus in this ‘Messianic David’, and later Jesus will also call himself the
Good Shepherd, protecting his own and looking for those who are lost.
The passage continues:
I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an
everlasting covenant with them, and I will…set my sanctuary among them
forevermore.
The phrase “everlasting (or eternal) covenant” occurs 16
times in the Old Testament, referring to that made with Noah, with Abraham,
with David, and a ‘new covenant’ made in Jeremiah (32:40).
The covenant formula, a pledge of mutual commitment, is once
again repeated:
…I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
It is through Jesus, through the covenant signed by his
blood on the cross, that the New Covenant will be ratified and is still in
force. With one big difference—it extends now, not to one people or race, but
to the whole world:
Then the nations shall know that I the Lord sanctify
Israel, when my sanctuary is among them forevermore.
And that ‘sanctuary’ for us is the ongoing and visible
presence of the Risen Lord, no longer identified with a building, but in his
People, who are now his Body:
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s
Spirit dwells in you? (1 Cor 3:16)
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy
Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? (1
Cor 6:19)
The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in
the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body
of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all
partake of the one bread.
(1 Cor 10:16-17)
And indeed, as today’s Gospel ends, it points to the coming
Passover feast when the sacramental celebration of Jesus’ Pasch will occur—that
celebration by which we commemorate and make present the inauguration of the
New Covenant on Calvary.
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Commentary on John
11:45-57
We are now on the threshold of Holy Week and today’s Gospel
sets the stage for the coming events. The passage is again full of Johannine
irony, where people make statements with a meaning far beyond what they intend
to say.
The raising of Lazarus had led many to believe in Jesus, but
others were alarmed. They went off to the chief priests and asked what was
being done to stop this man in his tracks. Their report was serious enough to
warrant calling the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of the Jews, into session:
What are we to do? This man is performing many signs.
Far from seeing the great significance of the “signs”, they
go into a panic:
If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in
him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.
Of course, what they feared and wanted to stop is exactly
what happened. Jesus did go “on like this” and the Temple and the nation were
destroyed.
Caiaphas, the high priest, moves to quell their fears and
then goes on to make his own unwitting prophecy. A gift of prophecy, sometimes
unconscious, was attributed to the high priest. He says:
You do not understand that it is better for you to have
one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.
Caiaphas is saying that it is better to get rid of Jesus,
than put the whole nation in jeopardy. In fact, in a very different way, Jesus
did die for his own people, and John comments that Jesus died not only for the
Jewish people, but for people everywhere. And, it was not for the political
preservation of a nation, but for the giving of new life to a people where all
conventional divisions became irrelevant.
The end for Jesus is coming close, so he goes into hiding
until the time is right. Again he goes to Ephraim, a place thought to be about
20 km northeast of Jerusalem, where mountains descend into the Jordan valley.
It was a remote desert area where Jesus was relatively safe.
As the Passover approaches, people are on the watch for
Jesus to appear. Instructions have been given out that any sightings of Jesus
were to be reported so that the authorities could arrest him.
Again there is another ironic question:
What do you think? Surely he will not come to the
festival, will he?
Little did they know that Jesus would be the central
character of this Passover and make it the most famous Passover in history. We
are now ready to enter the great finale of Holy Week.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/l1057g/
Saturday,
March 28, 2026
Season of Lent
Opening Prayer
Lord God, creator and Father of all,
Your sons and daughters are still scattered and divided:
Christians and non-
Christians, various Churches and
sects claiming exclusive rights on Your Son, and each of them full of factions.
Make us dream again the dream which You alone can make
possible: that we can all be one if we believe and follow Him who died to unite
all that is scattered, Jesus Christ, our Lord forever.
Gospel Reading – John 11: 45-56
Many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what Jesus had
done began to believe in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told
them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the
Sanhedrin and said, "What are we going to do? This man is performing many
signs. If we leave him alone, all will believe in him, and the Romans will come
and take away both our land and our nation." But one of them, Caiaphas,
who was high priest that year, said to them, "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." 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, and not only for the nation, but also to
gather into one the dispersed children of God. So from that day on they planned
to kill him. 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. Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many
went up from the country to Jerusalem before Passover to purify themselves.
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?"
Reflection
The Gospel today gives the last
part of the long episode of the resurrection of Lazarus in Bethany, in the
house of Martha and Mary (Jn 11: 1-56). The resurrection of Lazarus is the
seventh sign (miracle) of Jesus in John’s Gospel and is also the high and
decisive point of the revelation which He made of God and of himself.
The small community of Bethany, where Jesus
liked to go, mirrors the situation and the lifestyle of the small community of
the Beloved Disciple at the end of the first century in Asia Minor. Bethany
means “The House of the Poor.” They were poor communities and a poor people.
Martha means” Lady” (coordinator): a woman coordinated the community. Lazarus
means “God helps.” The community which was poor expected everything from God.
Mary means “loved by Yahweh: she was the beloved disciple, image of the
community. The episode of the resurrection of Lazarus communicated this
certainty: Jesus is the source of life for the community of the poor. Jesus is
the source of life for all those who believe in Him.
•
John 11: 45-46: The repercussion of the Seventh
Sign among the people. After the resurrection of Lazarus (Jn 11: 1-44), there
is the description of the repercussion of this sign among the people. The
people were divided; “many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen
what He did, believed in Him.” But some of them went to the Pharisees to tell
them what Jesus had done.
The latter denounced Him. In order to be able to understand
this reaction of one part of the population it is necessary to become aware
that half of the population of Jerusalem depended completely on the Temple so
as to be able to live and to survive. Because of this, it would have been
difficult for them to support an unknown prophet from Galilee who criticized
the Temple and the authority. This also explains why some even were ready to
inform the authority.
•
John 11: 47-53: The repercussion of the Seventh
Sign among those in authority. The news of the resurrection of Lazarus
increased the popularity of Jesus. This is why the religious leaders convoked a
council meeting, the Sanhedrin, the maximum authority, to discern getting rid
of Him; because “this man works many signs. If we let Him go on this way
everybody will believe in Him and the Romans will come and suppress the Holy
Place and our nation.” They were afraid of the Romans, because in the past it
had been shown many times, by the Roman invasions in the year 64 before Christ
until the time of Jesus, that the Romans repressed with great violence any attempt
of popular rebellion. (Cf. Ac 5: 35-37). In the case of Jesus, the Roman
reaction could have lead to the loss of everything, even of the Temple and of
the privileged position of the priests. Because of this, Caiaphas, the High
Priest, decides: “It is better that one man should die for the people, rather
than that the whole nation should perish.” And the Evangelist comments: “He did
not speak this in His own person, but as high priest of that year, he was
prophesying that Jesus was to die for the nation, and not for the nation only,
but also to gather together into one the scattered children of God.” Thus,
beginning at that moment, because the chief priests were concerned Jesus’
authority was growing, and being motivated by the fear of the Romans, they decided
to kill Jesus.
•
John 11: 54-56: The repercussion of the seventh
sign in the life of Jesus. The final result is that Jesus had to live apart.
“So Jesus no longer went about openly among the Jews; He left the district and
went to a region near the desert, to a city called Ephraim and stayed there
with His disciples.” The Jewish Passover was drawing near. At this time of the
year, the population of Jerusalem tripled because of the great number of
pilgrims. The conversation was all around Jesus: "What do you think, will
He come to the festival or not?” In the same way, at the time that the Gospel
was written at the end of the first century, the time of the persecution of the
Emperor Domitian (from 81 to 96), the Christian communities who lived in the
service of others were obliged to live clandestinely.
A key to understand the seventh sign of the resurrection of
Lazarus. Lazarus was sick. His sisters Martha and Mary sent someone to call
Jesus: “The one whom you love is sick!” (Jn 11: 3, 5). Jesus responds to the
request and explains to the disciples: “This sickness will not end in death,
but it is for God’s glory so that through it the Son of God may be glorified”
(Jn 11: 4) In John’s Gospel, the glorification of Jesus comes through His death
(Jn 12: 23; 17: 1). One of the causes of His condemnation to death was the
resurrection of Lazarus (Jn 11: 50; 12: 10). Many Jews were in the house of
Martha and Mary to console them because of the loss of their brother. The Jews,
representatives of the Ancient Covenant, only know how to console. They do not
give new life. Jesus is the one who
brings new life! Thus, on one side, the threat of death against Jesus! On the
other, Jesus who overcomes death! In this context of conflict between life and
death the seventh sign of the resurrection of Lazarus takes place. Martha says
that she believes in the resurrection. The Pharisees and the majority of the
people say that they believe in the Resurrection (Ac 23: 6-10; Mk 12: 18). They
believed, but they did not reveal it. It was only faith in the resurrection at
the end of time and not in the present resurrection in history, here and now.
This ancient faith did not renew life. It is not enough to believe in the
resurrection which will come at the end of time, but it is necessary to believe
in the Resurrection already present here and now in the person of Jesus and in
those who believe in Jesus. On these people, death no longer has any power,
because Jesus “is the resurrection and the life.” Even without seeing the
concrete sign of the resurrection of Lazarus, Martha confesses her faith: “I
believe that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God who was to come into
the world” (Jn 11: 27).
Jesus orders that the stone be removed. Martha reacts:
"Lord, by now He will smell! This is the fourth day since He died!” (Jn
11: 39) Once again Jesus presents the challenge asking to believe in the
resurrection, here and now, as a sign of the glory of God: "Have I not
told you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?” (Jn 11: 40). They
removed the stone. Before the open tomb and before the unbelief of the persons,
Jesus addresses himself to the Father. In His prayer, first of all, He gives
thanks: “Father, I thank you for hearing My prayer. I myself know that you hear
me always!” (Jn 11: 41- 42). Jesus knows the Father and trusts Him. But now He
asks for a sign because of the multitude, which is around Him, so that the
people can believe that He, Jesus, has been sent by the Father. Then He cried
out in a loud voice: “Lazarus, come out!” Lazarus came out (Jn 11: 43-44). This
is the triumph of life over death, of faith over unbelief. A farmer once
commented: "It is up to us to remove the stone. And it is up to God to
resurrect the community. There are people who do not know how to remove the
stone, and because of this their community has no life!”
Personal Questions
•
What does it mean for me to believe in the
resurrection?
•
Have I ever “sacrificed” someone rather than
protect them in order to preserve the status quo?
Concluding Prayer
For You are my hope, Lord, my trust, Yahweh,
since my youth. On You I have relied since my birth, since my mother's womb You
have been my portion, the constant theme of my praise. (Ps 71: 5-6)
