Saturday – 5th Week of Lent – A

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, peace be with you as we stand on the threshold of Holy Week. The readings that we have for this Saturday, the fifth week of Lent, the day just before Palm Sunday, are no longer simply preparatory. They are pressurized, because now everything is converging, and the tension is no longer hidden, but rather is explicit, organized, and irreversible.

We hear in today's Gospel how, after the people witnessed what Jesus had done at the house of Martha and Mary by raising Lazarus from death to life (Jn 11:1–44), this power, this authority, this newness, this eloquence, this divine manifestation struck a chord of fear in the heart of the authorities. And we are going to see the authorities embodied in something we call the Sanhedrin, which was the judicial, the highest court in Judea at the time of Jesus, composed of seventy, “wise men” (cf. Ex 24:1; Num 11:16). It goes all the way back to Moses, who was commanded by God to gather unto himself seventy wise men who could lead and govern the people of God (Num 11:16–17, 24–25).

Now in the book of Ezekiel, in chapter 37, in our first reading, God promises something astonishing. A scattered people will be gathered, divided kingdoms will become one, and a single shepherd—“my servant David” (Ez 37:24)—will reign over them. Now, my friends, this is not merely political restoration. When God says, “I will cleanse them” (Ez 37:23), he is speaking of spiritual purification, something that only came with Christ.

We will recall during his public ministry how many times he came into conflict with those who were thinking too carnally about the commandments of God, about the Sabbath, for example (cf. Mk 2:23–28; 3:1–6; Lk 13:10–17; Jn 5:1–18). They needed to be purified spiritually to understand the heart, the spirit of the Sabbath. When God commanded not to work on the Sabbath for rest (Ex 20:8–10; Deut 5:12–14), the rest, the resting part, was the heart of the law, right? So everything else needed to be focused on that, but rather they focused everything on the secondary importance of not working.

And Jesus taught them what true rest is when he healed—yes, even on the Sabbath—he gave rest to that person. And that is why he is astonished when they are confused, and he says, “If you had a donkey that fell into a pit on the Sabbath, would you not go and get it out?” (cf. Lk 14:5). And yet, because I heal this man on the Sabbath, you seek to put me to death (cf. Jn 5:16–18).

So in this first reading from Ezekiel, God is already giving us a prophecy about how Jesus would bring about spiritual purification. And then he promises, “an everlasting covenant” (Ez 37:26). So not only will the covenant be renewed, but this new covenant will last forever—there will be no other after it.

And we know that Jesus institutes this new covenant at the Last Supper, in this very sacred and holy night in which he goes out to meet his death (Lk 22:19–20; 1 Cor 11:23–25).

God also speaks in this first reading from Ezekiel about divine indwelling: “My dwelling shall be with them” (Ez 37:27), that he would be with us in a very special way.

Now listen carefully to the Gospel from the eleventh chapter of Saint John. Caiaphas unknowingly prophesies: “It is better that one man should die than an entire nation should perish” (Jn 11:50). And then further down, the evangelist himself, the beloved disciple, explains why this will happen: “to gather into one the dispersed children of God” (Jn 11:52).

We know that in Christ, lifted high on the cross, he said he would draw all men unto himself (Jn 12:32). He would be the magnet by which he would gather in the people of the world. “Go out and baptize all nations. Make them disciples in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (cf. Mt 28:19). said Jesus.

In this way, this new covenant is between God and anyone who places his trust and faith in him and listens to him—the one who receives Jesus, not rejects him (cf. Jn 1:12; 12:48); the one who lives by his word (cf. Jn 8:31; 14:23). This now is the person with whom God is making his new covenant, and it is ratified in the very precious Body and Blood of Jesus.

“Take this, all of you, and drink it: this is the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me” (cf. Mt 26:27–28; Mk 14:23–24; Lk 22:20; 1 Cor 11:25).

“The Blood of the new and eternal covenant which will be poured out for you” (cf. Lk 22:20)—the Apostles, and for many, in other words, those who will receive him.

My brothers and sisters, as things begin to escalate—remember today is Saturday, and dedicated to our Blessed Mother Mary—God also promises in this first reading of Ezekiel an everlasting covenant, which means God dwelling among his people.