The big picture

By Norm McGraw

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040123.cfm
Ezechiel 37:21-28
John 11:45-56

Once a week, I have lunch with a very good friend of mine where we discuss what’s happened the previous week. As we relate events, many of those that are particularly negative seem less so That happens when we start seeing things in perspective, as part of the “big picture” of life.  

Holy Scripture is an excellent manual for revealing the big picture of our lives, and our relationship with the Almighty. 

Today’s first reading is from Ezekiel (Ez. 37:21-28), where God explains His covenant with the people of Israel. Ezekiel states: “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 their land. I will make them one nation upon the land…” Later, the passage continues: “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.” And finally, “I will make with them a covenant of peace, and it will be an everlasting covenant with them.” 

This covenant with God is reinforced in the responsorial psalm from Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:10d): “The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.”

This relationship with God is also encouraged in the verse (Ezekiel 18:31) before the second reading. “Cast away from all the crimes you have committed, says the Lord, and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.”

The second reading, from the gospel of St. John (John 11:45-56), is an example of not focusing on our relationship with God first but our own selfish ends. This passage relates the reaction of a group of Pharisees to the popularity of Jesus Christ after he raised Lazarus from the dead. To understand this passage clearly, you must know what the job of the Pharisees was and what had happened in the previous passage in John.

Briefly, the Pharisees (from the Greek and Aramaic words meaning “separated ones”) were a social, economic group that controlled the synagogues (houses of worship). They believed in oral tradition and inherence to the Torah (the law of God as revealed to Moses and recorded in the first five books of Hebrew Scripture, known as the Pentateuch).

Earlier in Chapter 11, John relates the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead that includes this noteworthy exchange between Jesus and Martha, one of Lazarus’ sisters: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into this world.”

Wow! That expands the idea of the covenant revealed in Ezekiel. The covenant which Jesus talks about is meant for all of us.

So, what was the reaction of the Pharisees when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead? Given their position and expertise on oral tradition and the Torah, did they question or debate the miracle Jesus performed or his teaching? Did they question or debate whether or not Jesus was following the law?

No. They debated how to quench his popularity because they saw him as a political threat.

John states their response this way: “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” Later, the passage continues: “So from that day on they planned to kill him .”

In fact, this passage in John’s gospel clearly shows the contrast between listening to God’s word and listening to our selfish desires. When we follow God’s plan, we live in His “sanctuary” that is “set up” for us “forever,” as Ezekiel says. 

I don’t think any of us would react to Jesus as those Pharisees did---attack both the message and the Messenger. But sometimes, don’t we ignore God’s word and miss the rewards He grants us? “Whoever believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live,” Jesus said to Martha earlier in John’s gospel. 

Indeed, Scripture exhorts us to see our human lives from God’s perspective. The more we act as God wishes, the happier we’ll be. Frequently, we need to be reminded of that. Then, we are looking at THE BIG PICTURE.