Reflection - Status Quo

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/040420.cfm
Ezekiel 37:21-28
John 11:45-56

Lazarus has been raised from the dead and the Pharisees are troubled when they hear the report. Nervously, and with an ominous sense of foreboding, they give voice to their anxiety: “What are we going to do?”

You have to wonder at their reaction.

Since those days, the Pharisees, along with other leaders of the Jewish people, have been strongly, even harshly, criticized for their attitude toward Jesus. From our perspective, we sit and ask: What were they afraid of? Some say their concern was that their power would be eroded by this new teacher. Others make note of their presumed jealousy because Jesus did not go through the established norms for becoming a teacher, and this might infect other would-be teachers in the future. Along the same lines, still, others suspect that Jesus’ authoritative manner of teaching was viewed as a pestilence that would undermine their own authority. Ultimately there was also the fear that the acceptance of Jesus’ reordering of the norms they had established for holiness would be a contagion spreading throughout the populace. Probably all of these are true.

Their own rationale for their behavior, however, is voiced in this text we have from John: “If we leave him alone, all will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our land and our nation.” Yes, they may have been jealous; they may have been antagonistic; but behind it all was their fear that the status quo was about to be seriously disrupted.

They were tired of the babbling crowds who were infatuated with his teaching and following him about the land. They were disgusted by the readiness of some among the uneducated to declare him a prophet — or even someone of greater stature. They rolled their eyes in disbelief when the ignorant spread rumors of miracles. But there was no end in sight. In fact, his disciples continued to increase in number.

Before Jesus, a tenuous peace had been established with Rome. The Jews had learned to tolerate the excesses of King Herod. The taxes were oppressive but manageable. And most importantly the Jewish leadership had created a modus vivendi for working with those in power. All that they had worked for was now precariously balanced on a fulcrum that consisted of one man. How strong was their desire to just go back to the way things were before he came on the scene?

The Lord could well say as he did to Isaiah: "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.” (Isaiah 65:17) However, the Pharisees didn’t think about the future, not the way God does. They wanted the future to look like the past. I wonder if any of them were around to witness the return to a status quo where false messiah’s proclaimed an armed rebellion against the emperor. I wonder if any of them were satisfied with the extent and degree of continued Roman intrusion into their lives. I wonder if any were content to exercise their Temple rule with the forbearance of Rome rather than the authority of God. I wonder if any of them were still around forty years later to watch the Temple of Jerusalem flattened and the people dispossessed of their homeland. All this followed from Jesus’ death and the return to the status quo they desired.

But they wanted to go back to the way things were, otherwise. “The Romans will come and take away both our land and our nation.”

It’s a strange and troubled world we are living in at this moment. No football. No basketball. No baseball. No hockey. No movies. No stage shows. No songfests of any kind. We isolate ourselves at home. We attempt to secret ourselves when we shop for necessities. We see too much of our children, or we see too little of our grandchildren. We are paranoid about touching the mail, or packages, or door handles. The streets are empty of both people and cars. Jobs are lost. Places of business are closed. School doors are shut. Even our air pollution has departed.

I couldn’t help but see a similarity between what was, for the Pharisees, the ‘dilemma of Jesus’ and events of today flowing from the virus infecting so much of our world. Not a similarity in the specifics, but parallelism in attitudes toward the ‘problem.’ Our plans, our expectations, our routines, our order, our way of life — all, just as perceived by the Pharisees, have been seriously disrupted. We even ask the same questions: When will it end? How will it end? “What are we going to do?” And, to top it off, we apparently have the same simple desire: the desire to return to the way things were. The desire to re-acquire the ‘normal’ flow of life. The desire for what we would have identified a few weeks ago as the status quo. But are we looking toward a future the same way God is; or are we just hoping for a return to the past?

Evil and humanity’s brokenness are undoubtedly responsible for this global affliction. At minimum, we have learned that neither politicians or governments or scientists are in control. Certainly, we are not. We have responded to the problem with isolation and I recently heard that now, members of families are being encouraged to isolate within their own homes.

We suddenly have more time — if not during the day, at least on evenings and weekends when we are restricted. What do we do with this time we are given? Is it a gift or a burden?

The virus “will come and take away both our land and our nation.”

I have read that many, at least in the US, are turning to God because of their fear of this virus, because of their desire for protection, because of the fear for the future of our way of life, or the speedy development of both virus identification and a cure, for any one or all of these. Why does it take fear to get us to pray? And what will we do when the fear is gone?

I know that because of ‘social distancing’ along with the closure of businesses and factories that many have more time on their hands. Likewise, the cancellation of sports events and various venues of entertainment have eliminated possibilities for using that time.

I don’t claim to speak for God, but in this world of our present sorrows, I have no fear of speaking for God even while knowing I am no prophet. He wants what he’s always wanted: “turn to me and be saved.” He said it in ages past. No doubt he is saying it again.

This is a time of God’s mercy. It is a time in which we are given time to examine our lives. It is a time to look seriously at what was the status quo and ask if we really want to return to that.

Let’s picture a different future — not the one of yesterday’s “normal” — but a new earth:

• One where Sunday worship is not at the altar of sports and entertainment.
  
• One where conversation frequently includes the One who always hears and understands.
  
• One where awareness of purpose goes beyond selecting a career.
  
• One where the truth of “right” and “wrong” are not sacrificed to the idol called tolerance.
  
• One where we remember that God is God and we are not.
  
• One where we frequently recall that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.”