Daily Gospel Reflection
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April 9, 2022
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?”
Caiaphas did not intend his words, “that one man should die instead of the people,” to be prophetic in the sense that they were. Caiaphas meant them to assert his power—that he could end the life of the man who just raised Lazarus from the dead, whose miracles confirmed that Jesus was who he said he was.
Jesus was a threat to power. He was a threat to Roman rule. He threatened those who touted themselves as religious but did not practice a faith that compelled them to possess a preferential option, a heart inclined, towards the poor and marginalized.
While Caiaphas was chiefly concerned with reducing the threat to power that Jesus seemed to impose on the Romans of the time, his words did reveal God’s plan. God saw, too, that it was better for one man to die instead of a whole world perishing. But God would be the one on the line.
God’s plan was for our redemption, mercy, and love, not for violence and destruction. It indeed was better that one man, Jesus, die for our sins so that we would not perish but might inherit eternal life.
Tomorrow, we enter into Palm Sunday. We will open our sacred scriptures and read the Passion of Christ in Mass services worldwide. As we listen to tomorrow’s readings, let us keep in mind the responsorial Psalm from the Prophet Jeremiah read today, proclaiming the steadfast promise that, “The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.”
Spend time with the Lord today, encountering the maker of the stars in the intimate places of your heart. How is God inviting you to see as God sees and not as earthly power sees?
Prayer
Father, your beloved Son Jesus was anointed in the Spirit and brought your healing love to our world. We pray that Christ, the light of the world, will sustain us always in faith, hope, and love. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Waldetrudis grew up in the 7th century, a daughter in a family of extraordinary holiness. Both parents, her sister, her husband, and their four children are all venerated as saints.
After marrying a young nobleman, and raising their young children, she convinced her husband to become a monk. After two years, Waldetrudis also withdrew from the world, but she refrained from joining a convent because she wanted to live a more austere life. Instead, she lived a simple life of prayer in a very small, humble house. She performed many works of mercy and was known for miracles of healing that happened through her intercession when she was alive and after her death.
Many people began to seek her out for advice, so she eventually founded a convent of her own. Even though she established the convent, she lived there as a common member, not as the leader of the community. That convent now stands at the center of the town of Mons in Belgium.
St. Waldetrudis, you were the wife and mother who stood at the center of a family of saints—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Waldetrudis is used with permission from Catholic Online. Last accessed February 17, 2025.