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?
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Reflection:
What would be
your reaction if someone you know has achieved greatness? Will you envy and
eventually decide to bring down this person? Or you will be happy for his/her
success and you will even wish him/her more success.
Because of
His many miracles Jesus was already becoming popular to the people especially
the poor. And the ruling authorities (Pharisees) were already threatened by
Jesus growing popularity. So they did what they have to do to silence Jesus.
They hatched an evil plan of killing Jesus with the thought that if Jesus dies
so goes also His popularity. But it did not happen that way, for their plan did
not go as they want it to be.
What if the
Pharisees did not envy Jesus? What if they simply had a dialogue with Jesus so
that they could work hand in hand to help the poor? The Pharisees could have
been an agent of positive change in the lives of the poor. But they chose to
allow the devil to sow envy and greed in their hearts. Hence, they committed a
despicable crime of killing an innocent man in Jesus.
Can envy and
greed do us any good? No, it will not do us any good, it will only push us to do
evil just like what the Pharisees did to Jesus. Let us therefore weed out any
feeling of envy and greed in our hearts. Instead of being envious let us be
happy with those who succeed. Instead of being greedy, why not become generous?
- Marino J. Dasmarinas
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