4 April 2020
Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Why did the Sanhedrin decide to kill Jesus? The chief priests proclaimed that “if we leave him alone, all will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our land and our nation” (Jn. 11:46). Land, for the Israelites, was wrapped up tightly with their covenant. Not to have land was not to have a covenant, not to have a place to live out their special relationship with God.
What the Sanhedrin did not realize, however, is that Jesus has not come to take away this covenant, but give it a more solid foundation. Jesus affirms the link between land and covenant when He says things such as “blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the land” (Mt. 5:5). But the land Jesus has come to give is not one that can be taken away, as Israel clearly can be. They (and we) have betrayed Jesus for something that gratifies for a moment, not realizing what we could have. But we are creatures of experience, and we must see what it means for earthly goods to be destroyed and heavenly goods remain. For this, we must pass through Holy Week, and see how fragile the goods we fight (and betray God) for truly are.