“What Are We Going to Do?

“What Are We Going to Do? 

Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent

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?"  John 11:55-56

Piety

I will make with them a covenant of peace; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will multiply them, and put my sanctuary among them forever. My dwelling shall be with them; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Thus, the nations shall know that it is I, the LORD, who make Israel holy when my sanctuary shall be set up among them forever. Ezekiel 37:26-28

Study

Any big family or public event requires a lot of preparation.  The family reunion.  The wedding.  Bringing the new baby home from the hospital.  There is food to consider.  There is the need for furniture – do we have enough chairs, enough plates for meals, where will people sleep.  There is the need to prepare the house to protect the very young and the very hold from hazards you would not worry about with teenagers and young adults. There is the anticipation of who is coming, who will have a last-minute crisis or change-in-plans that will keep them away, and who will surprise us by attending with no notice.

As the Last Passover Feast approaches, all those concerns come into play and three separate plots advance toward their conclusions and collisions.  First, the preparations for the Passover Feast must be made.  Second, the Pharisees continue to plot against Jesus – envious of his following, angry with his disregard for the law as they lay it down, and excessive pride in their dutiful place in society and unwilling to let anyone threaten that position.  The third is the fulfillment of the covenant as the prophet Ezekiel reminds us – a covenant which can not be fulfilled until Plot A and Plot B conclude and collide.

Action

After 2017 years, we know the answer to some of the questions.  Will Jesus come to the feast?  Of course, he will.  We know where the story is heading as it repeats its annual cycle.

What we do not know is what are we going to do when he shows up.  Will we be among the sheep who hear his voice or will we be among those who turn on him and condemn him?

“What are we going to do?”