We are getting ready to enter Holy Week. Holy Week is a time we Catholics look forward to each year. Holy Week will be very different for us in the midst of a pandemic and the suspension of public masses. Uniting and taking care of each other and being concerned for the common good of all have been important themes during this pandemic. This theme of unity is found throughout our readings today as well. Ezekiel gives the people a message from the Lord, saying that he will bring the people of Israel back from all the nations to which they have been dispersed. Ezekiel states: “Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms.” However, we hear the chief priests, the Pharisees, and the Sanhedrin state that they believe if they believe in Jesus and stand united with him and his ministry, that their power and their nation will be in jeopardy, that the Romans will take that away from them.
We as disciples of Christ are called to be one with him. So often in life we can be divided from our brothers and sisters. In the fear and uncertainty we are feeling in the world today, we can either try to be more united, or we can be more divided, so these are just not realities that existed in the Old and New Testaments, they are realities we are facing today. Just look how so many in the world lash out at others in self-righteousness with no thought whatsoever. We are so critical of our neighbor, even when we do the same things ourselves. Gossip, sarcasm, ridicule, judgements, our ego - these things can rule our lives. Ezekiel called the people to unity. Will we follow his call? Or will we follow the sins of the chief priests, the Pharisees, and the Sanhedrin? How can we reach out to people and bring together, rather than to divide?
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