Daily Devotional • September 14
Holy Cross Day
A Reading from John 11:45-54
45 Many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did believed in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council and said, “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.” 49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all! 50 You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.” 51 He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God. 53 So from that day on they planned to put him to death.
54 Jesus therefore no longer walked about openly among the Jews but went from there to a town called Ephraim in the region near the wilderness, and he remained there with the disciples.
Meditation
The lesson begins by saying that “Many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees. ” Surely in desperation and panic, “the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting.”
At that meeting it was determined that the only course open was to ensure that Jesus was put to death. This is the conclusion they drew after all the confrontations they’d had with Jesus throughout his ministry. They had lost every confrontation. They had challenged him over the source of his authority, over his identity, over his ever-growing popularity, over his miracles that often criticized their doctrine of the Sabbath, and overturned their claim of who was unclean.
The raising of Lazarus was the last straw; it was a sign that they just couldn’t rebut or set aside or cast in a bad light. If they were to remain in power, now only one course was open to them; today’s lesson makes it clear that even this was part of God’s plan. From the days of Jesus’ ministry, it has been taught that the faithful would be persecuted, and that they must “take up their cross” if they want to follow him (Mark 8:34).
But why is this? Because the Gospel challenges its hearers to deny themselves if they wish to come to the truth. This is not a neutral message; those who refuse it want to shut it down. In the Roman Empire, crucifixion was the most hideous of deaths, not only supremely agonizing but designed to be most humiliating and shameful—a full erasure of the victim from any place in society. But because of Jesus’ crucifixion, the cross became the way of life. The raising of Lazarus led inevitably to the crucifixion of Jesus, and thereby the disempowerment of death itself.
David Baumann is a published writer of nonfiction, science fiction, and short stories. In his ministry as an Episcopal priest, he served congregations in Illinois and California.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Diocese of Inhambane – Igreja Anglicana de Mocambique e Angola
The Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey