W hat does it mean to seek God? It means creating time to sit before His throne in quiet places. It means reading His Word in order to know Him more intimately. It means developing an ear to hear His voice so that we know when to turn to the right or to the left. God desires to know you. Are you willing to take the time to know Him?

Saturday of the Fifth Week in Lent

Ezekiel 37:21-28

Jeremiah 31:10, 11-12abcd

John 11:45-56 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he 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 gathered the council, and said, "What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 If we let him go on thus, every one will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation." 49 But one of them, Ca'iaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all; 50 you do not understand that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish." 51 He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. 53 So from that day on they took counsel how to put him to death. 54 Jesus therefore no longer went about openly among the Jews, but went from there to the country near the wilderness, to a town called  E'phraim; and there he stayed with the disciples. 55 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves. 56 They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, "What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?" 

Meditation by Robert P. Heaney

T he settings of our two readings are very different, but in both we hear God’s expressed intention for His people. In the first, Ezekiel, a member of the priestly class and a refugee in Babylon , voices God’s desire not only to restore the captives to Israel , but even to unite with them the far-flung exiles from the northern kingdom who had been carried into captivity many years earlier. In the second, Caiaphas, another priest, this time in Jerusalem , and concerned to have Jesus silenced, voices God’s intention “to gather into one the dispersed children of God”, which would come about as a result of Jesus’ death.

Today, as we stand on the threshold of Holy Week, in which we will make that saving death present in our own time, it is helpful to reflect both on the unity which God Himself prays for throughout the Bible (e.g., “. . . that they all may be one, as you Father in Me, and I in You . . . that the world may believe . . .”) and on the emphasis throughout on a people, not just individuals.

Our history makes abundantly clear that we humans are irreversibly divisive – “we” and “them” in a thousand different guises. It’s embedded in our natures. Thus, clearly, the unity God desires has to be God’s own work. We ourselves can’t do it without being transformed, without being a new creation, without the life that God gives us in baptism – all of which we will re-actualize next Saturday at the Easter vigil. Can we believe it? Dare we believe it?

As Christians, as disciples of Jesus, unity – unity within families, unity within nations, unity between nations, unity between churches, and unity within churches – must be our first priority. It can’t be left to someone else. It’s not that there are no differences – “Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female”. There are indeed differences. But, “all are one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28). The differences don’t matter in God’s eyes. God clearly enough sees the flaws that we see in one another, in one group or another, in one religion or another – the flaws that seem to us to block our becoming one. God sees them too. God loves us all anyway. That’s the ultimate basis for unity – a people loved by God. We’re all one around the table of the Lord. We’re all invited to the feast. “We” just have to be willing to sit down with “them”.

Supplementary Reading

Working Wholeheartedly

In everything that he undertook in the service of God's temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered. ~ 2 Chronicles 31:21

H ezekiah was a godly king. He was also a very talented businessman and builder. He was responsible for many noteworthy projects that are described in detail in the Old Testament. We discover from the passage above that King Hezekiah had two major attributes that contributed to his success and prosperity: He sought God, and he worked wholeheartedly upholding God's laws.

Godly success involves a partnership between you and God. Success in God's economy means achieving the purpose for which God made you. That purpose can never be discovered without seeking Him with a whole heart. You may achieve great things without seeking God, but you will never achieve the things God set out for you to achieve without seeking Him. Unless you seek Him, you may find yourself one day climbing to the top of the ladder only to find it leaning against the wrong wall.

What does it mean to seek God? It means creating time to sit before His throne in quiet places. It means reading His Word in order to know Him more intimately. It means developing an ear to hear His voice so that we know when to turn to the right or to the left. God desires to know you.

Are you willing to take the time to know Him? If so, you can be sure He will guide you into those things that will bring success to every aspect of your life. --- OS Hillman)

For meditation of the previous days/months , please click any of the following links:
http://his-ways-better-than-our-ways.blogspot.com/
http://www.mabuhayradio.com/sections/the-daily-bread.html
http://butuanglobalforum.org/cgi-bin/dboard/YaBB.pl?num=1229339492/220

• 03/31/2010 09:24 - Apr 1, 2010 - Maundy Thursday Meditation (Greatest Love of All!)
• 03/30/2010 02:50 - Mar 31, 2010 - Wednesday Meditation (Blessed with Jesus' Friendship!)
• 03/29/2010 03:40 - Mar 30, 2010 - Tuesday Meditation (Peter and Judas...)
• 03/28/2010 05:32 - Mar 29, 2010 - Monday Meditation (Extravagant Love!)
• 03/26/2010 22:56 - Mar 28, 2010 - Sunday Meditation (Jesus! King of Kings & Lord of Lords!)

• 03/25/2010 04:29 - Mar 26, 2010 - Friday Meditation (Proclaim and Live the TRUTH!)
• 03/24/2010 06:52 - Mar 25, 2010 - Thursday Meditation (When He Calls, He Enables!)
• 03/23/2010 03:35 - Mar 24, 2010 - Wednesday Meditation (Take Your Life Back!)
• 03/22/2010 03:52 - Mar 23, 2010 - Tuesday Meditation (Sow A Seed in Someone's Life)
• 03/21/2010 06:00 - Mar 22, 2010 - Monday Meditation (Discern the Truth!)