Saturday, April 12th
The Reverend Tom Fanning
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. 48If 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.’ 49But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at all! 50You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.’ 51He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation, 52and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God. 53So from that day on they planned to put him to death. John 11:47-53
Years ago, a friend of mine introduced me to a folk singer named Chuck Brodsky. Chuck does a wonderful job of telling stories in his songs and speaks the truth in so many ways. One of his songs is The Boys in the Backroom. It is the story about how those in charge of the city only took care of themselves as they abused their privilege and authority. One verse of the song says: “The boys in the backroom – Sat on the commissions – That were supposed to regulate factory emissions – Toxins in the air Toxins in the water -These were our protectors they were sanctioning the slaughter.”
The gospel passage for today tells us about the boys in the backroom. The powerful Jews who wanted more than anything to protect their authority and power. This passage takes place after Jesus had raised Lazareth from the dead. The good that Jesus was doing was beyond their human power and it threatened “the boys in the backroom.” Caiaphas and the other men made the decision to begin the process on the worst thing humanity has ever done. But then as Paul Harvey would say, we know the rest of the story. We know that even after they beat our Lord and hung Him on a cross until he died, they didn’t destroy him. The worst humanity has to offer wasn’t the final word and will never have the final word over us.
We don’t always agree with the decisions that are made in the backroom, but they don’t have the final word because we have a Savior whose outstretched arms of love are always there for us.
Gracious and ever living God, we live in a world in this life where decisions are made that are not always the best for your people. Give us strength to always know that you are there for us in the challenges we face as we are empowered to always do your will, through Jesus Christ our Lord who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen
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