FIRST
READING: Ezekiel 37: 21 - 28
21
then say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will take the
people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and
will gather them from all sides, and bring them to their own land;
22
and I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of
Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; and they shall be
no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms.
23
They shall not defile themselves any more with their idols and their
detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will
save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and
will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their
God.
24
"My servant David shall be king over them; and they shall all
have one shepherd. They shall follow my ordinances and be careful to
observe my statutes.
25
They shall dwell in the land where your fathers dwelt that I gave to
my servant Jacob; they and their children and their children's
children shall dwell there for ever; and David my servant shall be
their prince for ever.
26
I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting
covenant with them; and I will bless them and multiply them, and will
set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
27
My dwelling place shall be with them; and I will be their God, and
they shall be my people.
28
Then the nations will know that I the LORD sanctify Israel, when my
sanctuary is in the midst of them for evermore."
PSALM: Jeremiah 31: 10 - 13
10
"Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it in the
coastlands afar off; say, `He who scattered Israel will gather him,
and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.'
11
For the LORD has ransomed Jacob, and has redeemed him from hands too
strong for him.
12
They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall
be radiant over the goodness of the LORD, over the grain, the wine,
and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life
shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more.
13
Then shall the maidens rejoice in the dance, and the young men and
the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy, I will
comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
GOSPEL: John 11: 45 - 56
45
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?"
