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Jesus: Messiah, Or Troublemaker? (John 11:45-54)

 Some of the people believed in Jesus, but much of the political and religious leadership did not. Also, they had positions to protect, which they believed they would lose, as many of the people believed in Jesus as the Messiah. The conspiracy against Jesus is an interesting one, because St. John doesn't think that the prophecy of the high priest is false. St. John wants us to believe that somehow God the Father will use this unjust scheme against Jesus for His own purposes. This might shed light on the mystery of why there is so much suffering in the world, if God is in control, and He is good. Even then, we spend most of our energy trying to endure the suffering, rather than explain it.

We can already begin to see that all the threads and all the roads in the life of Jesus will lead to the Cross. I don't think that Jesus avoided going around openly out of fear. I agree with Jesus and St. John that the Father has a specific plan for the unfolding of everything.

The high priest Caiaphas could not have known how true the words of his prophecy would become. One of the benefits of the virtue of hope is that it gives us strength to expect goodness from God, even when we experience suffering. In all this, Jesus will teach us, because he never stops praising the Father, no matter what he experiences.

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