"Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.”

God is, even though the whole world deny him. Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained. - Mohandas Gandhi

Gospel text (Jn 11,45-56):
Many of the Jews who had come to Mary
and seen what Jesus had done began to believe in him.
But some of them went to the Pharisees
and told them what Jesus had done.
So the chief priests and the Pharisees
convened the Sanhedrin and said,
“What are we going to do?
This man is performing many signs.
If we leave him alone, all will believe in him,
and the Romans will come
and take away both our land and our nation.”
But one of them, Caiaphas,
who was high priest that year, said to them,
“You know nothing,
nor do you consider that it is better for you
that one man should die instead of the people,
so that the whole nation may not perish.”
He did not say this on his own,
but since he was high priest for that year,
he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation,
and not only for the nation,
but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God.
So from that day on they planned to kill him.
So Jesus no longer walked about in public among the Jews,
but he left for the region near the desert,
to a town called Ephraim,
and there he remained with his disciples.
Now the Passover of the Jews was near,
and many went up from the country to Jerusalem
before Passover to purify themselves.
They looked for Jesus and said to one another
as they were in the temple area, “What do you think?
That he will not come to the feast?”

Ezekiel prophesied that the chosen people were a field of dry bones (Ez 37:1-2). They had been dead for centuries. Then he prophesied restoration, unity, and peace (Ez 37:21ff). How can dry bones be restored? By nothing other than resurrection of the dead. How can we be restored to unity and peace? By nothing less than resurrection.

We've tried to improve the human condition with education, law and order, communism, capitalism, secularism, and militarism. However, they were all in vain. The only way to deal with the dry bones of our human condition is resurrection. Therefore, Jesus is the only Answer for humanity because He alone can die and rise. Our only hope is to be united with Jesus' death and resurrection by faith in Him.

We are saved by faith from a "dry bones" existence. We express our faith in Jesus through baptism. We are baptized into Jesus and into His death and resurrection (Rm 6:3-5). The dry bones rattle and come together (Ez 37:7). We are born again and restored.

A week from today is Easter Vigil. Many throughout the world will be baptized, and all the baptized will be called to renew their baptismal commitment to Jesus. Give yourself to Jesus and His Church, Who has turned dry bones into the abundant life (Jn 10:10).

There lies the one and only answer my friends.