In
the course of history God made four covenants with men: the first was set up through
Noah for all time and for the whole of mankind; indeed, for every living animal. You could call it a ‘NATURAL’ COVENANT (Genesis 9:11):
I
establish My covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by
the waters of the flood; and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the
earth.
The
second was a directly, deeply, spiritual covenant with Abraham, his family, and
followers, beginning what the late Pope
Benedict XVI called ‘A history of blessings’, for those called to leave behind all that would
divert them from their faith-search for the one, true, God. It was, and still is, for all ‘men’ of faith
like Abraham – Christians, that is, who still call Abraham ‘our father in faith’
in the liturgy of Mother Church, and also certain Muslims and Jews searching
for the One, True, God to the best of the revelation they know – all looking forward
to the revelation of Him Who is the Man-answering-such-faith, our Lord and
Saviour, Jesus Christ (Genesis 12:1-3):
Go
from your country, and your kindred and your father's house, to the land that I
will show you. And I will make you a
great nation; and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will
be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and
him who dishonours you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall
be blessed.
That
second covenant was, is, a COVENANT OF FAITH.
There
were next two temporal covenants given directly for the Godly formation of Yahweh’s
Chosen People, made through Moses and David.
You
will probably remember more of the covenant with Moses and the initial People
of Israel (Exodus 24:6-8):
Moses
took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on
the altar. Then he took the Book of the
Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. They said, "All that
the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient." And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on
the people, and said, "This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord
has made with you according to all these words."
That
third covenant required God’s Chosen People to live in accordance with the Law given
by God through Moses: it was, consequently, a COVENANT OF OBEDIENCE AND
FORMATION … leading God’s People to a level of moral worth far above and beyond
that of the Greeks’ constant questioning and moralizing, and that of the Romans
so aware and appreciative of power with authority, and technical ability with
efficiency.
The
fourth was a personal covenant that God made with David and his house:
When
your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed
after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. And your house and your kingdom shall be
established forever before Me. Your throne shall be established forever. (2 Samuel 7:12,16.)
It
Is with this covenant we have the promise of a personal Messiah, a Saviour of
kingly line, whose kingdom will endure for ever; this fourth covenant, was a COVENANT
OF HOPE AND EXPECTATION.
Finally,
we have the fifth and eternal covenant, the ULTIMATE COVENANT for the redemption
and eternal salvation of all mankind, made in the Person of Jesus of Nazareth,
sent by the One God of all previous covenants, to become O/one with us, and thus
to draw us to Himself, through faith, that we might -- in His Apostolically
established Church -- with Him and by His Spirit come to personally know, love
and serve the Father:
He
also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in
My blood, which is shed for you. (Luke 22:20)
A
covenant of love -- divine love -- calling for mankind’s return to the
Father of an in-Jesus-Spirit-sustained-love.
People
of God, we must clearly recognise the wonderful wisdom of our God, for this
fifth covenant includes all that had gone before. Here water, used in the original and still
enduring nature covenant with Noah, is now sacramentally associated with the
bestowal of the baptismal life of the S/spirit, for all who believe in Jesus. Again, as with all true descendants of
Abraham our ‘father in faith’, Jesus’ redeemed people are a People of Faith,
this time, however, of supernatural, revealed, Faith; a People ever on
pilgrimage looking forward to and living for that which eyes cannot see, that which
ears have never heard before, that of which the tongue of man may never tell
the whole. Moreover, this new People of
God, the house of Jesus, is pledged to obey a teaching foreshadowed, and indeed
prepared for, by the Law given to Moses on Mount Sinai, but now become a law,
not of letters inscribed on stone tablets, but of grace poured into men’s
hearts by the Spirit of Jesus and Gift of God, that they might respond to God
as He wills: in Spirit and in Truth. And
finally, the covenant of hope and expectation in the line of David is most sublimely
fulfilled in Jesus, the Son of God made flesh, the promised Messiah become our
Saviour and Leader, and Who, by His Death and Resurrection, is able and willing
to make of us a chosen nation, a royal priesthood, called to sing more beautiful
praises of God than even king David and the Psalmists could bring forth. THIS COVENANT OF JESUS IS A COVENANT OF
FULFILLING LOVE, enabling the Kingdom of God to begin even here on earth by
beams of heaven’s merciful glory being reflected back in humble and total love
for God by disciples of Jesus and members of His Mystical Body.
After
John (the Baptist) was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the Gospel
of God: ‘The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and
believe in the Gospel.’
How
wise is our God! How beautiful is the
revelation which Jesus -- originally through His own preaching and now through
His Spirit -- makes known to us through Mother Church and the traditional exposition
of her God-given Scriptures! Cleansing
water bestowing new supernatural life on disciples and followers called to set
out on a pilgrimage from earthly sin and death to eternal joy and divine
fulfilment; a pilgrimage along a way not of our own choosing or any merely human
imagining, but one marked out for us by God’s beloved Son Who – by His own sacramental
presence in Mother Church and the gift of His most Holy Spirit in the hearts of
all who believe in Him – continues to call and enable us to follow Him along
His way to the Father.
However,
dear brothers and sister in Christ, we must never forget that before Jesus proclaimed
His Good News in Israel, before He set about healing the sick, enabling the
blind to see, the lame to walk and the dumb to speak, He was first of all led
out into the desert -- the devil’s homeland, so to speak -- to fight personally
against the power and cunning of Satan. Why? Because Satan could not deceive Jesus!
Whereas
the multitude of men are largely unaware of Satan’s presence and work in their individual
lives and in the social structures they build, in the case of this man – Jesus --
Satan was unable so to disguise and hide himself as to be able to stealthily worm
his way into Jesus’ human psyche and gradually corrupt, before ultimately destroying,
Him at his own ‘leisure’, pleasure, and will. Satan was obliged therefore -- even though most
reluctantly, for he knew there was something disturbing about Jesus’ ordinary
appearance -- to try to overcome Him in a direct confrontation where and when he,
Satan, was at his strongest, and Jesus, after His forty-day’s fast, would
presumably be at His weakest.
Therefore,
we, His disciples, who aspire to further the mission of Jesus in our world
today must first of all --under the guidance of the Gospel and in the power of
the Spirit -- enter into serious combat against our own personal sinfulness by
sincere repentance, a repentance not merely to be pronounced by formulaic words
but deeply experienced by a ‘humbled and contrite’ heart, a repentance welling-up
in one having glimpsed God in the Person of Jesus, and heard Him in Jesus’
Gospel of salvation:
The
Father Himself loves you because you have loved Me and have believed that I
came forth from God (John 16:27).
A
whisper -- barely heard in one’s heart of hearts – yet undoubtably known as coming
from Him Who is our true and only Eternal Father, calling us secretly and most persuasively
to become a child of His now in the Jesus He sent for our salvation, and
ultimately a member of His heavenly family by His Spirit of Love.
Let us all, therefore, try to follow Jesus in this Lenten season by making serious efforts both to resist, and – in God’s great goodness -- to overcome, sin in our lives: the surest sign of love for God on earth, and the unshakeable pledge of eternal salvation thanks to the saving Passion, Death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
