THE COVENANT OF RELATIONSHIP

 

In the first reading we witness the sealing of covenant between God and Israel with the mediation of Moses. The covenant may sound similar to modern day ‘agreement/pact’ but it is not so. The covenant is made between two parties among whom one is rich, wealthy and stronger and the other is poor, helpless and weaker. In making the covenant, it is always the initiative of the weaker one. The poor goes to the rich to make a covenant so that the poor is protected, offered help and in return the rich receives servitude and obedience of the poor. The uniqueness of Yahweh’s covenant is that it is the rich, the stronger, the God who comes to make the covenant with the weak, the feeble Israel. The covenant is made with the sealing by blood. God offers protection, prosperity and descendants to Israel and they in turn vouch to keep the commandments of God and adore Him alone, as their God. God was faithful in keeping His promise; land, descendant and prosperity, but people revolted against their God by offering sacrifices to other conceived rather man made gods. Still God protected them by sparing few remnants after each calamity. The stipulations of the covenant requisites annihilation and punishment on the party that breaks the promise of the covenant. God punished them for breaking the covenant stipulations, yet spared few people to keep His promise, which shows His mercy. Jesus’ coming down to earth and His acceptance of human humiliation shows the patience and the fidelity that God has in keeping the promise; the risen Jesus did not take revenge on His evil doers.

In modern days understanding, the covenant God is making with man may look absurd. It would be better for God to remove the freedom from man and operate each human being according to His design, which may remove all evils and make only good to prevail in the world. But in God’s way the covenant is showing the greatness and the unique place that humanity holds in His creation. God among His creatures makes covenant only with man. S/he is His delight. All creatures owe their existence and essence to God but we humans are called to live with God, to cooperate with God, to rule with God and most importantly to relate with God. The covenant calls for relationship. God, the stronger one comes to our aid. The stipulations of the covenant (10 commandments) are not for His gain but for the good of us, for our good and peaceful existence.    

In the gospel Jesus is making new covenant with whole humanity through the apostles, who represents the future church, the future believers. In the new covenant also, the initiative comes from the stronger one, God. The greatness of new covenant is the blood. The blood that is used to seal the covenant is the blood of God-Jesus Himself. The stipulation of the covenant is narrowed down from 10 to 2; love God and love one another. Jesus’ coming down to earth is; God seeking relationship with man. God makes new covenant by sending His Son Jesus, by cutting His Son Jesus, by dashing His Son’s blood on Himself and on us – just as Moses dashed the blood of oxen against the altar and on the people of Israel to seal the covenant. The flesh of the oxen or goat that is sacrificed is burnt outside the tent/temple. Similarly, the flesh of Jesus is thrown outside the holy city of Jerusalem.

Jesus’s flesh and blood continues to accompany us and is made available to all generations through the institution of the Holy Eucharist at the last supper in the upper room. Today we celebrate that feast, the feast of the body and blood of Christ. In the old testament the covenant is made at one point and narrated to the succeeding generations. In the new testament, the new covenant is made at one point and re-enacted, recalled and relived through all generations. In each Holy Eucharist we recall God’s thirst to make relationship with man. When we remember the goodness that the others have done to us, we repay them with our goodness and respect. In the same way, if only we remember the goodness and the greatness that God has done to us – humans, we will repay Him with our reverence and obedience. For that remembrance we have to attend mass as often as possible. The mass is the source and summit of our christian living. This pandemic has distanced us from attending mass. This pandemic has barricaded us from celebrating our covenant. The evils and deaths may rise questions about the fidelity of promise. The pandemic may reduce the beneficiaries of the covenant but the covenant is made with whole humanity, not with particular person or with specific generation. At the end, it is the humanity as a whole which needs to enter in communion with God. The covenant calls for us to love. The covenant calls for us to relate. The misery and folly in this world is that it knows little about the value of love and relationship. The non-christians may be exempted from this, as they do not know the gospel of Christ, but in reality it is many evangelized christians who are forsaking love and relationship. Yes, this pandemic has restricted our relationship, but has also made us to introspect the genuineness of our relationship.

Let this feast of body and blood of Christ make us more humans to thirst for relationship, to make covenant with people, to vouch to protect the weaker ones in our vicinities, to show faithfulness to God and to actualize christian love in our lives. May we be sealed with the blood of Christ and be strengthened by His body, the Eucharist. Amen!