November, 2002

n.7

The Covenants with God

(Part 2)

Can the Covenant with God be Broken?

The Old Testament is a long history of a covenant broken by repeated infidelities which were always forgiven. God's covenant is not automatic. If the people are unfaithful, God withdraws His loving-kindness. It was the role of the prophets to remind the people of the possibility of God's wrath. For if man does not obey the Law, if he commits iniquity, if he is condemned by his actions, the covenant is broken. Let us recall chapter 7 of Jeremiah where the prophet notes the conditions of the covenant (verses 3-7): one must live according to the Law and act according to its precepts. But the people show themselves unworthy: they continue to steal, to kill, to commit adultery, and to cheat God by offering gifts to Baal and worshipping the god of lies.

These same people, rendered impure by their murderous acts and their idol worship, seek refuge in the Temple, the place where God dwells. "Here we are safe!" they cry. But God is not blind; He sees the deceit and declares: "I will cast you out of My sight" (Jer 7:15).

Isaiah in turn prophesies: "This people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear toward me is a commandment of men learned by rote" (Is 29:13). In Matthew, these words of Isaiah resound loudly, for Jesus Himself quotes them in order to confound the Pharisees and scribes (Mt 15:1-9).

A man can be unfaithful to his wife, to his religion, to his political convictions. He can be unfaithful to God and to himself. He often changes following the fluctuations in his feelings with the coming of old age, with a change of opinion or influence of ideas which are currently popular, or under pressure from men who are more powerful than he is. But God remains unchanged like a rock. His promise cannot change and His faithfulness remains the same: "The Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and right is He" (Deut 32:4).

But He created man to be free and His covenant is a covenant of love. No one can be forced to love. God asks for love and fidelity from each of us, but we can refuse. This was true at the time of the former covenant and is still true today. This freedom is awesome. Freedom makes us responsible for our refusal, for breaking the covenant between ourselves and God; for He always comes to us, like a discrete and humble host, so as not to constrain us. He offers us fidelity as unshakable as a rock; but He often finds a hardness of heart and an indifference among His own, which leads to unfaithfulness and sometimes betrayal.

This is why God, through the mouth of the prophet Jeremiah, says concerning His people, the Jews: " ` I will make a new covenant ...not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was their husband,' says the Lord" (Jer 31:32).

However, this rupture is not final, and the prophet adds: " `Behold, the days are coming,' says the Lord, `when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah...But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel, after those days,' says the Lord: `I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people'

(Jer 31:31-33).

What will this new covenant be, this New Testament which God will establish with His people? The Evangelist John gives us the answer: "For the Law was given through Moses; Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17), and it is through Christ that God will conclude the New Covenant. The New Covenant is the Promised Land, the Kingdom of which God Himself will be king, a heavenly Jerusalem, a divine reality, a "hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification. None of the rules of this age understand this; in what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him" (1 Cor 2:7-9).

That is why Jesus started preaching by announcing the coming of the Kingdom of God. John the Baptist had already cried out, "Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand"; and Jesus would later declare: "The Kingdom of God is within you" (Lk 17:21). Henceforth, the Kingdom of God is free and accessible to all: it is the Good News (Greek: evangelion = Gospel in English).

The Kingdom of God described by Jesus

The Lord describes the new world, the kingdom of God in a discourse which is known as "The Sermon on the Mount". In it, He describes the kind of life which those who are part of the Kingdom must lead. This discourse is reported by the Evangelists Matthew (chapters 5-7) and Luke (6:17-49).

The Law of the Old Testament prepared man for the Kingdom of God; the Sermon on the Mount in the New Testament describes this Kingdom and invites man to enter into it.

The Sermon begins by making a series of promises, in which the Lord Jesus offers not "a land of plenty", but a heavenly blessedness, the vision of God, to those who will adopt the life-style of the new world, the kingdom to come. We sing these "Beatitudes" as the Third Antiphon of the Divine Liturgy - during which the Gospel book is brought out into our midst, then brought in procession to the altar through the Royal Doors. It is the Word Incarnate (that is: the Book of the Holy Gospel = icon of Christ), Christ Himself, who enters into the Kingdom. We celebrate this Liturgy so that we may too enter into that Kingdom with Him forever.

The Latin word testamentum is a translation of the Greek term, diatheke, which means `covenant'. The Old Testament tells of the `old covenant' between God and ancient Israel, and the New Testament is a proclamation of a `new Israel,' which is the Christian Church. The prophets of ancient Israel looked forward to the coming of the Messiah and the establishment of a new covenant between God and His faithful people. And, according to the New Testament, Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah (The Christ), the divine human king in whom the promises and prophesies of the Old Testament have been `summed up, confirmed, and transcended.'

The new covenant makes salvation available to all who acknowledge Jesus as Christ and Saviour and who submit to Him as Lord of their lives. In Christ, who `reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of His nature' (Heb 1:3), the divine promise of salvation, first revealed in the Old Testament, is fulfilled. Christ is the incarnate Son of God, the mediator of the new covenant, who brings salvation to the world. The human race is called to respond to Christ in faith and obedience, as heirs of salvation, the covenant people, the Israel of God, the Church. Such is the central message of the New Testament!

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