The New Covenant: a heart transplant for Christians

Homily for 5^th Sunday of Lent Year B 2015

Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 5:7-9; John 12:20-33

Introduction

“I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.” What is this new covenant and what happened to the old one?

A covenant is like an agreement between two parties.

·        As a kid my mother and I had this agreement that if I did my chores, when she returned I would get a special treat like cookies or soda.  For the most mom and I were satisfied with this arrangement.

·        Then you have more formal agreements, like a man and a woman coming together in marriage; they agree to love each other in sickness and in health, till death do them part.

·        And then there is the very formal agreement, like the contract signed between the Saints team and the players, or that between an employer and employee, or between a buyer and seller of a property.

Scripture and Theology

And so, when our God decided to share his life with human beings, he made covenants with them, agreements to stipulate rights and obligations of each side.  God promised that he would be their God and they promised to be his people.

1.    The first covenant God made was with Adam and Eve (Gen 1-2).  He gave them everything they needed, a garden, animals, each other and all he asked was one little thing: do not eat of the tree of knowledge.  As we know they broke that covenant.

2.    The second covenant was with Noah (Gen 6-9) in which God promised that he would not destroy the earth again with a flood; and he gave the rainbow as a sign of his promise.

3.    The third covenant was with Abraham (Gen 17), and God promised him many things: numerous descendants, a great nation, a land flowing with milk and honey.  All Abraham and his descendants had to do was to obey the Lord and the males to undergo circumcision.

4.    The fourth covenant was with Moses (Ex. 20-34) and this was the big one.  God promised to deliver on the promises he made to Abraham as long as the people for their part kept the Ten Commandments, which were etched on two stone tablets.  Almost immediately they went back on their word.

5.    There is one more covenant, that which God made with King David (2 Sam 7).  God promised to establish the house of David as an everlasting kingdom.  This promise is important because Jesus the Saviour would be a descendant of David, the Son of David.

And so having already made these covenants, with Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses and David, why does God make another covenant, a new covenant?

A new covenant is needed because the old ones have failed, not once, not twice, but five times.  These old covenants failed because of the way they were enforced.  They relied on external conditions like the tree of knowledge, the rainbow, circumcision, the stone tablets and the monarchy.

The new covenant is going to be different.  “I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts,” God says.  In other words, the stipulations of the new covenant will be interior, within the people’s hearts.  And he goes on: “No longer will they have need to teach their friends and relatives how to know the LORD. All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the LORD.”

Christian Life

The Big Bang Theory is a TV sitcom is about a group of nerdy friends.  One of them, Sheldon Cooper, is rather eccentric.  For example, his relationships with his friends, even his girlfriend, are based on written contracts.

·        There is the roommate agreement with Leonard that stipulates all kinds of things including how many minutes each roommate can use the shower.

·        There is the 31-page relationship agreement with his girlfriend Amy, which regulates things like under which conditions they can hold hands.

·        And as for his other friends, their status depends on how many strikes they have accumulated or how many Cooper coupons they have earned.

The first five covenants of the Old Testament worked like Sheldon’s agreements, with rights and obligations clearly stated up to the smallest details.  But the new covenant, which Jeremiah prophesies is different.  It relies on a person’s heart, because it was established by a person, Jesus Christ.

Jesus announced this new covenant at the Last Supper.  Holding the cup of wine, he told his disciples: “This is my blood of the new covenant.”  And on the next day, on the cross, he shed his blood and sealed the new covenant.  That is why when people come to see Jesus in today’s gospel, he does not start by giving them a set of rules and obligations.  Instead he tells them about God’s love for them and how his death and resurrection is going to restore that love.

And so, in this new relationship, Christians will obey God’s laws because their hearts tell them to and not merely out of obligation.  The Christian’s relationship to God is more like a friendship than a contract.  For friendship is natural and organic.  Rights and obligations are not written on paper, but are written in the heart.  Friends do things for each other, not out of obligation, but out of love. When a friend is sick or loses a child, we rally around them.  We do this, not because there is a rule about that, but because first and foremost we love them.

The new covenant which Jesus establishes is more like a friendship.  Yes, this covenant still has obligations, but they are written on the heart.  For a Christian then, what comes first is the relationship with God in faith, hope and love and then the obligations, the commandments come naturally.

During this Lenten season, for example, we undertake to do three things: to pray, to fast and to give alms.  We can do these things the Sheldon Cooper way, the way of the Old Covenants, out of sheer obligation, or we can do them the way friendship way, the way of the New Covenant, from the heart.

·        Do I come to Mass on Sunday or do I say my personal prayers merely out of obligation or because I want to speak with God, like I would to beloved friend or a beloved father or mother?

·        Do I fast and abstain only because that is the kind of thing Catholics are supposed to do, or do I do it from the heart, sacrificing myself to experience the suffering of Christ?

·        Do I give alms just out of pity and a sense of guilt, or do I really give from my heart, because I see God in those whom I help?

Conclusion

One of the seminarians whom I teach had a heart transplant last year.  And being the good sport that he is, since then we have had no shortage of heart jokes.  Sometimes when he is late with an assignment he will blame it on his contrite heart.  And because he received the heart from a black person, he now calls himself half-black and half-white.  But most of all, everyday this seminarian says how grateful he is that God has given him a new life with a new heart.

In the new covenant of Jesus Christ, it is like the Lord has given each of us a new heart.  Let us use our hearts “to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him for ever in heaven.”

The Good News/Bad News of Christianity

Homily for 4^th Sunday of Lent Year B 2015

2 Chronicles 36:14-16,19-23; Ephesians 2:4-10; John 3:14-21

Introduction

When someone begins a conversation with, “I have good news and bad news,” you know to expect the worst; for the bad news often outweighs the good.

Doctor:  I have some good news and I have some bad news.

Patient:  What's the good news?

Doctor:  The good news is that the tests you took showed that you have 24 hours to live.

Patient:  That's the good news?  What's the bad news?

Doctor:  The bad news is that I forgot to call you yesterday!

Scripture and Theology

As you must have gathered already, today’s readings also have elements of bad news and good news; but thankfully at the end of the day it is Good News that triumphs.

In the first reading we heard how the people of Israel sinned, adding infidelity upon infidelity.  Think of any sin against the Lord, and they did it.  Their leaders compounded this bad situation of sin and made it worse, when they rejected the messengers that God sent to help them, even killing some of them.

The Good News is that the Lord did not give up on his people, despite their disobedience.  Yes, he punished them severely, by allowing them to be taken into exile and be enslaved like their forefathers had been enslaved in Egypt.  But at the end of the day, he sent them a saviour, a very unlikely saviour.  The Lord used the pagan Persian King Cyrus to free the Jewish people from captivity in Babylon so they could return Jerusalem, to rebuild their temple and their community.

The gospel passage bears even better news.  If in the Old Testament the people returned to their national home, in the New Testament, the Good News is that Jesus has come to restore us to a heavenly home.  John’s gospel says: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”  What wonderful news, what Good News!  If you are looking for a summary of the Christian message, that is it!  That God has sent Jesus to bring us a “get-out-of-jail” card.

But this Good News came at a cost.  Jesus explains that salvation will come about in a painful way, on the Cross.  He says: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

Jesus is referring to what happened to the Jews during their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land.  On this journey the people rebelled against God griping about all the good food they had left behind in Egypt and generally being ungrateful that the Lord had rescued them (cf. Numbers 21).  So God punished them by sending serpents, which stung and killed many of them.  But Moses appealed to the Lord, to save his people.  And the Lord told Moses to mount a bronze serpent on a stick, so that anybody stung by a serpent who looked at it, would be saved.  You will sometimes see a image of this serpent on medical prescription forms or at pharmacies.  This image has come to mean healing.

And so Jesus says that he too, like that bronze serpent, will be lifted up on the cross.  And those who look to him, on the cross, will be saved, not from physical death, but from eternal death; they will have eternal life.

And so, the Good News of our salvation is going to come about through the bad news of the Cross, the suffering and death of Jesus Christ.   At its very core and origin, the Christian message is a good news – bad news story, but one in which the Good News trumps the bad.

Christian Life

In living out our Christian lives, we could be tempted to pick one or the other, to focus just on the Good News or just on the bad news.

·        When we dwell only on the good news, only on the fact that we have been saved and we completely ignore the cross that brought about that salvation or the sin that caused the situation in the first place, we commit the sin of presumption.

·        When we dwell only on the bad news of sin and suffering and completely ignore the good news of salvation, we commit the sin of despair.

We must therefore avoid being presumptuous, especially avoid cherry-picking only those elements that make us happy and ignoring the difficult ones.

·        For example, as we rejoice at the baptism of a new baby, a truly joyous occasion, the fun part, we must not forget the rather daunting responsibility of teaching that child the difficult commands of the Lord, the not-so-fun part.

·        Or when we celebrate the love of a couple in a beautiful wedding ceremony, complete with beautiful flowers, music and food, (the fun part) we must not forget the lifelong and exclusive commitment that marriage is (the demanding part).

·        And for those us who have a wonderful prayer life, who derive deep spiritual consolation and personal joy in prayer, we must not forget that our prayer also commits us to justice and care for others, especially the needy.

On the other hand, a few of us may be tempted in the opposite direction, where in utter despair, we dwell only on the cross and forget about the resurrection.

·        This may happen when we sin, especially when we sin gravely.  We may think “surely God cannot forgive this sin; surely Jesus did not die for someone like me.”  We must like the prodigal son, who despite his grave sins returned to the Father; we must reject the temptation to remain in darkness, but rather believe the Good News that God forgives the repentant sinner.

·        Or sometimes despair can make give up on others, thinking that surely the Good News of salvation does not apply to those terrible sinners or those who are not like us, perhaps because they belong to a different religion.

And so, we must take the whole package of the Christian message, the difficulties and the joys, the bad news and the good news the cross and the resurrection.

Conclusion

In the Fall, many of us receive the flu vaccine.  But do we think about how a vaccine works?  The contents of the vaccine are flu germs themselves.  The doctors inject this weakened strain of germs into us, hoping that it will trigger an immune reaction in our bodies, so that when the really harmful flu germs come, our bodies will be ready to protect us.  That is why those who have volunteered to have the Ebola vaccine tested on them must be commended for their courage.  And so, with vaccines, most of the time, a good effect – our protection from a terrible disease – is achieved by the scary method of injecting germs into us.

In a similar way, God so loved the world and wanted to save us and restore us to communion with him.  Because our condition was one of illness, he had to use a painful method.  He gave his Son who was lifted up on the cross, so that his death might pay the debt of our sin.

This is the Good News of our salvation, this is the Good News that drives away despair and gives us hope. But as we bask in the joy of this Good News, let us be reminded that our salvation has come at a great cost.  And therefore, let us live our Christian lives never presumptuous but always grateful for this great gift.

The Sacred: Giving the Lord his due

Homily for 3rd Sunday of Lent Year B 2015

Exodus 20:1-17; 1 Corinthians 1:22-25; John 2:13-25

Introduction

Being Jealous is an emotion we usually associate with human beings, but not with God.  And yet in today’s first reading God says of himself: “I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God.”

Similarly, getting upset is an emotion we usually associate with human beings, rarely with God.  And yet in today’s gospel we see one of the rare occasions when Jesus is really ticked off.

And so, we must ask: Why would God be so jealous as to punish for sins down to the third and fourth generations?  Why would Jesus be so upset that he physically drives the traders and money changers out of the temple?

Scripture and Theology

The answer to these questions is as simple as it is straightforward.  The readings of today tell us that when God does not get what is due to him, bad things tend to happen to us.

In the first reading, God gives the Ten Commandments to the people.  The  first three require them to give God his due.

1.    “You shall not have other gods besides me.”

2.    “You shall not take the name of the LORD, your God, in vain.”

3.    “Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day of the Lord.”

And why should the people of Israel do these things for God?  He says: “I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.”  That surely should count for something.  Because God is God and because he has done great things for the people, he surely deserves love, respect for his name, and reverence for his day.

No wonder then that in the gospel, Jesus is compelled to stand up for his Father’s honour.  “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace,” he tells the traders and moneychangers.  Jesus has a special love not just for his Father, but for his Father’s house too.  You will recall that when Jesus was Twelve, on one of their annual trips to Jerusalem, his parents left him there by mistake.  When three days later his parents found him and asked him why he done this to them, his answer was: “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

It should not surprise us then, that when Jesus comes to the Temple as an adult, and finds that it has been changed from a place of worship for God, to a meat market and a stock exchange, Jesus gets really riled up.

·        You can imagine the annoying bellowing of the oxen, the bleating of sheep and the repetitively aggravating bird noises, to say nothing about the awful smell that the animal waste must have left behind.

·        You can also imagine the mess caused by large numbers of people trying to get change from the bankers.  If you have ever gone shopping on Black Friday, you know what I am talking about.

But it is not this mess that upsets Jesus. What upsets Jesus is more basic; the place for worshipping God had been turned into something else.

To be fair, the traders and bankers at the temple actually provided an important service to the worshippers who came to offer sacrifice.  Most Jews travelled from very far to come to Jerusalem.  It was therefore much more convenient to buy an animal for sacrifice at the temple itself.  Think about Joseph and Mary who had to travel from Nazareth to Jerusalem.  According to mapquest Nazareth is about 100 miles from Jerusalem, a two and half hour journey by car today, but several days’ journey on foot at the time of Jesus.  So such long-distance pilgrims preferred to buy the animals right there at the temple.  Besides, the animals for sacrifice had to be perfect or else the priests would reject them.  Would you want to take the risk of carrying your sheep all the way from Nazareth only for it to be declared unfit for sacrifice?  So the safe thing to do was to buy an animal from the temple precincts, from the “approved” merchants whose stock was certainly kosher and acceptable.

As for the money changers, their main purpose was to serve those who brought money for alms and donations for the temple.  Most people came with Roman currency and the currency of other foreign nations.  But this money usually had an icon of their pagan rulers, just like our dollar bills do.  So, since this currency bore those pagan images, it was not acceptable in the temple.  The money changers exchanged this unacceptable money for acceptable Jewish coins.

Christian Life

Would we today pass the test of God’s jealousy?  Would Jesus today approve of our places of worship?  In other words, do we give God what is his due, exclusive love for him as God, respect for his name, observance of his day and most of all due reverence for his house?

Thankfully we have not yet turned our churches into a Winn-Dixie, Walgreens or Walmart, although some people would probably want us to have some vending machines for snacks and drinks at the back of church.  Thankfully we have not turned our churches into banking halls, although I have heard it suggested that if we installed ATM machines at the back of church, the collections might go up.  But we don’t do these things, because they would be a distraction from the primary reason for which we come to church, which is, to pray to God, to grow in our relationship with him.

• That is why our churches are quiet places, especially before Mass, to give us time to recollect ourselves, to transition from our world of noise, to God’s world, where he speaks to us in the quiet of our hearts.

• That is why our churches are adorned and decorated differently from our living rooms, from our offices, from conference halls; they are adorned with images of Jesus, Mary and the saints, rather than our worldly heroes, with altars and pews, instead of tables and chairs, a tabernacle instead of a cabinet.  These things should remind us about God and bring us closer to him.

• That is why what takes place in Church, the words we use, the music we sing, the ritual actions we do, standing, kneeling, bowing, genuflecting, are not things we do in our daily life; we do these special things for God, because he is God.

Conclusion

And yet, despite our best efforts, we could do better; we could give God more; we could avoid doing things that might just tick Jesus off, were he to come to our churches today.

·        He would ask some of us to dress a little more respectfully, perhaps more formally, since we come here to encounter a great Person, God the Father.

·        He would ask some of us to behave and speak in church in ways that create an atmosphere of prayer, rather than a place of entertainment or a carnival.

·        He would ask some of us to dedicate a little more time to God, arriving at church well before Mass begins to recollect ourselves.  He would certainly not appreciate that some of us leave right after communion.

There is no better time than the Season of Lent, for us to rededicate ourselves to God.  As we do our almsgiving, our fasting and abstinence, our prayer, may we always give God what is due to God: dignified worship and devoted service.