DOCTRINE AND FAITH
(Exodus 24,3-8; Hebrew 9, 11-15; Mark 14,12-16.22-26: Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, Year B, 6th June, 2021)
On the solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, the liturgy proposes three texts: the first, taken from the book of Exodus, concerns the foundation of the ancient covenant; the second is a passage from the Letter to the Hebrews which presents the mystery of Christ as also a mystery of mediation and covenant; the third is the Gospel, which speaks to us of the institution of the Eucharist as a mystery of covenant. Therefore, the whole liturgy of the Word makes us reflect on the significant theme of the covenant.
Since the Old Testament, it has been noted that God's purpose was to find a covenant. The Lord freed his people from Egypt to establish a covenant with them. The book of Exodus reminds us how Sinai’s covenant was established. The text, first of all, highlights the Lord's commands. Moses reports to the people all the rules dictated by the Lord, and the people immediately undertake to respect them, replying: All the commands that the Lord has given, we will carry out!. The covenant is stipulated on the basis of a mutual commitment: God undertakes to take care of his people, guide, protect and save them in case of danger; the people, on their own part, promise God to keep his law. We read in the book of Exodus: Moses took the book of the covenant [the book of the law] and read it in the presence of the people. They said: ‘What the Lord has commanded, we will do it and we will carry it out!’ But to form a covenant, the law is not enough: a foundation rite is also needed, which is a covenant sacrifice, in which blood is sprinkled. Therefore, the author of the book of Exodus tells us: Moses commissioned some young people among the Israelites to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice bullocks as communion sacrifices for the Lord. The covenant is ratified with communion sacrifices. Moses orders the young men to kill bulls and then divide their blood into two parts: one half is poured on the altar, which symbolises the presence of God; the other half is used for liturgical sprinkling. Moses took the blood and sprinkled the people, saying: ‘Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has concluded with you on the basis of all these words!’. For the Bible, blood represents life. Thus, a vital union between God and his people is founded at Sinai and, in a certain sense, the same life is shared by the two. But to remain in this vital union, it is necessary to remain faithful to the commitment made, to the will of God, which is a will of love. But sometimes this will of God conflicts with our natural desires, and then we are tempted not to follow it. This happened often to the Jewish in the Old Testament. Already the first episode that took place immediately after the founding of the covenant at Sinai - the construction of a golden calf - shows that the people are unfaithful to God. Therefore, the covenant of Sinai is, immediately, ineffective, it does not protect the people from sin. And throughout the Old Testament the infidelity of the people whom God chose is repeated like a rhyme, an infidelity that is continually condemned by the prophets. Why does the Sinai alliance prove ineffective? The New Testament explains it to us: it is an external covenant, which is not established in the heart of man. The rite performed by Moses is an external rite: it is a question of taking the blood of animals to found the alliance. But all these do not change the hearts of men. The blood of animals has no effect on the human heart, nor can it procure union with God. This covenant is then a symbolic rite, but ineffective: a rite that, very imperfectly, prefigures the foundation of the true covenant, which will be realised with the blood of Jesus.
The Gospel shows us how Jesus founded the new covenant. This is a very important episode in his life. Therefore, the evangelists describe the preparation in detail. Not that they do so for no other episode in the life of Jesus. The disciples ask Jesus: Where do you want us to go to prepare so that you can eat the Passover? He gives precise instructions: Go to the city and a man with a jug of water will meet you; follow him [...]. the landlord will show you a large room with carpets upstairs, already ready; you prepare it for us. During the Passover/Last Supper Jesus makes a surprising gesture: He took the bread and, having pronounced the blessing [with which he thanked the heavenly Father], he broke it and gave it to them, saying: Take, this is my body. Then he took the cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them and they all drank from it. And he said: This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, shed for many. This makes us understand how Jesus founded the new covenant: with his sacrifice. He did not go to seek out a victim in a flock, but he took his sufferings and death and turned them into a covenant sacrifice. This initiative of Jesus and this very generous gesture of his, changed the whole course of events. In fact, in themselves, they are about to take a tragic, completely negative turn: Jesus will be arrested, accused, unjustly condemned and put to death. It will be a succession of tragic and scandalous events. But in the Last Supper Jesus anticipates all these negative events, giving them a positive meaning: that of a gift, covenant, and victorious love. In the Last Supper he is the great winner, because he changes the whole course of events, giving it a positive meaning: he takes his passion and his death and makes them serve as a gift of love, at the foundation of the new covenant. Jesus’ gesture at the Last Supper illuminates the rest of his passion. Without this gesture, we would have remained in darkness. Calvary, in fact, is a dark event, in which human wickedness is manifested, which tries to overcome the light and, apparently, succeeds. If we had only the story of Calvary, we could not know the significance of this event. Instead, thanks to the Last Supper, we know that this event was transformed by Jesus into a positive event, an event in which love overcomes evil and death. For this reason, the Last Supper, as well as the Eucharist in which we participate, is of extreme importance. We must become aware of this transformation that Jesus brought about in the Last Supper, and which continues to operate in all our Eucharistic celebrations.
The Letter to the Hebrews recognises this event as the foundation of the new covenant. The author declares that Jesus has become mediator of a new alliance. He became, so thanks to his blood or, more precisely, thanks to his offer, which gives all his value to his blood. Jesus entered the heavenly sanctuary, in God’s intimacy, with his risen human body and through his blood, that is, through the offering of his life. The Letter to the Hebrews states: Christ entered the sanctuary once and for all, not with blood from goats and calves, but with his own blood. Jesus’ blood is full of value, because it is the sign of his offering: Christ with an eternal Spirit offers himself without blemish to God. In his sacrifice, Jesus is both victim and priest at the same time. And a victim worthy of God, because he is spotless. He is a capable priest, because he offers himself, under the impulse of the eternal Spirit, that is, of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, his sacrifice is fully effective. It has the double efficacy of purifying and sanctifying. It purifies our conscience from dead works, that is, from sins. With his death offered for the sins of men, Jesus obtained that interior purification we needed. And, on the other hand, his sacrifice communicates to us the sanctification necessary to serve the living God. For these two reasons, which reveal the efficacy of his blood, Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews proclaims this reality with a triumphal tone. In fact, it is truly a marvellous victory to be able to find a new covenant, which is not an external covenant, like that of Sinai, but an interior covenant, which starts from Jesus’ heart and reaches our hearts. The new covenant founded by Jesus does not need to be re-instituted at all. It has been established once and for all, because now it is always effective to purify from sin and sanctify. It is a complete and definitive victory. This new covenant is above all a gift of love. Jesus' love got it for us. Therefore, we, on the solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, must be full of joy for his victory, and full of gratitude for the immense love with which he offered himself to find an eternal covenant between God and men. +John I. Okoye
(graphics by Charles O.Chukwubike)
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