Leviticus 25:47-27:13;
Mark 10:32-52; Psalm 45:1-17; Proverbs 10:22
Long reading today, huh? I think I’ll try to keep this on
the short side, since our Old Testament passage today was especially long.
After some of the hard passages that Mary referred to
yesterday, I was a little concerned about opening up today’s reading. But as is
often the case, I was pleasantly surprised by Scripture today. In the Old
Testament, we see a very explicit demonstration of the Mosaic Covenant. If you’re
familiar with the OT, then you’ll know that covenants are a big part of the
story. The Mosaic Covenant, often referred to as the Old Covenant, was very
contractual – if the Israelites did abc, then God would do xyz. Take a look – “If you walk in my statutes and observe
my commandments and do them, then I will
give you your rains in their seasons, and the land shall yield its increase…”
(Lev. 26:3). And conversely, “But if you
will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, if you spurn
my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my
commandments, but break my covenant, then
I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease
and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache” (26:15-16a). The
agreement between the two parties, God and Israel, really couldn’t be any
clearer. Unfortunately, as we already have seen in glimpses, the Israelites do
not keep their end of the covenant, so God is forced to follow through with the
consequences he lays out here. The covenant is broken.
So we have this contractual type of covenant in our minds as
we read our New Testament passage. Jesus is beginning to prepare the disciples
(and probably himself) for the crucifixion that is to come. He tells them, “The
Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and
they will condemn him to death…and after three days he will rise” (Mk. 10:33-34). This begins the New Covenant – the new agreement between God and
humanity. This new covenant is new in many ways. Firstly, it’s between God and
all of humanity, not just the Jews. Secondly, and most importantly, this covenant
is not contractual. Jesus goes to the cross for everyone, regardless of who
they are and what they’ve done, and his redemptive grace and forgiveness is
open to everyone. No more “if you do this, then I’ll do this” but rather “I’ve
done everything; I’ve given everything; all you have to do is receive.” That’s
the covenant that we’re a part of, my friends. No contract, just the boundless love
of God. And there’s no breaking it.
I have to wrap up or I won’t have succeeded in keeping it
short. But I pray that the abundant and overflowing love of Jesus, the love the
drove him to the cross and then out of the grave, may fill your heart and pour
over into every crevice of your life.
- Esther McCurry
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