Covenant
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On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram. -Genesis 15:18
I did a search, and in the NRSV version of the bible, the word “Covenant” is used 380 times, 350 of which are in the Hebrew Scriptures. It is also mentioned 30 times in the Christian Scriptures, but only 4 times in the gospels, and one of those is Zechariah quoting the Old Testament.
The word covenant is put on Jesus’ lips in all three synoptic gospels when he conducts the last supper: “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood." (Luke 22:20) The word covenant is not even mentioned in the entire gospel of John. The epistle and other new testament writers use it 26 times, mostly in interpreting the way Jesus talked about this new covenant in Jesus’ blood in comparison to the way the word had interpreted for so long in the Jewish tradition.
This search shows that the idea of covenant is at the bedrock of our faith - and is a very ancient and deep rooted part of our tradition. It went WAY back to Noah. And then Jesus came in and totally stirred it all up.
This did NOT please the religious leaders of his day. These leaders had learned about and understood covenant in a certain way all their lives, and this troublemaker from Nazareth’s blood has nothing to do with it, thank you very much!
It strikes me that we love to criticize the Pharisees and religious leaders of Jesus’ day as being closed minded to the Good News. But how easy would it be for any of us to have someone come in and proclaim that what we’ve seen as the bedrock upon which our own faith is founded is breaking up and being changed into something new? Actually… this is pretty much what is going on in the church these days in the reformation of the 21st century. And all of us have some level of deep discomfort about it. It’s stirring things all up! Changing what we’ve always known!
So before we start to throw stones, we need to recognize our solidarity with the fear that those ancient leaders were feeling about their small and increasingly tenuous religion falling completely apart.
And then we can take a deep breath and remember the amazing words of the psalmist:
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom then shall I fear? *
the Lord is the strength of my life;
of whom then shall I be afraid?
Our faith is built on solid ground. Sure, every now and then some kind of reformation comes along to remind us that some of what we assumed was solid ground is actually sand.
But in the day of trouble You shall keep me safe
in Your shelter; *
You shall hide me in the secrecy of Your dwelling
and set me high upon a rock.
This Sunday we’ll hear Jesus lament, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem - How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”
In every age, human beings go scattering off in our own, mistaken or hurtful ways. But that downy wing is always lifted and waiting for us to come back close to the heart of God. No matter how the earth rumbles and shakes, and even when, from our perspective, it seems that not one stone will be left upon another, we can yet stand strong on God’s solid foundation of covenant.
