Covenant Relationships

My topic today will be covenant relationships.  In the Bible a covenant is a strong agreement between two parties.  It is based on mutual commitments involving promises and rituals.

In the Old Testament the People of God had rituals to renew their covenant relationship with God.  They were called Covenant Renewal ceremonies.  Moses did it in this way.  He built an altar at the foot of the mountain.  Then several young bulls were sacrificed on the altar.  Moses took half of the blood and put it in large bowls; the other half he splashed on the altar.  Taking the book of the covenant, he read it aloud to the people, and they answered, "All that the LORD has said, we will do."  Then Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, saying, "This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words of his."  When the people were sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice, it was their ritualistic way of saying, “Lord, you can take our blood and our very lives if we fail to follow the rules of our covenant relationship with you.”  That is how they renewed their covenant relationship with God.

Joshua had a “Covenant Renewal” ceremony at the beginning of every year but he did it differently.  Chapter 24 of the Book of Joshua describes the covenant renewal ceremony which the People of God celebrated every year.  They would gather at the shrine in Shechem and they would recite a long list of the good things which God had done for them. 

They recalled how God had given them the land of Canaan and then led them to bountiful food in the land of Egypt during the time of the great famine.  Then God helped them to escape from slavery in Egypt.  When they came back to Canaan, God defeated the Canaanites so that they could reenter the Promised Land.  (Notice:  Scripture says that the Canaanites were defeated by the powerful hand of God, not by the Hebrew army.)  That was the first part of the covenant renewal ceremony:  The people called to mind all the good things which God had done for them.

In the second part of the ceremony, the people came forward and promised to be loyal to God.  They promised that they would worship only the Lord and that they would keep the commandments which the Lord had given them.  So, the renewal of the covenant was like the renewal of their relationship.  In this annual ceremony God promised to be faithful to the people and the people promised to be faithful to God.

Moving forward in time we see that in 622 B.C. King Josiah created a formal ritual for the Passover and it became the Covenant Renewal Ceremony.  His ritual called for three blessings: blessing a cup of wine, blessing a loaf of bread and the blessing of a second cup of wine. 

On the night before he died, Jesus celebrated the Passover Meal with his disciples.  He began the meal by following the Passover Ritual.  He took up the first cup of wine, blessed it, and poured it into smaller cups so that it could be shared around the table.  When he saw the red wine pouring from one container to another, Jesus said to himself. “I see my blood being poured forth.  This will happen because I love my people with all my heart.”  Then Jesus took up the loaf of bread.  He blessed it and broke it so that it could be shared.  While breaking the bread, Jesus said to himself, “I see my body being broken, so great is my love for my people.” 

This time he did not keep his thoughts to himself.  Jesus said, “This is my body which will be broken for you.”  Then Jesus took up the second cup of wine.  He said the blessing and poured the wine and said, “This is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the New and eternal Covenant, which will be poured out for you.  Then he said, “Do this in memory of me.”  And we do this in memory of Him when we celebrate the Mass today.  The Holy Eucharist is our Covenant Renewal Ceremony.

Did you notice His words?  Jesus said, “This is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the New Covenant.”  His blood is the blood of the New Covenant.  His blood is the seal of the New Covenant.  I will come back to this in just a moment.

Moving forward to our Gospel for today.  When Jesus went to the wedding feast in Cana he showed his support for marriage.  He was not a passive participant.  He did not take on the role of being a wallflower.  Instead, he took an active role in that celebration by supporting the young couple and helping them to serve their guests.  He made sure that their banquet of love was a real success.  He made sure that there was enough wine for everyone.  When Jesus changed the water into wine at Cana he was doing his part to support the newly married couple.

Since we are called to follow in the path of Jesus, we are called to support the married couples in our midst.  For example, even though I am not married, I am called by Christ to support Christian marriages.  How do I do that?  First and foremost, I strongly encourage married couples to celebrate the Eucharist every Sunday.  When Jesus renews his covenant with us, married couples can renew their covenant relationship with each other.

When the bread is broken on the altar, they can say to themselves, “I will break my selfishness and become more loving.”  When the wine is poured into the chalice, they can say to themselves, “I will pour forth my life in serving my spouse.”  Secondly, I ask everyone to think about marriage as a covenant.

A covenant is a special kind of relationship.  A covenant is an unconditional relationship and Jesus has that kind of relationship with his people.   During the Last Supper Jesus said that the Eucharist is the beginning of his New Covenant.  Many people don’t know that marriage is a covenant.  Most people in our country think that marriage is a contract.  Almost every movie and almost every TV show pictures marriage as a contract.  But in the Christian world marriage is a covenant - and that is very different!

For example, a contract is for a limited period of time, while a covenant lasts forever.  A contract engages only a part of a person, while a covenant engages the whole person.  A contract is witnessed by the state while a covenant is witnessed by God.

Within our Church, we ask each other to think about marriage as a covenant.  A covenant marriage grows stronger when weaknesses are shared because Jesus has inspired Christians to share their weaknesses.  Jesus inspires us by sharing his broken body with us every Sunday.  Notice how he shares His broken body with us.  Not his perfect body but his broken body. 

I will close by asking us to think about Jesus at the wedding feast of Cana.  He helped a young couple to have a wonderful wedding banquet.  In doing so he calls us to support Christian marriage in our own day.

Then at the Last Supper Jesus showed us what he means by Christian love.  It is the total giving of self.  It is the covenant way of relating to God and to each other.  So let’s say Yes to the call of Christ, our savior.  He is calling us to build our lives on the solid foundation of covenant love.