HOMILY FOR THE 5TH SUNDAY OF LENT, YEAR B
Rev.
Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi
One of the
characteristics of an organized venture is timeliness. In such an organized
endeavour, time needed for the execution of any plan is calculated so well as
not to cause confusion in the system. To show oneself as organized, time is
important. There is always the feeling of boredom and uneasiness created when
people do not keep to time. It is said that time waits for no one, but those
who time waits for are those who are conscious of time. They are those who keep
to time. One who keeps to time lives in expectancy of the scheduled moment. No one
enjoys those who do not keep to time. Every earthly plan is done in time, and
so executed in time. And when being executed, it is so planned that one program
follows another. If after the plan, the printings and the distribution of the
program of events, the master of ceremonies happens to begin from the middle or
worse still, from the last, great confusion and disorder is created. This is it
with the human conception and perception. We can therefore use this to
understand the divine plan which follows a definite divine plan in the economy
of salvation. Today, there is an announcement of a new covenant, and this new
covenant has an hour when it will be inaugurated.
The First Reading
(Jeremiah 31:31-34) contains this announcement of a new covenant. And this is
the only time the term ‘new covenant’ is used in the Old Testament. Indeed, the
passage is one of the profoundest in the entire Bible. The reality of the
covenant idea that Israel has been chosen by God, that Yahweh is its God, and
that it has peculiar obligations not shared by other peoples to observe the
standards of worship and conduct which God has given it, is basic to the
prophets. We must therefore contrast the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. The
Old Covenant which was written on stone tablets (Exod 31:18) is different from
the New Covenant which Jeremiah foresees in the future. Let us now examine the
characteristics of the New Covenant.
1. The New Covenant
will not be written on stone tablets. This covenant will be written in their
hearts. The law will no longer be on tablets but in their hearts. The heart
becomes a writing material. This has serious implications for us today. The seed
of faith has been ingrained in our hearts that the heart becomes the bedrock of
faith. If the heart is evil, then all other external manifestations are fake. If
the heart does not harbour good thoughts, it cannot be a reproductive site for
goodness. The heart has replaced the stone; yes, but the heart needs constant
revival. As the farmland of faith, the heart has to be watered and manured
always for it to produce healthy crops. It may seem as though in our age that
humans have lost the sense of sincerity. Sincerity exists when the hearts
produces exactly what it has; this is when there is congruency between what one
thinks and what one says. Our era is growing more inclined to external
manifestation other than internal foundation. To make our heart good, we must constantly
listen to God who now speaks to u directly and not through a medium or person.
2. In the New Covenant,
there will be no need of prophets. God himself will teach men directly, as He
will be their God and they shall be His people. Hence, instead of external
instruction, this covenant will contain an interior principle of personal
regeneration that the need for prophets and priests will no longer be felt. God
will teach individuals as He taught the prophets and priests. Everyone now has
direct access to God. We must thus be aware that we have all it takes to pray
to God directly and be heard by Him.
3. The New Covenant is
one that constantly forgives. God promises in the New Covenant that he will
forgive sins and will remember their sins no more. Every sin has its
consequence, and that is punishment. God himself will “forgive and forget.” But
what does this mean? When people say that they have forgiven and have
forgotten, what does it mean? To forgive and forget is to forgive and not
punish. When God forgives us and yet forgives giving us the punishment we
deserve for our sins, He has actually forgotten. This is where the theme of
indulgence comes in –the forgiveness given to the sinner not only as regards
the sin but also as regards the punishments due for such sin. Forgetting does
not mean wiping out from memory the wrongs one has done, for anyone who forgets
that way suffers from dementia (which is a psychological mishap). As human
beings, when we forgive and forget, it means that we forgive and do not
retaliate. Inability to retaliate and revenge the wrong done to us is the
subject matter in forgetting the offence of people. This is why Jesus enjoins us
to forgive without counting.
In all, what is the
exact nature of this covenant and what relations does it have with the former
one? Even though we have brought out the peculiarities of the New Covenant as
written in Jeremiah, the New and the Old Covenants can be seen as fundamentally
the same. God is the initiator of both covenants. Both are God-centred, and the
emphasis remains in obedience to the dictate of God. Hence, the newness may not
be found in the essentials of the covenant but in its realization and means. It
will not be broken as the old was repeatedly, for all will be faithful. The reason
for this is that the very inner nature of humanity is created anew; that is the
heart.
The moment prophesied
by Jeremiah saw the light of the day in Christ. And today, Jesus said: the hour has come for the son of man to be
glorified. This is the time of the new covenant. The hour has finally come.
Unlike physical time, the hour Jesus talks about is a theological one. This statement
came as a result of how the Greeks were in search of Jesus, most probably to
experience what others may have experienced. In their inquisitive nature, they
wanted to see and know this figure that has shaken the walls of their society.
The Greeks went to the apostles to direct them to Christ, and when they met
Jesus, the very first sentence that came forth was that the hour has finally
come. Most probably, things had been building up to a crisis and that crisis
had finally come. But the understanding of this crisis was different from
others.
For the Jews, the son
of man was undefeatable by any physical force (cf. Dan. 7:1-8), but for Jesus,
the son of man will be crucified and ‘virtually defeated’ but it will not end
in crucifixion. Jesus would defeat the cross. The author of the Letter to the
Hebrews clarifies this in the Second Reading (Heb. 5:7-9) by saying that it was
the obedience of Christ that led him to victory and wrought our salvation. The
cross will then be regarded as a sign of victory no longer a sign of shame. The
hour of Jesus is the hour of defeat, an hour of a total crush of the devil, and
a total victory of Christ. Christ is the New Covenant personified.
This hour of Jesus
comes with paradoxical teachings. And these teachings are important for us
today. The first teaching is that only by death can life come. If you want to
save your life, you must lose it. The Church we see today is resting on the
blood of martyrs. Christianity involves sacrifice and service. This is the
demand of the New Covenant. The second teaching is that our lives are retained
only when we spend it. This is a call to selflessness. When we think less of
our individual gains, the world becomes more habitable. The third teaching is
that only by service can greatness come. We must stoop to conquer. Service engenders
love, and love is needed in every society we find ourselves. These paradoxes of
Jesus gave birth to a new view of life. People looked on glory as acquisition
of wealth and power, but Jesus looked on glory as a cross. He taught men that
only by passing through self effacement can we truly be glorious.
Lastly, the hour of
Jesus was an anxious one. Jesus strongly felt how terrible it would be, but he
was quickly calmed by the Father’s voice. The voice of the Father was not meant
for Jesus but all of us to trust that Jesus is our master who is the conqueror
because he would not fail to draw all men to himself when he would be lifted
up. Since we have identified in His suffering, He will identify us for his
glory. He will not fail to lift us up for the suffering we have undergone for
his sake. The Lord is quick to repay. He does not let his people go without
reward. And thus, this eschatological hope and trust becomes our encouragement
in the midst of sufferings and the efforts we make to lead good lives. Happy
New week. God bless you.
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