Friday, April 23, 2004
Christ is Risen!
Holy Great Martyr George the Trophy Bearer
14th of the Paschal Vigil: Jeremiah 31:31-34 Apostle: Acts 5:1-11 Gospel: St. John 15:17-16:2
Jeremiah 31:31-34, especially vs. 31: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a
new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah." In the seventh century BC, the Prophet Jeremiah
foretold days to come when God would "make a new covenant," but, in the night in which the Lord "was betrayed, - or
rather, gave Himself up for the life of the world," He proclaimed "to His holy disciples and Apostles" the arrival of those
days and the launching of the New Covenant, saying: "Drink ye all of this: this is My Blood of the New Testament, which
is shed for you and for many, for the remission of sins."
It is noteworthy that the Apostle Paul, who himself tasted the Holy Cup (I Cor. 11:25), embraced Christ's saving death
upon the Cross (Rom. 5:8), and knew the risen Lord (I Cor. 15:8), chose to quote this entire prophecy of Jeremiah into the
body of his Epistle to the Hebrews (Heb. 8:8-12). In doing so, he declared that Christ mediates the New more excellent
Covenant, one enacted on better promises than the former covenant (Heb. 8:6). Note: Jeremiah's prophecy reveals 1) what
the fault was under the old covenant, 2) the Divine remedy for that fault, and 3) the means by which God achieves that
remedy in those who embrace the New Covenant.
What was the problem, the weakness, of the former Covenant? Of itself, the Law and the worship which Moses received
on Mount Sinai, even though God was its Author, still could not "perfect the conscience of the worshiper" (Heb. 9:9). The
former Covenant, as moral and social law and as directives for the performance of worship, did not deal inwardly with the
souls and hearts of God's People. They could carry out the form of the Covenant and yet be very far from God and their
fellow members of God's People. Laws and rules do not provide for inner formation but only tell what to do, how to
behave, and actions to take. Being impersonal, statutes and instructions are subject to interpretation, evasion, and outright
infraction. As the Lord observed to Jeremiah, His People "abode not in [His] covenant" (Jer. 31:32), even as they lived
with the Covenant. Rather, it was a matter of pride for them and a badge to disdain others.
Notice what God promises through the Prophet Jeremiah: "this is My covenant which I will make with the house of Israel;
after those days, saith the Lord, I will surely put My laws into their mind, and write them on their hearts." Interiorizing the
purpose of God's law is the basis for the New Covenant. That is exactly what we find in the teaching of the Lord Jesus.
He directs His disciples toward change of heart and mind, repentance, and inward renewal, but not to the annulment of
what God had commanded for His people through the Law and the Prophets (Mt. 5:17). To be in covenant with God, one
needs to turn within, to address one's inward life and there to purify the state of one's heart and soul. The whole of the
Lord Jesus' "Sermon on the Mount" is concerned with this precise need (Mt. 5-7) - as was the whole of His ministry.
There is, of course, a major problem with the greater covenant which God promised and the Lord Jesus taught so
vigorously: fallen men and women simply are bound to fail in being perfect as God their heavenly Father is perfect (Mt.
5:48). Ah, but notice - in the New Covenant God declared that He would "be merciful to their iniquities, and their sins I
will remember no more" (Jer. 31:34). This of course is what we who live under the New Covenant know and perceive as
the other facet of the ministry of the Lord Jesus. Forgiveness of sins is what He forcefully and regularly offers. Listen to
His Eucharistic words: "this is My Blood of the New Covenant [or Testament], which is shed for you and for many, for the
remission of sins."
Forgive me all my sins, O God, that with a pure heart, I may partake of Thy deifying mysteries, wherewith every man who
eateth and drinketh thereof with a pure heart is enlivened.
