HOMILY LENT WEEK 05 06 – Year II
The Messiah and Covenant Love:
(Ezk 37:21-28; Jer 31; Jn 11:45-57)
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“I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them.”
That promise from God, proclaimed by the prophet Ezekiel in the first reading, invites us to put our faith in Jesus as the Messiah, and to live out his covenant of unconditional love.
Two key elements emerge in the readings: covenant and the role of the Messiah. God has always wanted an intimate covenant relationship with God’s people. The first was with a couple – Adam and Eve. The second was with a family – Noah’s. The third was with a tribe – Abraham setting out in faith. The third was with a nation – Moses and the Ten Commandments that were to make the Israelites into a holy nation that would attract all other nations to God. That covenant was based on the law, was conditional and involved reward and punishment – keep the law and they would be blessed; break it and they would be cursed.
The Chosen people failed miserably at keeping that covenant and were always unfaithful, so God did something dramatic in making a different covenant with David – one of unconditional love – the covenant the prophet Ezekiel describes in the first reading today. God told David he would be with him no matter what he did, then David messed up terribly – lust, adultery, arrange a murder and lots of violence. However, he repented sincerely, experienced God’s unconditional love as forgiveness, and became the one true king that Israel had, as well as a forerunner of Jesus, who would be referred to as Son of David, born in the city of David, and of David’s lineage.
As remarkable as that covenant was, it was only in Jesus that the covenant Ezekiel speaks about will find its fulfillment – a covenant in Jesus’ blood fully revealing what God is truly like – humility, mercy, compassion, forgiveness, unconditional love and total non-violence. That was the primary role of the Messiah – to reveal the depths of God’s love for humanity.
There are four other roles that the Messiah was expected to fulfill. The first was to gather the nations to himself, which Ezekiel mentions and which Jesus did, as the people flocked to him from all around, instead of the temple. The second was to deal with the enemies of Israel – not the Romans but sin and death – which Jesus did by his death and resurrection. The third was to restore the Temple for the glory of Yahweh had risen and left the temple in the time of Ezekiel because of the corruption of the Jews, to return only when the Messiah came. That glory was restored in Jesus’ own body when blood and water flowed from his side as he hung upon the cross (as water flowed from the side of the temple in the time of Ezekiel), and in the sending of the Spirit on the disciples huddled in the upper room. The last role was to reign over the universe forever, and we see Ezekiel speaking of David being their prince forever. In all these ways, Jesus showed he was the Messiah and fulfilled all the messianic expectations of Israel, if only they had recognized that.
One of the results of the sin Jesus came to overcome was division, derived from the Greek word diabolos from which we get the word devil. So, any force that seeks to divide people can be considered diabolical to a greater or lesser degree. In the ninth century BC, the nation of Israel split into two kingdoms: Judah in the south with Jerusalem as its capital, and Israel in the north with Shechem as its capital. In 721 BC, the northern kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrian army, and the people were sent into exile. Judah survived until 586 BC, when Nebuchadnezzar’s army overran Jerusalem and force-marched most of its people to Babylon. The prophet Ezekiel was among those captured.
The last third of Ezekiel’s prophecies come from that dark and desolate period, and through him God promises restoration of a united Israel. God’s desire is always to create unity, or as Rohr puts it, to make one out of two. But there are two ways to unite people – God’s way, and the way of the world. Philosopher René Girard calls the latter “negative unanimity around one.” We can rally around love, or we can rally around fear, gossip, paranoia and negativity that usually scapegoats, excludes and marginalizes one person.
There is another word we use for evil, and that is “Satan.” While the devil tries to divide, Satan unites, but for an evil purpose – to kill and destroy. Think of ISIS, Boka Haram, and gangs. Unfortunately, this rallying cry is more efficient, more common and gathers groups more quickly than love does.
In the gospel, the rallying cry is the killing of Jesus, in which we see Satan at work. Jesus becomes the “one” around which his enemies can become “one.” This is supported by the high priest, Caiaphas, in the name of what we would now call “the national security state,” and as always, it works. The drama is now set for Holy Week. The scapegoat to create unity has been chosen. Even Pilate and Herod are united against Jesus (Lk 23:12). But little do they know that a much greater force towards unity will be set in motion that continues to this day – the force of sacrificial love and redemptive suffering in Jesus. God is always and forever making one out of two through this new covenant and the emerging kingdom of God.
Our invitation is to put our complete faith and trust in Jesus as the Messiah who has come, and as the one who has made us partakers in the new and eternal covenant relationship with God.
Our best response to that invitation is to worship him sincerely, especially in the Eucharist. In the present crisis, it is to ponder his Word as we are doing, and strive to live within that covenant as best we can through faith and love.
