Greatness of the New Covenant

 Reflection on Today's Readings, Friday, 2nd Week in Ordinary Time, Year 1, January 22nd, 2021

Today's first reading says, "As it is, Christ has obtained a ministry which is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he meditates is better, since it is enacted on better promises." The promise is that God will teach them Himself. The covenant is more excellent because the mediator is beyond the influence of sin; God, Himself, is the mediator in the person of Jesus Christ.. Prophet Ezekiel says, "For thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out" (34:11).

The Old Covenant is mediated by man who is weak and under the influence of sin. The Covenant became faulty because of man's inability to keep it. It is said, "I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not continue in my covenant, and so I paid no heed to them, says the Lord." It was man's weakness and sins that smear the old covenant. 

Having been affected by weakness and sin, the mediator of the old covenant could not teach the people the truth about God. Prophet Malachi puts it thus: "And now, O priests, this command is for you. If you will not listen, if you will not lay it to heart to give glory to my name, says the Lord of hosts, .... You have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by your instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts" (2:1-2,8). In the new covenant, God has to device a means of revealing Himself to His people. Hence, He says, "This is the new covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach every one his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest." In the new covenant, salvation is merited through the redemptive works of Jesus Christ; it is independent of the holiness of the priests. The Church says, "Celebrated worthily in faith, the sacraments confer the grace they signify. They are efficacious because in them Christ himself is at work: it  is he who baptises, he who acts in his sacraments in order to communicate the grace that each sacrament signifies. ... This is the meaning of the Church's affirmation that the sacraments act ex opere operato (literally: "by the very fact of the action's being performed"), i. e., by the virtue of the saving work of Christ, accomplished once for all. It follows that "the sacrament is not wrought by the righteousness of either the celebrant or the recipient, but by power of God (CCC no. 1127-1128).

The gospel reading reminds us that God  calls us to preach the good news to people; we have to work for the salvation of others. The message of Christ is to reach the end of the earth through us.

God our Father, help us to yield to your call that we may participate in the proclamation of the gospel and live for your own glory. Amen.

Fr. Andrew Olowomuke