Homilies | Father Nathan

1st Sunday of Lent

“This is the time of fulfillment.
The kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

— Mk 1:15

1st Sunday of lent

Today’s Readings:

First Reading — Gn 9:8-15

Responsorial Psalm — Ps 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9

Your ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep your covenant.

Second Reading — 1 Pt 3:18-22

Gospel Reading — Mk 1:12-15

What is a Covenant?

“Covenant” is one of those words that just keeps coming up when you read the Bible, in today’s first reading alone we could hear them at least five times.

When we hear of “covenant” today, it sounds like lofty legalese for “contract,” or “agreement”. We hear “agreements” for everything.  But covenant is a weighty theme that dominates Scripture: it’s good to get an idea of what it means in the Bible.

We have go into lots of agreements with companies, persons and so on. So agreements are made between persons and humans. Since it’s made between humans even though it’s called to keep it in tacked but it can breakable, it’s done most of the time.

Covenants backbone of the Bible

We don’t talk a lot about covenants today. But we should. Covenants are one of the most important themes in the Bible because they act as the skeletons upon which the entire redemptive story is built. They’re like the backbone of the Bible. From Genesis on, God enters into one formal relationship after another with various humans in order to rescue his world.

These divine-human relationships push that narrative forward until it reaches its climax in Jesus. Thus, to tell the story of God redeeming his people through Jesus is to tell the story of God’s covenantal relationship with his people.

A covenant is a chosen relationship or partnership…

in which two parties make binding promises to each other and work together to reach a common goal. They’re often accompanied by oaths, signs, and ceremonies. Covenants contain defined obligations and commitments, but differ from a contract in that they are relational and personal. Think of a marriage. In love, a husband and wife choose to enter into a formal relationship binding themselves to one another in lifelong faithfulness and devotion. They then work as partners to reach a common goal, like building a career or raising children together. That’s a covenant.

Covenants make two into one.

When two parties make a covenant in the Bible, they are joined together and identified with each other. They may exchange coats (1 Sa 18:3–4), have a commemorative meal (Ex 24:11), and erect a long-lasting memorial to their promise (Gn 31:46). At every covenant’s core, there is a change in relationship.

Covenants involve promises.

People don’t just join together at random: the agreement usually includes some kind of practical application. Sometimes it means not harming one another (Gn 31:50). Sometimes it means protecting one another (1 Sa 20). Sometimes it means agreeing not to obliterate a weaker people group (Jos 9:15). In some cases, it can have everlasting consequences—we’ll get to those later.

Covenants are spiritually charged.

Covenants are taken seriously, and for good reason: two people are joining together based on little more than their words. They trust a divine being to hold them accountable.

Covenants are not easily broken. To break a covenant is a serious thing. Covenants between God and man.

Some of God’s covenants are completely unconditional: they’re not sustained by human performance. When God makes His covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15, He doesn’t require anything from Abraham. His covenant with David was unconditional as well (1 Chr 17).Much of the Bible’s story is shaped around the covenants between God and man.

In fact, the Old Testament and the New Testament are named this way because they detail two major covenants between God and His people.

• It’s God Love to his people
• He himself takes the initiative
• Its again to be protector
• It’s to save his people
• He wants to abide with them
• He is there for them
• Above all it’s all to redeem his people and save them to eternal life…

Let us pray that during this holy season, God will kindle in our hearts the fire of his love. I wish you a very fruitful Lenten season. Amen