The Gospel of John, chapter 12:26

The word “covenant” is almost too familiar to Christians. It is a word so often found in our liturgies, in our prayers, and in our mouths, that it comes too trippingly off the tongue. And yet, “covenant” is far too strong and too binding a word to be trifled with. Today, most attorneys would advise against using the word “covenant” in a contract, because the word is so legally binding. When you make a covenant with someone, you make a promise that cannot be broken. Christians are a people of covenant, a God-made, God-given covenant. When God made a covenant with us, God knew exactly what this meant: God and humankind were bound in a non-breakable relationship, a relationship so strong, it would last through death.

Today’s scripture passage graphically demonstrates the meaning of God’s covenant and the respect it requires. Only by following Jesus will His word come to be what it is meant to be. Only by following Him will the covenant flower, for whoever serves Him “the Father will honor.” The evangelist is telling us that the covenant established by Jesus’ death and resurrection is our covenant if we but follow Jesus. John is inviting us to claim our share of Jesus’ victory, the source and the proof of the new covenant.

To our ears, obedience smacks too much of subservience, of giving up one’s free will. And yet, Jesus was the model of obedience. Can we really follow Jesus if we are not obedient? No! We can only follow Him faithfully when we realize that God’s new covenant with us is one that is heartfelt and heart written. Then as heart of our hearts, God’s covenant will surely lead us to do His will. It will prompt us to give of ourselves to others; to be “lifted up” for others; even to die for others for the sake of the love that exists between all of us whose hearts God has embraced.

This is a good time to remember your own baptism, when you first received God’s covenant, when you died and rose with Christ. This is a good time to turn to God in prayer. Pray that God’s covenant grows deep within you. Nourish and strengthen your relationship with God that you may yield a rich harvest, and be gathered with all people into the full flowering of the Kingdom of God.

Fr. Hugh Duffy