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3. COVENANT

The great biblical experiences have lead and lead to an encounter with Christ. They give testimony of Him. Jesus said to the Jews: You search the Scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf (Jn 5,39). According to the Council (Vatican II), God was revealing himself to his people, with deeds and words, as a living and true God. (DV 14). This applies also today, for whatever was written previously was written for our instruction (Rom15,4).

So then, we go to Christ’s encounter by the ways of the living God. We encounter Christ where men respect and love one another (Covenant); where men are free from idols and powers that besiege and enslave them (Exodus); where they experience difficulties of liberation (Desert); where they find shelter and asylum (Land of milk and honey); we find Christ among the poor, with them he wants to be served (Option for the poor); in those that carry his word, in those that want to be heard ( In the name of God); in those who suffer persecution for being just (Yaveh’s servant); in the midst of those who gather in his name (Church); in the peace that the world cannot give, in the happiness that nobody can take away from us (Blessed).

Let us begin with the Biblical experience of the Covenant: What does the word Covenant means to us? In the Old as well as the New Testament it means: sharing, reaching agrement, fidelity, unity, love. Covenant is always referred to the other. To live in Covenant means to love. Faith experience implies to live in a situation of Covenant. At the same time, he who lives in a Covenant situation is on the way that leads to Christ. Christ is where men respect themselves and love each other.

Covenant means first of all God’s love for men: He first loves us (1 Jn 4,19). God’s love comes before all. When Abraham goes forth from Ur (Chaldea) a new religion is born, the religion of the Covenant. Again man in relation to God, in dialogue with God. Again, for man the meaning of life is dependent on God: Go forth from you land.. . to a land that I will show you (Gn12,1). Abraham begins to feel that God is not absent from man’s history. This main biblical experience is expressed with the ordinary formula of the covenant: God is with us (Ex 3,14; Mt 28,20; Jn 14,20).

Covenant also means men’s love to God. The love to God is the first and principal commandment: Hear, Israel: the Lord, is our God, the Lord alone. Therefor, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and will, and with all your strengh. Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today. Drill them into your children. Speak of them at home and abroad, whether you are busy or at rest. Bind them at your wrist a a sign and let them be as a pendant on your forehead. Write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates ( Dt 6, 4-9 ).

The second commandment is like the first: You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Mt 22,39). When the rich young man gets near Jesus and asks about what to do to inherit eternal life, Jesus answers him: You know the commandments. And he cites the ones referring to the neighbor: You shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness¸ honor your father and your mother (Lk 18, 20).

The Pharisees suspect that Jesus, laying stress on the second commndment, understimates the first. That is why, they test him by asking: Teacher, which commndment in the law is the greatest ? (Mt 22,36). They do not understand Jesus’s Gospel: Those who are well do not need a doctor ( Mk 2, 17 ); what defiles man are not what comes from the mouth but from the heart ( Mt 15, 18 ); the sabbath is made for man and not man for the sabbath ( Mk 2,27 ); is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather that to destroy it? ( Mk 3,4 ); man is much more valuable than a sheep, an ox or an ass ( Mt 12,12; Lk 13,15 ); new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins ( Lk 5, 38); the Lord desires mercy, not sacrifice (Mt 12,7).

The parable of the good samaritan (Lk 10, 30-37) not only answers the skeptical question of the legal scholar (Who is my neighbor?), but also makes manifest the deep contradiction of a virtue without love. Rightous but superficial application of the Law does not serve the priest nor the levite to understand that the meaning of the Law is love. The contrast is evident because a samaritan, despised by the Jews as a heretic, passes by and – without any special display of virtue - is moved by compassion for the injured the victim.

Decalogue’s profound message is that human life, as such, cannot be developed without love. The Decalogue is an expression of a moral Covenant , a brotherly, moral community that Jesus says is found in love of God and love of neighbor: The whole Law and the Prophets depend on these two commnadments (Mt 22,40 ).

A virtue wihtout love is a useless virtue. St. Paul firmly shows the uselessness of human virtues if they are lacking love: If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal (1Cor 13,1). Those who neglect the second commandment because of the first are deceiving, as St. John said: If anyone says "I love God" but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he sees cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the comandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother (1 Jn 4, 20-21). Brotherly love is the new commandment, the sign by which Jesus’s disciples will be recognized (Jn 13, 34-35).

The Gospel says that there will be suprises when the Lord sits on his throne to judge the history of man: Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink ? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothed you ? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you ? And the King will say to them: I assure you thast whatever you did for one of these humble brothers of mine, you did for me ( Mt 25,37-40).

12. Christian experence of faith is a new covenant that prophets proclaimed: I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts ( Ez 36, 26). This new covenant is sealed with the blood of Christ ( Lk 22,20 ). Now, according to our experience, what does it really mean to live in covenant? Does it lead to the full recognition of Christ?