New Covenant
Luke 22:20 (NRSV) —
‘In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.’’
Before we moved to Birmingham a few years ago, the documents attached to our house contained some restrictions on what the house could be used for – called covenants. If memory serves, one of these forbade us from making bricks! The clue is in our old address: we lived in Kiln Road, very near the site of a historic brickworks whose products were so highly regarded that they were used to build the Albert Hall.
Needless to say, we were never tempted to start our own brick-making company, but if we had been, the covenant would have legally prevented us. A covenant, in its most general sense, is a solemn, often legal, promise to engage in (or in this case refrain from) a specified action.
As we recover from the celebrations of the ‘festive season’, perhaps it’s a good time to remind ourselves what the birth of Jesus foretells – the ‘New Covenant’ between God and his people! We recall the birth of the baby Jesus, and that he then ‘grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and people’ (Luke 2:52), but it’s some years to the next stage - John the Baptist, proclaiming the coming of Jesus the Messiah.
John was the last of the Old Testament prophets – a man devoted to God and to his calling as the forerunner for Jesus, but still bound by the old covenant, the promise made by God through Moses and centred on the Law. The OLD Covenant between God and his people was his solemn promise to be their God, (while they promised to obey God’s laws).
The NEW Covenant between God and us, his people, is his solemn promise to be our God – but not because we deserve it, rather because Jesus has opened the way. So as the decorations are put away for another year, let’s rejoice in the greatest Christmas gift of all, the undeserved grace of God, who so loved the world that he gave his only Son…
Prayer — Lord, although it’s only January, help me to be an Easter person today!