“The Blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
Recently, I have found myself particularly aware of words that I have been saying everyday for almost thirty-three years. These words are those said at the consecration of the Precious Blood, which state: “The Blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for the many for the forgiveness of sins.” What has struck me most profoundly about these words spoken by Jesus at the Last Supper are the words “Eternal Covenant.” There could be no eternal covenant had Jesus not risen from the dead.
When someone is alive, we can make agreements, contracts and covenants with him or her. Once they are dead, we do not imagine conducting an agreement or covenant with them. The fact that Jesus spoke to us about an eternal covenant witnesses to His intention at the Last Supper to offer Himself for us as an eternal sacrifice for our salvation. It witnesses to His certainty at the Last Supper that the Father will raise Him up from the dead. Our being present with the Church at every Eucharist we attend ultimately witnesses to the faith of the Church that He has indeed risen from the dead and to our own personal conviction of this reality.
The eternal nature of the new covenant, which is sealed with Christ’s blood, is something that only God is capable of offering to humanity. Everything else in creation, and everyone else, is finite and subject to God’s will in order to exist. At the Easter Vigil, we are reminded that it was God who created everything out of nothing; as the Vigil begins with the reading from Genesis that recounts God creating everything out of nothing. Time begins with God’s creating the world. The scriptures proclaimed at the Vigil speak of God’s care for the human person throughout time, as even when humans turned their back on God through sin; He never gave up on humanity. Thus, God forms an eternal covenant with humanity through the saving blood of His Son, which is poured out as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of the sins of all those who repent and return to God.
Created in the image and likeness of God, the human person is created for love. Jesus has revealed to us that God has so much love within God’s self, that God exists as a loving dynamic Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There is so much love within God that God’s love bursts forth in a dynamic act of loving creation. I like to think that this is what explains the big bang of creation. As God’s love is without limits, so today, the universe continues to expand and grow. We were baptized into this eternal mystery in the name of “the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
Only a God who has created the universe can be the origin of an eternal covenant. Only a God who is capable of destroying death by the resurrection of His Son can speak of an eternal covenant. Easter is the only possible explanation for an eternal covenant. God’s eternal and unconditional love is the only explanation that makes any of our Christian faith possible.
The love which God has for each and every human person is demonstrated by Jesus coming into the world and offering Himself as a sacrifice for the salvation of each and every human being. This is emphasized by the fact that we are told the eternal covenant of love that we are invited to participate in is formed by Christ’s blood, which was poured out for us and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus has given Himself for us that we might be restored to communion with the Holy Trinity and through this reconciling sacrifice know eternal life. Even the fact that His sacrifice is offered for “many” is a sign of God’s unconditional love; as no one is forced into this covenant and only those who freely respond in love are enjoined to this covenant. In love, God forces Himself on no one and we are each free to accept or reject this covenant of love. Love always entails freedom.
By raising Jesus from the dead, God the Father demonstrates that only Christ has the authority to offer an eternal covenant. Every other worldly power will pass away. The Egyptian Pharaoh who once enslaved the Israelites has passed away and is no more. The Romans who occupied Israel in Jesus’ time are long dead. The Nazis who once threated all of Europe are now history. All those worldly authorities that now threaten borders, and are creating havoc in the world, are also passing and will be subject to God’s judgement. Only Christ and His eternal covenant will last forever.
It was the realization that Christ had risen from the dead that transformed the apostles and first disciples. As we heard on Good Friday, when Christ was first arrested, the apostles all fled in fear. They thought that they too might be arrested with Him and put to death. However, as they encountered the Risen Christ, and He celebrated the eternal covenant with them in the Eucharist, they understood that He had destroyed death and that if they died, they too would rise with Him. As we will hear throughout the Easter season, when we read the Acts of the Apostles at Mass, Christ’s resurrection gave the first disciples the confidence to stand up to the worldly powers of their time and preach the Good News to all who would listen. This is the confidence that you and I are invited to as we celebrate the new and eternal covenant that Christ has won for us in His blood and Easter victory.
I would like to conclude by speaking of a reality that for me emphasizes that we have all been created to participate in this eternal covenant. It is a reality that I have spoken about before. When two people really fall in love, they usually express this love by stating that they wish to be with their loved one forever. And yet, as mortal finite beings, an eternal love is impossible for us on our own. The longest that any of us can live on our own is at the best 120 years. So why do any of us think that we could love someone forever? For me, this is one of the most powerful proofs that God has created us all with an eternal soul, which has been made in His loving and eternal likeness. The only way that any of us can live forever is through the Blood of the new and eternal covenant, which was poured out for us and for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Easter celebrates that Christ, who has risen from the dead, has established an eternal covenant with us. His resurrection is what allows Him to promise that He will be with us to the end of the ages (Matthew 28:20). By embracing Christ’s invitation to be with Him, and accepting our role in the new and eternal covenant, this very day, you and I are given life eternal and invited to be with Christ until the end of the ages. God loves us so much that He cannot wait to be with us in Heaven. He comes to us in the Eucharist so that we may be with Him today and always. As we receive Him in the Eucharist, and respond to His invitation to participate in this eternal covenant, we are called to be transformed like the first disciples and to speak of His love to our brothers and sisters and to work to overcome evil as coworkers in His Kingdom.
Jesus Christ is Risen today!
Happy and blessed Easter!
Fr. Michael McGourty,
Pastor, St. Peter’s—Toronto, Ontario
