Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard two main things in the readings from the Holy Scriptures. The first, from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Hebrews spoke about the new covenant which Christ brought with Him and sealed with mankind, superseding the old covenant of God with Abraham and the people of God. And them the second, from the Holy Gospel according to St. Mark, is the calling of the Twelve Apostles, whom Jesus made as the chiefs of His disciples.

Today’s readings talk about the change brought about by Christ, to establish at last the promises which He had made to His people over the millennia. After long ages and years of difficulty, conflict and disobedience by the people of God, finally He came to straighten things out and remade things anew. And this is to remind us also that while we are ever disobedient and unfaithful, but our Lord is ever faithful to us, to the point of coming down Himself to seal the covenant, the new covenant with all of us.

The old covenant of Abraham and God was set after he obeyed the Lord’s call, who called him from his ancestral lands, to follow where the Lord instructed him to go to. Abraham was faithful, and he followed the Lord throughout his life, and he was even willing to sacrifice his own son, as a sign of that undying and ultimate faith which he had to the Lord. And for that faith, God rewarded him and promised him the great and rich inheritance and blessings which He would provide him and his descendants if they remained true to their part of the promise and the covenant.

The covenant which God established with Abraham and His descendants had been broken many, many times, and just as their ancestors had done, they disobeyed the Lord and broke their part of the covenant. They forgot about the Lord, abandoned Him, found and worshipped other gods instead of the one true God. The people of God had been rescued and protected from various harm and liberated even from the Egyptians, and yet still they had the nerve to complain against God and rebel against Him.

That was why the wrath of God was against them, and He scattered them over the nations. But this does not mean that He wanted their destruction or annihilation, but rather that they may return to Him and turn back on the evils that they have committed. And that covenant, having been broken by the disobedience of the people of God, had become a useful and empty covenant, without use or benefit, and that is why He sent us our Lord Jesus Christ, to be the Mediator and the bearer of the New Covenant.

And what is this new covenant? If we look at the first covenant, God established that covenant following the faithfulness of Abraham in following His will, and upon the sacrifices of animals, lambs and goats, the blood of those animals, He established the first covenant, but being based on imperfect offering of animal blood, it is not a steady and firm covenant, and it is dependent on both sides of those involved in the covenant, and if one party does not fulfill their part of the covenant, then it would be null and void.

That is why our Lord Jesus Christ established the new covenant with us all, which was sealed not by a mere offering of bull’s blood and lamb’s blood, but by the very blood of the Lamb of God, Christ Himself, who let Himself to be led to the slaughterhouse by His enemies, and allowed Himself to be humiliated and scourged, to be wounded for our sins, and thus to die for the sins we have committed, for all the rebelliousness and disobedience which we have committed through all time.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we have to realise that we have all been given a second chance by our loving God. He has given us this new chance through the sacrifice of His Son, who died on the cross for us. Are we grateful for the wonderful gifts which He had given us? Have we been thankful for all the love and mercy He had shown us all?

If our answers for all these are no, then we should really rethink our lives and reflect deep in our lives. Do we see the Lord as our loving Father, and as the One who has provided us with all that we need? Do we see the Lord as our Saviour who had freed us from the debts of sin which weighed us down and prevented us from being liberated from the bonds of Satan?

Therefore, brethren, let us all from today on, renew our commitment to the Lord our God, be faithful to Him and no longer commit anything that is wicked in the eyes of the Lord. Let us all realise that with every sin we committed, we brought great pain and sorrow for our Lord who desires nothing else but our salvation and liberation from death, which is caused by our sins.

Let us all change our ways for the better, sinning no more and following what our Lord had shown us. May Almighty God be with us all, and may He guide us all to life eternal, through the loving sacrifice which He had shown to all of us. Amen.