Genesis 17:3-9 / Psalm 105:4-9 / John 8:51-59
The common thread that runs through the first reading from the book of Genesis, Psalm 105 and the Gospel reading today is about a covenant with God and that God keeps His word to us.
In the first reading God says “I will maintain my covenant with you and your descendants after you, throughout the ages as an everlasting pact.” And “On your part, you and your descendants after you must keep my covenant throughout the ages.” Then the responsorial psalm today says “The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.” As we read on into the gospel, Jesus says “whoever keeps my word will never see death” and “… I know Him and I keep His word.”
Have you ever heard the expression that “a person is only as good as his word”? Or the expression, “I give you my word”? It used to mean something when people gave their word, that you could depend that what they said was true. But, is that really the case anymore? Have we ever told our children we would do something fun with them on a certain date and then backed out of it because of work, or other commitments? Have we ever taken out a loan and promised to repay it but, other things came along that needed our attention too and we didn’t pay back the debt? Or we made a pledge to our church or other charitable organization that was difficult to fulfill over the long term? Maybe it’s something simple like agreeing to meet a friend for dinner and then we got out of it because we just didn’t feel like going that evening? Sometimes it is more serious commitments like our marriage or practicing our Catholic faith that we have trouble remaining true to for the long term.
When we break our word to someone we don’t usually see how it affects them. However, people will look at us differently afterward and wonder if they can trust us. Will we really do what we say we will? They will lose some of their faith in us because we broke our word.
We all have human failings though. Rather than disregard the situation, hopefully we will work harder next time around, to be more careful when we give our word to others and to make sure to keep it when we do. That’s part of what Lent is really all about, recognizing the areas we need to improve on and doing something concrete about it.
However, if we keep God’s word, especially the ten commandments, we will remain in a good relationship with Him and God will always be there for us too. In fact He promises to be there for us, forever. If we don’t turn away from Him, He won’t turn away from us either.
Jesus even went so far to say “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.” The Jewish people thought he was crazy. However, Jesus proved He wasn’t crazy when he rose from the dead three days after his crucifixion. His word is the truth and we can confidently place our trust in Him that we too, will not die but have eternal life if we remember to live by what He taught us.
Jesus said “And if I should say that I do not know him; I would be like you a liar. But, I do know him and I keep his word. Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day;” The Jews did not believe what he was saying because Jesus was a young man at the time. However, Abraham did appear to Jesus along with Moses at the transfiguration and His apostles witnessed this event. Jesus told the truth.
The reason why the Jewish people had Jesus put to death on the cross is because of the next statement Jesus made though. “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.” God told Moses His name was “I AM” so the Jews did not believe Jesus and accused him of blasphemy. They crucified Him because of this statement. Blasphemy was a capital offense in Jewish law, punishable by death.
Thank God that most countries in our world today, do not punish people with death simply because of the words they say. Can you imagine dying because of the words you say? Jesus knew the penalty for the words he said, but they were the truth and He faced death rather than retract his words. Jesus Christ spoke the truth that He is the son of the living God. The Lord Jesus rose from the dead three days after his crucifixion and we can trust what He said, that we too shall not taste death as long as we remain in his words.
The thought for today, might be to pay a little more attention to how we give our word to other people too. To carefully consider our promises before we make them, but once we give our word to others, we will do whatever it takes to honor it.
