Memorial of Saint Agnes, virgin and martyr
The lives of the saints are always meant to remind us of Jesus Christ first and foremost. Today's saint, Agnes, reminds me of Christ not only because she was a martyr, someone who died for Jesus. She also reminds me of Christ because her name, Agnes, is related to the Latin word for "lamb." In the mass, part of the prayer we say is the Agnus Dei or "Lamb of God," which refers to Jesus, as the Lamb of God, the sacrifice God himself makes by sending his only son to the world.
Today's first passage from Hebrews (8:6-13) is directly linked to the Lamb because of the mention of the word "covenant." A covenant is a promise God makes to his people, and careful readers of the Old Testament know that God made many, many covenants with the Israelites. Two of the most famous are the covenants God makes with Abraham and his son Isaac, and another covenant with Moses and the people in Egypt. God's covenant with Abraham involved Abraham's promise to sacrifice his only son Isaac. Abraham prepares to do this terrible thing, but mercifully, God sends a ram (a male sheep) to be sacrificed in place of Isaac. The author of the letter to the Hebrews and other later Christians noticed the supreme significance of the fact that God sacrificed his own Son as a Lamb in a way that God had not ultimately required Abraham to do.
The second famous covenant, with Moses and the people, involved (in part) God sending plagues on Pharaoh so that he would let the Hebrew slaves go. The final plague is one where God kills all the first-born children. But God spares the Israelite first-born because they have lamb's blood painted on their door posts and so God passes over them. As a result of this final plague, Pharaoh finally relents and lets the Hebrews go free. From there, God sends them to wander in the desert, gives them the Law, and sends them to the Promised Land. The passing over God did in Egypt becomes the feast of Passover, which Jesus transforms into the Eucharist for Christians. So Jesus really does become the Lamb, the final sacrifice who saves.
The author of the Hebrews is recalling these and many other covenants in today's passage as a way of reminding his readers that the significance of Jesus as the New Covenant and as the Lamb is far, far greater than we might initially think. Christian symbolism is meant to draw us and link us to historical events like these so that we can more and more meditate on the wonders God does for us.
There is symbolism, likewise, in the people Jesus calls to be his disciples in today's Gospel reading (Mark 3:13-19). Jesus calls twelve people, just as there were twelve tribes of Israel. Moreover, each of these twelve people are representative of various fractious groups in first-century Palestinian life, so that Jesus trully does come across as the ultimate peace maker, bringing together people who would scarcely speak to each other otherwise. So, today's second reading reminds us symbolically of the importance of unity and peace with our brothers and sisters, even as we share different spiritual gifts with each other. Agnes eventually was called upon to be a disciple of Jesus in her own unique way. Let us today reflect on the importance of being the unique witnesses we are called to be for Christ, too.
- Jana M. Bennett