Friday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
My kids love to play with each other, but from time to time, one of them will suddenly check out and proclaim that she doesn't want to play anymore. That person will then move on to some other activity, and the remaining person (who most definitely still wants to play!) will inevitably come to me and say, while crying, "Mama, Mama, my sister won't play with me!"
It's a very distressing turn of events for the one being ignored, but for the one who chose to leave the game, can be a good and necessary break (depending, of course, what lead to opting out of the game in the first place.) Inevitably, the separation doesn't last long and before long they're playing happily again, with a new game and some renewed energy and purpose.
I'm thinking of that conundrum as I read today's first scripture passage (Hebrews 8:6-13) where God proclaims: "[They] did not stand by my covenant and I ignored them." The author of the Hebrews is a New Testament author using the words of Jeremiah to express something that has run through the minds of many over the centuries: in sending Jesus for all people, isn't God somehow rejecting or ignoring or turning away from the Covenant he established with the Jewish people? Certainly, the words at the end of the passage about the old covenant being obsolete suggests this.
What does it mean for the old covenant to be obsolete, however? I do NOT think it means that God stops loving Jews (or non-Jews) or rejects or ignores them; rather I think the author of Hebrews is also pretty clear that God is not rejecting the people of Israel. For in the long quote from Jeremiah (which is in italics in the USCCB website version), the author proclaims that God will "put my laws in their minds", write the laws in their hearts, and that all people shall know God. That is what God wants -a relationship with us, and he constantly invites us into that relationship.
The Gospel reading (Mark 3:13-19) shows Jesus calling the twelve disciples. Commentators have often suggested that there's a parallel between Jesus calling twelve disciples and the fact that there are twelve tribes of Israel. But the twelve men that Jesus calls to be disciples represent a range of diverse perspectives from first century Palestine - poor, wealthy, belonging to various political groups, coming from different occupations. They are all Jewish, but are members of different Jewish factions. One way to read why Jesus calls THESE twelve men in particular is that they are so different, they can symbolically represent the whole world. The twelve men represent that Jesus came for the whole world, not only for a few, and definitely NOT only for the supposedly most holy among them.
In other words, Jesus is a game changer. He offers a new version of the Covenant that had been made among the twelve tribes of Israel. Because we can ALL be part of this new covenant, it in turn gives all of us a chance to recharge our relationships with each other, to decide - again - that we will seek God. God does not ignore us - God seeks our renewal and our refreshment.
This week, let us likewise seek renewal and refreshment in our relationship with God. What new thing has God done in our lives that might change our perspectives on what might sometimes seem like a "same 'ol" relationship with God?
- Jana M. Bennett