THE NEW COVENANT OF PEACE FOR ALL PEOPLE

Saturday, Fifth Week of Lent/2024
Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP

Theme: The New Covenant of Peace for all People

 In Ezekiel’s prophecy of eternal peace that God will establish between himself and Israel, noteworthy is the fact that God will do this by his divine power. God promised to gather the sons of Israel from wherever they were scattered and bring them to the land he promised their forefathers. The physical meaning and fulfilment of this prophecy are not of our interest, but the spiritual meaning and fulfilment we have been contemplating throughout the week. The spiritual children of Israel God referred to are not physical descendants of Abraham but his spiritual descendants. They are scattered throughout the nations because, though they are born of various nationalities, they are descended from Abraham by their hunger for God and eager faith in the word of God. Their faith and love for the word of God draw them together to the new Jerusalem. “I shall make them into one nation in my own land and on the mountains of Israel, and one king is to be king of them all; they will no longer form two nations, nor be two separate kingdoms.” God draws his faithful from both the Gentile stock and the Jewish stock. They will live in God’s Land, which we have understood to be a spiritual heritage or Promised Land. A confirmation of this followed when he added ‘and on the mountains of Israel,’ for the mountains of Israel refer to everything revealed in the Law and the Prophets. Those who live on these mountains will have the completion of divine revelation in the Law and the prophets when they encounter Jesus Christ, the David who is to rule over them.

The gospel contains the fulfilment of this prophetic picture of the Church with Jesus Christ as her Head. The Jews who are physical descendants of Abraham were having problems understanding the teachings of Jesus Christ; those who are of the spiritual stock of Abraham believed and accepted Jesus Christ. As the former gathered to plan on how to remove what they considered an obstacle in their way, Caiaphas, the high priest, confirmed the prophecy of Ezekiel unwittingly. “One of them, Caiaphas, the high priest that year, said, ‘You do not seem to have grasped the situation at all; you fail to see that it is better for one man to die for the people, than for the whole nation to be destroyed.’” Jesus Christ is the new David who is to rule over them forever. The word of God worked through their wicked plans to bring about the fulfilment of God’s promise. Little did they know that the coming Passover was unique and special. It was to be Passover of the New Israel, a Passover from physical Israel to spiritual Israel, the deliverance of the people of God from sin and death. Jews and Gentile Greeks went up to Jerusalem for the Passover. As they gathered, they were “saying to one another as they stood about in the Temple, ‘What do you think? Will he come to the festival or not?” Jesus came, for he was the one to purify the new people of God. 

Let us pray: Grant us, Lord, the grace to believe firmly in your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, that we may come to the celebration in the new Jerusalem.

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