ENDING THE OLD AND BEGINNING THE NEW


FRIDAY, FOURTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME 

Heb 13:1-8; Ps 27:1,3,5,8-9; Mk 6:14-29

The end of the Old and the beginning of the New

In the epilogue, the author of Hebrews returns to the daily events and what ought to be the lifestyle of a Christian. He has painted the grandeur of the Christian religion and the end to which our faith tends, but these magnificent realities of heaven are not visible to the physical eyes. Thus, they may easily slip out of our consciousness and fail to motivate the intentions of our daily living. Unlike the old religion, which started with many manifestations of grandeur but ended in a low key and weakness of human nature, the Christian religion begins on the apparent weaknesses of human nature. It proceeds to the understanding and vision of great and everlasting grandeur. The ends of the two religions, one (the old) being a copy of the other (the new), conform with the will of God, who designed them as such for his purposes. God never meant the old religion and its Law to save man as such but to aid him in the knowledge of himself and the weakness of the fallen human nature. In fulfilling this goal, the old religion and Law serve the new religion and Law well enough to achieve God’s design. The Christian religion commences on the knowledge of our helplessness for our salvation and recognition of our need for God’s help and intervention.

The portrayal of Judaism and the Mosaic Law in the letter to the Hebrews is summarised in the gospel by the death of John the Baptist. According to the testimony of our Lord, John the Baptist is the greatest of the prophets and the best produced by the Old Testament. The glory and splendour of his conception, birth, and life are not commensurate with his death narrated in the gospel. John the Baptist, who came in the spirit of Elijah, consecrated in the womb, lived in the wilderness on wild locusts and honey, fearless in proclaiming repentance to Israel, baptised and showed forth Jesus Christ the Messiah when he appeared at the River Jordan, was imprisoned in weakness, was prey to doubt about the identity of Jesus Christ, and finally beheaded at the request of a young girl and her mother, Herodias. “She went out and said to her mother, ‘What shall I ask for?’ She replied, ‘The head of John the Baptist.’ The girl hurried straight back to the king and made her request, ‘I want you to give me John the Baptist’s head, here and now, on a dish.’” The great John the Baptist lost his head at the whims of a young girl. “So the king at once sent one of the bodyguards with orders to bring John’s head. The man went off and beheaded him in prison; then he brought the head on a dish and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother.” It would seem God abandoned John the Baptist, who served him faithfully through life.

In this visible human weakness and apparent triumph of evil and absence of God’s intervention, analogous to the end of the Old Covenant and Law, the new Christian religion, as the new Law of salvation of human nature, has its origin. The experience of our human weakness and nothingness against the power of sin and death wielded by the evil one opens our hearts to embrace the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. John the Baptist was conveniently put aside, according to the divine will, for the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to gain ascendance, the same way our old man must give way in us to the new man made in the image of Jesus and to his likeness. “King Herod had heard about Jesus, since by now his name was well known.” Hence, more people heard of Jesus and his Gospel when Herod beheaded John in conformity with God’s will. Similarly, we must diminish our old self to preach the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The author gives us the same advice: we should love the brothers and welcome strangers, remember those in prison and console all who are suffering, respect the marriage vow by keeping away from fornication and adultery, be contented with what we have and not be greedy for gain, trusting in God’s providential care for us. Above all, we must focus on Jesus Christ and anyone who modelled his life on Christ. The steady focus on Christ and the saints is the only way to internalise the sacrificial orientation until death and the glory of eternal life.

Let us pray: Grant us, Lord our God, that we may keep our focus steadily on Jesus Christ our Lord, and honour you with all our mind, and love everyone in truth of heart, as we realise the end of our consecration to you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.   

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