Friday of the
Second Week in Ordinary Time
(Hebrews 8:6-13; Mark 3:13-19)
Today’s passage from the Letter to the Hebrews presents Christians
with a dilemma. We know that the Old
Testament (or Old Covenant, the words mean the same thing) has immense
value. After all, it inspired and
informed Jesus. Nonetheless Hebrews,
which is part of the New Testament, indicates that it is “obsolete” and “close
to disappearing.”
We must hold up both the old and the new as
critical. The Old Testament enables us
to understand Jesus, and the New Testament brings him into even clearer
focus. Yet neither of them nor both
together is the perfect revelation of God.
That comes in the person of Jesus.
Scripture, howsoever indispensable it is for us, is the Word of God in human words. This last phrase bespeaks inevitable limitation
and even error. In other words, both Old
and New Testaments are defective. We
only find God revealing Himself to us perfectly in the living presence of
Jesus.
How can we so meet Jesus today? We find him in the Eucharist where he
nourishes us with his body and blood. For
sure, we will not interpret him perfectly there. Nevertheless, receiving the Eucharist we hold
Jesus close to our hearts. Then we want
to implore him to purify our understanding so that we live up to his call for
us.
