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 and illumines us with his Spirit. For sure, we will not understand him
perfectly even there. Nevertheless, receiving
the Eucharist we hold Jesus close to our hearts. There we want to implore him to purify our
understanding so that we live up to his call for us.
