God's covenant with us: our relationship with God and with others
By William Lyon Tupman. Preached at the Sung Eucharist at St. Thomas
the Apostle, South Wigston.
20th
August, 2017. Bible readings: Readings: Isaiah 56:1, 6-8, Psalm 67, Romans
11:1-2a, 29-32, Matthew 15:(1-10), 21-28.
May
the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all our hearts, be acceptable in
your sight, O Lord our strength and redeemer. Amen.
“Maintain justice, and do what is
right.” Don’t worry, I’m not going to
attempt to go through the readings line-by-line! This command the Lord gives
here sums up much of the relationship between God and his people. This
relationship is God’s covenant with us, a distinct theme we encounter in our
readings today. The writer here is likely writing after the Israelites had been
restored and returned from the exile. This was a time when the Israelites had
been punished for their disobedience against God, but through God’s mercy He
had not forgotten them; instead, he forgave them and brought them back. God’s
faith is steadfast, in his covenant with us.
What
exactly is a covenant, and why is it so important? A covenant has several
characteristics. It is a two-way agreement, or a promise, involving two or more
individuals or groups of people. Some covenants are small; a few years ago, a
couple of friends asked my Mother and I if we could look after their pet cat
for a couple of weeks while they went on holiday, in return for letting us stay
in their house for free (and I actually cat-sat again just last week for some
of my family!). Other covenants are bigger, such as the agreement between the
people involved in the transfer of deeds when buying or selling a house.
There
are several major examples of covenant in the Bible, initiated by God – God’s covenant
with Noah, the people and the whole earth; with Abraham and his descendants; with
Moses and the Israelites; with David and more.
Now
these are all pretty big covenants; God often promises these individuals and
their nations many descendants and much land, which are two of the most
desirable goals of these times. The covenant here in Isaiah 56, however, is
even bigger than any of these covenants on their own. It engulfs these
covenants, and expands upon them.
In
earlier times, God made covenants exclusively with individuals like Abraham and
their descendants. Anyone outside of this covenant was not to be included, and
if anyone in the covenant disobeyed they would often be punished for breaking
the covenant by being “cut off” from the covenant. But that is no longer the
case here – this is God’s all-inclusive covenant, for all people, and Isaiah
56:5 tells us it is “everlasting.” It is an open invitation, to all of
creation. We see how foreigners will be gathered alongside those already
gathered. That means God’s originally chosen people of Israel, plus everyone
else – Gentiles, us Christians, all people – are freely invited to share in the
same benefits, “to the ends of the earth” as the author of Psalm 67 writes.
Paul
in his letter to the Romans remembers this, too. In our passage from Romans 11
today the apostle is quick to dismiss any notion of God rejecting his people;
for that he would have to forget and abandon His covenant, which God logically
cannot do with this everlasting covenant. His gifts and calling are, as Paul
says, “irrevocable.” Therefore, we need not fear that God would ever turn away
from us. Even if and when we sin, we still receive His forgiveness and mercy.
He is faithful forever; His love endures forever.
That’s
a lot about God choosing to include us – all of us, without exception. But what
about us choosing God? How do we respond to God’s open, generous and
all-inclusive invitation? We are invited to respond by choosing to accept God’s
freely initiated covenant. This is the two-way agreement; a typical form of
covenant.
It’d
be impossible for us to repay Him to the degree He delivers for us; but God
does not expect us to be perfect. He asks of us what each of us can give. We
can of course bring God worship and prayer here at Church, or indeed anywhere;
but there are lots of little (and big) things we can do, and what we do for
others we do also for God. We can welcome guests to eat and stay with us (thank
you, Fr. Chris and Laura!); we can counsel those in need; we can give a meal to
the homeless person by the supermarket; we can sponsor someone on their charity
project by donating to them or their online fundraising page on the Internet.
Now
this all sounds very nice, but isn’t it a rather tall order? I certainly know
I’d love to help every homeless person I see, and having lived in cities for the
past few years, unfortunately I see many people who are homeless. I always help
them when I can, but it just isn’t always possible for me to help them.
Sometimes, we just don’t have the means; other times, things can be too much
for us.
Yet,
provided we are willing to help, God does – or helps us to do – what we are sometimes
unable to do alone. Think of when we support someone who is being baptised, or
a couple getting married. When the priest or deacon asks us for our support, we
respond, “With the help of God, we will.”
In
our Gospel reading today, no matter how willing she was, there was no way the
Canaanite woman could herself have healed her daughter. Yet as soon as she displays
her faith, Jesus is “instantly” able to heal her daughter without delay. Here, in
God’s covenant with us, Jesus’s willingness to heal and act is God’s offer; our
response is to have faith and trust in Him, knowing God freely and gracefully
blesses us. God is with us – and, as we see in Isaiah 56 – this is an
invitation that is open to all of us.
God’s
covenant with us unites us with God. Jesus is referred to in our Gospel reading
as the “Son of David” – one of the many titles of Jesus in the New Testament.
This alludes to the covenant God made with David and his offspring. The
all-inclusive covenant seen in Isaiah 56 therefore includes this covenant too –
another way we are united to Jesus, as well as through our Baptism as
Christians being united into his death and resurrection, and by encountering
Him in the Eucharist.
And
we can encounter Jesus in each other; God is omnipresent, or present at all
times and in all places, and in each and every one of us. Therefore when we are
with each other – when we help each other – we are with Jesus, and helping
Jesus. We are accepting God’s invitation, God’s covenant, which He so freely
offers to us all – no matter how great or small our actions are.
I
pray that we may always continue to look for opportunities to accept God’s free
invitation, by loving and serving Him and our neighbours, empowered through
having faith in Him. In the name of God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.