Jeremiah 31:31-34

The prophet Jeremiah ministered at a difficult time in Jewish history. Jerusalem, their beloved capitol city, had been destroyed, and most of the people taken captive to far-off Babylon. In this gloomy setting, Jeremiah expresses the conviction that the Lord will raise up a new leader from the line of David to restore and rebuild their native land.

Hebrews 5:7-9

The Letter to the Hebrews was written to a Christian community who had become dispirited and whose faith was faltering. Jesus is presented in today's passage as a model of suffering and a source of strength in time of need. (This passage is also part of the second reading on Good Friday.

John 12:20-33

Bishop Untener's Homily

Jeremiah said that the days were coming when God would make a "new covenant." We need to look closely at what this means.

In early Hebrew society, written documents were rarely used. Very few people could read or write. The spoken word was all they had, and it meant everything, especially when given ritual solemnity. A "covenant" was precisely that - spoken words plus ritual. Often, the ritual involved blood. They thought that the "breath" by which we live was in the blood. When a person was mortally wounded, the blood oozed out of them and they died - their breath was in the blood. Now you see why, when blood was used to solemnize spoken promises, it meant that two people were staking their life on what on what was said, and the spoken words became a sacred covenant that was "unto death."

Jeremiah spoke of a "new covenant," and here's the good news: we now have a new covenant. At the Last Supper Jesus took the cup of wine and said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you."

This new covenant, established by the death of Jesus on the cross, went far beyond anything anyone had ever known. It was more than just "unto death." Not even death could break it. Jesus takes the bond with his people through death to the other side, and opened the way to a transformed human life that would live forever.

In John's Gospel Jesus talked about this. Listen to these familiar words with a new ear:

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever. (John 6:54-58)

Because of this, death has been changed and we need to see death with new eyes. During our life on earth we struggle to protect our future with bank accounts, credit cards and investments. We protect our future with health plans, life insurance, social security and retirement plans. There is nothing wrong with that. But the statistics on death haven't changed. It is still one per person. There comes a moment when no amount of cash or plastic or investments protects us. We die. No human support goes with us into the grave. Human companionship stops at the tomb, and we enter alone.

Except that the Lord goes with us. Because of his dying and rising to new life, the Lord is with us at death, through death, and takes us to the other side to share in the transformed life which God has prepared for us. Jesus is like Noah's ark which saves us from the "flood" of death.

We still have to die. But death is different. It has become a birth. "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit." Death is no longer something to escape. It is something to embrace.

This is why we could wear ashes on our forehead four weeks ago and say "dust to dust" without being morbid. We were entering into the dying and rising of Christ.

This is why we have been praying, fasting, and giving alms during the holy Lenten season. We have been clearing away sinfulness to experience the holiness that is God's gift to us.

This is why we are preparing to celebrate with gusto the Triduum - the dying and rising of Christ... and our dying and rising with him.

This is what we enter into at every Eucharist when we place ourselves on the altar with Christ and say in the Eucharistic prayer: "Therefore, we ask you, Father, to accept us, together with your Son."

This is why we call Christ "our Savior."

This is why the Gospel is indeed "Good News."

This is why we have faith... hope... and charity.

And this is why Paul could say:

Death is swallowed up in victory.
Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?
Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

(1 Cor. 15:54-57)

Originally given on April 9, 2000