God spoke to Abraham and made him the father of nations. God told Abraham to keep his word and for all his descendants throughout time to do the same. He said, “I will be your God, and you will be my people always.” He set up a covenant to hold forever on both sides. “The Lord remembers his covenant forever.”
Then Jesus came to fulfill the prophecies and to keep the covenant. When he reminds the Jews to keep God’s word and continue the covenant, and they will live forever, they are upset and confused. They say, naturally, that everyone dies. Abraham, who started the covenant, died. They don’t understand what he means when he says that God sent him, that he knows Abraham (and everything). They are upset that he would think himself better than the prophets, better than Abraham, but he says he is not glorifying himself, he is glorified by God, their god. He is the fulfillment of the prophecies. The Lord remembers his covenant forever. If they keep the word of God, they will live forever like the word of God, like the covenant of the Lord. They will die here on earth of course, like Abraham and the prophets have, but they will live forever with God. They start to stone him for blasphemy, but he leaves the temple.
They don’t understand the full scope – that the covenant began with Abraham but continued through Jesus. They don’t understand that the covenant is forever on earth and in heaven. They don’t understand that Jesus’ glory is beyond earth and life and beyond death. The Lord remembers his covenant forever. He is our god and we are his people always, and still need to keep his word.
Tamora Whitney
I teach in the English department. I teach composition and literature and Critical Issues -- a class that has a component on Jesuit values.
I like writing these reflections because it makes me think more deeply about the scripture and think about how to integrate the ideas into my own life and how to share these ideas with others.
