for April 2
Thursday in the Fifth Week of Lent

Abram—soon to be Abraham—is already an old man when God engages him this time, in one of the book of Genesis’s two accounts of the covenant that God will make with him. The new name signifies a new relationship, one that stretches far into the future in grand, sweeping terms: “I will maintain my covenant with you and your descendants after you throughout the ages,” God promises. Abram has been in conversation with God before, but this covenant represents a deeper bond of faithfulness for both parties.

Some years ago, when I was still looking forward to parenthood, I worked closely with a woman named Wendy. At the time, her children were pre-adolescent and close in age. I have often repeated what Wendy once said to me: “it’s a good thing that you get them when they’re tiny and adorable and you can bond with them.” The clear implication was that it would be a lot harder to commit to this relationship if you knew all that you were getting into. How would “you must keep my covenant throughout the ages” have sounded to Abraham if he knew how sorely he would soon be tested when he was called to sacrifice his beloved son Issac?

Today’s first reading, with its account of the Lord’s covenant with Abraham and his descendants, sets up today’s passage from the fourth gospel. Jesus’ claim that “Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day” is his claim to be the fulfillment of the Lord’s covenant with Abraham, the fulfillment of all that God promised.

But even that is not all. Jesus says, “before Abraham came to be, I AM.” His antagonists could not have missed the echo of the name the Lord revealed to Moses from the burning bush. Jesus is not only the fulfillment of God’s promises; he is so close to the Lord as to share a name, and all that the name signifies: “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands” (Exodus 34:6-7).

At this point in the fourth gospel, the tenth chapter, Jesus is still some distance from Jerusalem, from his passion and death. It’s not hard to wonder what inklings the historical Jesus had about exactly what trials lay ahead for him. Of course, the evangelist who shaped the fourth gospel so that we might believe knows exactly what would happen. And so the fourth gospel presents Jesus keeping close in faith to the One who sent him so that we might believe in Jesus, the revelation of God.

What about us? Do we know what we committed to? In most of our live—at births and baptisms, falling in love and getting marrie—the answer is no. We begin relationships and make our vows for better or worse, not knowing how much of either we will experience. And now, the answer is definitely not. On Ash Wednesday, did any of us foresee that we would be moving through Holy Week at six feet or more of physical distance from each other? Did we anticipate a virus spreading across the globe like wildfire, disrupting everything about our lives and leaving fear and death in its wake?

I would be less than honest if I didn’t admit that at times (perhaps especially, at present), the steadfast love of God isn’t quite what I’m looking for. I can cross my arms, stamp my feet and whine to God that ‘Of course you love me. You are supposed to. I need more!’ I think that is why I am so powerfully drawn to—and so often quote—the passage from Vatican II’s Lumen Gentium: God willed to make us holy and save us not as individuals without any bond or link between us, but rather to make us into a people who might acknowledge God and serve God in holiness.(LG 9)

 God’s covenant with Abraham extends to his multitudes of descendants. God’s steadfast love, revealed to Moses, is promised to the thousandth generation. The gospel draws us toward Jesus, the fulfillment of God’s covenant of steadfast love, a covenant that promises that we are never truly alone, apart from God or from God’s people. This has rapidly become a truism, but it has always been a truth of our faith. We are in this together, and together we will be saved.
—BJ Brown

Today’s reading can be found of the US Catholic Conference of Bishops website.