This week’s first reading from Jeremiah is a very powerful image and a foreshadowing of the message and ministry of Jesus. In the Jeremiah reading, the Lord announces that (yet again) a new covenant will be made between the people and their God. This time, however, the covenant will not be a collection of rules written in stone as was the case with the covenant of the Ten Commandments after the people had been led out of slavery in Egypt. The people have demonstrated that they are not able to uphold that covenant. This time, God declares that the covenant will be ‘planted deep within them’ and ‘written on their hearts’. This is a wonderful image: I will write my covenant on your heart! It is the message that Jesus tried to convey over and over again – the Law of God is not to be found in a multitude of rules and regulations but it is a Law of the heart, calling for compassion and love.
This message is no better demonstrated than in this week’s gospel passage. Jesus declares that, ‘unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.’ He is speaking of course about his own life, but he is speaking also to those around him and those of us who read the words today. Unless we are prepared to let go of our ego, our status, our ‘reputation’, for the sake of others and respond to them from the heart then we can never experience the breadth and depth of what it means to belong to a community. When we are prepared to let go of our hang-ups and reservations to make a difference in the lives of others then the ‘harvest’ that will be gathered from those actions will
© Greg Sunter
Read more from the here Parish Bulletin_17.03.2024
Embracing the areas of Innisfail, Mourilyan, South Johnstone & Babinda