22 March 2018

Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent

Israel is a people set apart, a nation that is uniquely God’s own, formed from the seed of Abraham. We do not speak of the covenant being entrusted to the “Sons of Abram,” but rather to the “Sons of Abraham.” For this reason, we would do well to reflect on the difference between “Abram” and “Abraham” that we find in Genesis 17. “Abram” is the man who will become “Abraham:” the new name indicates the new reality that the man who was formerly “Abram” enters into when he takes up the task and mission that God entrusts to him. The very first thing that God indicates through this new name “Abraham,” is that this man will “become the father of a host of nations. No longer shall you be called Abram; your name shall be Abraham, for I am making you the father of a host of nations” (Gn 17:5).

Jesus fulfills this promise to Abraham by opening the covenant entrusted to Abraham to all nations. We see in the Acts of the Apostles that many of the blood descendants of Abraham resisted this opening up. Even today, sectarian and nationalist tendencies that continue to prevail among many Christians can obscure the reality that in John’s Apocalypse, the many who are saved come from “every tribe and tongue, people and nation” ( Rev 5:9, 7:9). We need to beware of the spiritual trap of thinking that any one of us is better than anyone else because of the particular vocation, task, talent, or mission that may have been entrusted to us. None among us is chosen merely for him or herself, but rather, every mission that is given is given not merely for the benefit of the one who receives it, but rather for the good of the whole world.