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When was the last time you cut a covenant? My guess is that you have never actually cut a covenant, yet that is what the Bible actually says whenever it states that so-and-so made a covenant. This is because in the ancient world, the most binding of contracts often included a threat component. If you break the covenant we are about to make, then I get to do to you what we have just done to these animals (cut them in two). Sorry. The ancient world was in some ways far more brutal than modern sensibilities can safely entertain. This would be why we translate the cut right out of the expression. A picture of this contract making is in Genesis 15. 

In that cutting, God even agrees to go through the bloody trail and to be accountable. Both parties, Abram (Abraham) and God, agree to abide by this relationship that they are making official and binding: I will be your God and you will be my people. Even if it is not explicitly stated this way, this is the message. This is the covenant. 

Fast forward a bunch of centuries and you have the result. God is still the faithful one, and the people have done… other things. Even after repeatedly reaffirming the covenant according to the biblical narrative, the people never seem to adhere to the relationship that means life or death to them for very long. It seems painfully clear after so many generations have either tried and failed or never tried at all – we are lousy at living up to the kind of faithfulness that God has toward us. That’s when Jesus gives us his own take on the covenant relationship. Sitting around the Passover table with his closest friends, he offers his broken body and poured blood for them to receive. He has recut the covenant, but this time he is the entire covenant himself. He is standing in for us and for God. He is our faithfulness to God and God’s faithfulness to us. It is the most beautiful moment in human history. He holds our lives, our future, our love, and our hope and takes it all to the cross to show us true commitment to us. 

As we continue to walk this Lenten path to the cross this year, prepare for what is coming. Cherish what is coming. Appreciate what is coming. Walk the path with our Lord with purpose, with meekness, and with love. Find yourself held in this covenant life with God and all of God’s children. Remember how important we all are to God and, therefore, to one another. 

The entire message of Scripture turns on this one point. We are bound to God and to one another in Christ. To God be the glory!

Rev. Dr. Peter Smith is the pastor for Farmville Presbyterian Church. He can be reached at pastorfpc@centurylink.net.