Message of Liberation and Repentance (Thursday, Week 4, Year 1)

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Advertisers employ different styles of advertising in order to persuade people patronize their products or services. Sometimes, they compare their services or products with some others in order to help would-be clients or customers spot out the difference(s) and make better choices.


In the Letter to the Hebrews, we see the writer making some comparisons between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant in order to persuade or convince his audience (the Jewish Christians or the new converts to Christianity) to give up any idea of reverting or going back to Judaism. In Heb. 12:18-19.21-24, the writer clearly explains that relationship with God in the New Covenant is not as it used to be in the Old Covenant.

 

In the Old Dispensation, God was seen to be almost unapproachable, inaccessible, fearsome and terrifying. But in the New Covenant mediated by Christ, everyone now has access to Mount Zion the city of the living God, the city of the God of all. A city where the blood of Christ speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel! In the Old Covenant, the blood of Abel cried out for vengeance; but in the New Covenant, the blood of Christ has brought about forgiveness, repentance, reconciliation and cancellation of guilt.


And that is why it was necessary and urgent that Christ called the Twelve, trained them and sent them forth to go and spread the message of the new order: a message of liberation and repentance (cf. Mk. 6:7-13).


From the disciples, we have received the baton to continue with the task of spreading that same message: the good news of God’s love and forgiveness, the message of God’s power over evil, sickness and unclean spirits. The task is as urgent as it was in the beginning; it demands all seriousness and should be embraced with every sense of responsibility. 


Prayer:

May I always be empowered never to be tired of making God better known, loved and worshipped, Amen!


Have a fulfilling day!



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