In today’s first reading from Genesis 17, we see a watershed moment in salvation history. Abram has his name changed to Abraham, and God makes a covenant with him. And in the Gospel reading, Jesus says, “Before Abraham came to be, I AM.” In saying this, He intimated to the people that He was the maker of that covenant with Abraham.
In our society today, we tend to think in terms of contract, not covenant. Many people look at marriage as a contractual agreement. But it isn’t. Marriage is a covenant. And a covenant is way different than a contract. A contract is for an exchange of goods and services. You do this for me, and I will give this to you. But a covenant is a mutual giving of persons. Listen to the covenant that God makes: “I will be your God and you shall be my people.” In essence, “I give myself to you, and you give yourself to me.”
As children of Abraham, we, too, are part of that everlasting covenant. He gives Himself freely to us. He even gave us His only Son. God has always kept up His end of the deal. The question is, have we kept up our end? Are we allowing God to be our God? Are we following his commands? Do we always keep up our end of the covenant?
Father, we thank you for being our God. For always watching over us and giving yourself freely to us. Help us today to keep up our end of your everlasting covenant, and acknowledge you as our only God. Amen.
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