One of my favorite topics in the seminary was Second
Temple Cultic Rituals of the Jewish People. When we talk about the word cultic
it means ritual not just crazy people gathered together drinking Kool-Aid. In
the time of Jesus, the temple had all the sacrifices for different purposes.
Some sacrifices were of sheep or goats or bulls or grain. Some were libations
of wine. The Jews did all these different sacrifices in order to maintain the
covenant or to repair the covenant that was broken so often. It was broken so
often that it broke the heart of God!
Our Lord gave himself to the people of the Old Testament time
and time and time again only to have this covenant be broken. And remember this
is not a contract. A contract is just a legally binding thing. There are
conditions X, Y, and Z that you have to meet. A covenant is a giving of
oneself. It is like marriage. Marriage is a covenant not a contract.” If you do
not do the dishes every single night after dinner, I am out of here.” That is a
contract. That is not how marriage works. A covenant is a giving of oneself.
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| Blessed Virgin Mary Holding Christ in Doorway of Strausbourg Cathedral |
The art of the church helps us to understand the covenant
of God. In the Cathedral of Strausbourg is one of my favorite statuary pieces.
It is in the main entrance way. The Cathedral of Strausbourg is a stunning
Cathedral with a big arch and big carvings in Strausbourg, France. The central
image is the Blessed Mother holding out the Christ Child. Our Blessed Mother is
the gate to the life of grace in many ways, for she is the one through whom
Christ into the world, so she is there offering her Son to the world.
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| Statue of Synagoga at the Strausbourg Cathedral |
But on either side, on the pillars, are two statues, one
of Synagoga (synagogue) and the other Ecclesia (the Church). The old covenant
and the new, the Old Testament and the New Testament. Both are beautiful women.
Beautiful. Dressed beautifully. Both obviously made splendid in the eyes of
God. But the statue of Synagoga has a light veil across her eyes, blinding her.
And although she is dressed regally, she carries a spear that has been snapped
in several places, and she is holding onto that spear even though it is broken.
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| Statue of Ecclesia at the Strausbourg Cathedral |
And then you look at the statue Ecclesia, the Church and
she is crowned and she has a mantle upon her and she is clutching a cross but
the veil lays not over her eyes but over her hand, that hand which clutches the
cross. Why? Because ultimately the covenant of the New Testament, the covenant
that was brought by Jesus Christ, is not the covenant that is made by the
agreement of the people of God with God himself. There are indeed agreements
between God and us at our baptism, but our baptism cannot be broken by our sin.
Why? Because the covenant is not by our blood or the blood of lambs or goats or
by wine or grain, but it is the covenant of Jesus Christ and HIS blood. While
we in the Church cling to the cross of Christ, and while we in the Church are
incorporated into that covenant through baptism, it is not a covenant that is
dependent upon our actions. No sin that we can commit will break that covenant
because the covenant is wrought in the Blood of Christ. It is eternal. It is
never ending. It cannot be broken. And so that is the symbolism behind the veil
on the hand of the Church. While we cling to it, it is not ours. We cling to
the cross of Christ, but it is not us that makes this covenant worthwhile. It
is Christ.
A lot of people look at the statues and say that we are
down on the Jews, but that is not what it is at all. The statues are to be a
reminder to us. How often do we, who have been incorporated into the Church by
baptism, act like that statue of Synagoga? We act as though we cling to a
broken spear, to our former ways which have broken our relationship with God
time and time again, although they have not broken the covenant. But we have
broken our relationship with God through sin and for some reason, we still
cling to those sins. We are still blindfolded to the fact that we need to
recognize our sin and turn away from it. We still prefer darkness. We do not
understand the words that Jesus speaks in the Gospel, “Unless a grain of wheat
falls to the ground it remains just a grain of wheat but if it dies it produces
much fruit.” We cling to our grain of wheat that is ourselves, our little
protective wall. “I am going to keep my grain of wheat, and I am going to have
control over it. I am not going to let God have it because it is mine, and I am
not going to let anything touch it, and I am not going to suffer.”
That statue of Synagoga represents us clinging to
something that is less than what God wants us to have. While the statue of Synagoga
is beautiful, all she needs to be crowned is to reach up and remove the veil.
It seems so simple. There is nothing keeping her from it. She is not a slave. She
is not bound. She is free. And so are we. We need to reach up and remove the
veil which is our blindness in our hearts to Christ, our blindness to our sin.
Confession is the way that we do that. We have to die to ourselves. We cannot
have control even over our own lives. We must allow God to have control. We
need to make the right choices so that we do not need to worry about when the
time is right. We let God worry about us. It is not us but God working through
us that frees us. It is God keeping his covenant.
--Father Jacob Meyer
