The Sign

Most relationships involve promises and agreements.

Nations make treaties with one another which dictate how they will act towards each other, and how they will act in the world.

People make formal contracts with one another: mortgages, employment agreements, arbitration.

People also make less formal agreements with one another. When Karen and I first started dating, we made an unspoken agreement that we would only see and date each other, until we decided otherwise. Then we made a bit more formal agreement, with a ring and a promise, that we were going to get married. Then we made a formal commitment, complete with white gown, tuxedo, and priest that we would have and hold each other from that day forward, come what may.

Promises, agreements, contracts – they concern who the agreement is being made with – they concern what the agreement will be about – and they concern the responsibilities of each party (who has to do what for the agreement to work and not break off).

Throughout humanity’s relationship with God, we’ve had agreements and contracts too. Sometimes they were less formal: like the pledge to Adam and Eve that they could people the earth (go forth and multiply. . .). And sometimes they were big deal agreements. Big deal agreements between God and humanity are always called ‘covenants.’

Scholars and preachers debate and argue about exactly how many covenants God made with us (some say as many as 10, others as few as 1), but it’s pretty clear that there are at least 4 instances where God set down an agreement through a certain person – agreements which would change the world forever.

And, with each of these agreements, God gives us a sign – like the physical paper of a contract – which help us and Him remember his promises, and our promises, and our relationship.

What was the first real covenant that God made with us? The covenant with Noah. Remember? God promised that he would never again destroy the world in a flood.

Do you remember who that covenant was made with? Just Noah? Just humanity? No. It was made with all living creatures on the face of the earth.

And what was the sign of the covenant? The bow. When God got angry with his people, and the clouds came over, and he saw his bow, he would remember this covenant with all life on earth, and not bring a flood again.

What was the second covenant? (It’s actually only a few chapters after the covenant with Noah in the Book of Genesis) The covenant with Abraham. What was the deal – what was the agreement? God would make Abraham (an old man of 91) and make him the father of a great nation, and he would bless his descendants forever. So this covenant wasn’t with all humanity and all life on earth: it’s with the children of Abraham.

And, what was the sign of the covenant? Circumcision. The children of Israel were to have the reminder of the covenant marked on their bodies: they were supposed to be different. As God sanctified Abraham and his descendants forever, his descendents forever were to be set apart from the rest of the world, that they might show the world that there God is a holy God. The nations of the world were supposed to be able to look at these marked people, and say: wow they are so holy, their God must be a holy God.

What was the third covenant – this is actually the toughest of them to remember for some reason: Moses. God made an agreement with Moses that God would be their God and they would be His People – the only thing they had to do was follow God’s laws (that was their end of the bargain). Again, the idea was that Israel was to live such holy lives that the nations of the world would look on them and know what a holy God they had. Note here, again, that this covenant isn’t with all humanity and earthly life – it’s with the Jews – the children of Abraham and the followers of Moses.

What was the sign? Sabbath. The children of Abraham and the followers of Moses were supposed to rest one day a week. It wasn’t a suggestion – a nice idea – it was law, it was decreed, and it was the sign of the covenant, the agreement that God was making with His people.

And what was the final covenant? The final covenant is the reason we’re here today – it’s the reason this church is here today – it’s what makes this week Holy Week, and it’s what makes us Christians: it’s the covenant that God made through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Who is the covenant with? Just Jews? Just the children of Abraham and the followers of Moses? All creation? All earthly life?

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that all who believe in him may not perish but have everlasting life.

All who believe in him.

What’s the agreement? The deal? Everlasting life, the love of God, the forgiveness of our sins.

And. . . what’s the sign?

After supper, he took the cup of wine, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them and said, ‘take this all of you and drink it, this is my blood of the – New Covenant, which is given for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.

On the night Jesus was betrayed by Judas – on the night he was denied by Peter – on the night before he forged the covenant on the hard wood of the cross – he gathered his disciples around him for a meal, and gave them the sign covenant: his body and his blood.

The only time in all the Bible that Jesus uses the word ‘covenant’ is in the story of the Last Supper, when he took bread, gave thanks for it, broke it and gave it – when he took the cup of wine, gave thanks for it, and gave it.

Remember on the road to Emmaus, when the disciples are walking with the Resurrected Jesus and didn’t know it. They were talking about Jesus, but they didn’t recognize that it was Jesus that they were talking to. Do you remember how they finally recognized him?

In the breaking of the bread. Not just because he had broken bread with them so many times before (and he had) – but because he was showing them the sign of the covenant – and with the sign, they remembered, and saw.

In this covenant, what’s our end of the bargain? Yes, it is to believe in him – but belief isn’t just something that goes on in the head. We’re supposed to believe, and have that belief effect our lives. How? What’s a life of faith supposed to look like?

Well, Jesus showed the disciples – and us.

Because after giving them the sign of the covenant, he got up from table and washed their feet. He told them to love one another, and serve one another. When all the world looked upon them, and us their descendents, the world is supposed to see servants, serving each other and serving God. When the world sees the church, the community of the servants of the servant, they would know what kind of God we have, what kind of Messiah we have, and what kind of faith we have.

And so, how we live matters. How we celebrate and remember Jesus with the celebration of the Lord’s Supper matters. It’s the sign of the covenant.

It’s the sign of God’s love for us. It’s the sign of the agreement that God has made with his people once and for all. And in the breaking of the bread, we can with eyes of faith see Jesus: the crucified, the Risen, and the one who is to come.