Fertility: God's Promise to Abraham

 In today’s Gospel, John 8: 51-59, when Jesus proclaimed that anyone who keeps His word will never see death,  the Jews asked Jesus:  “Who do you make yourself out to be?”  The people also shouted at him, saying “Now we are sure that you are possessed.”    We live in a world where people, by their lack of faith and by living immoral or amoral lives,  also question who Jesus is. Another example of doubting who Jesus is  when people scoff at the Catholic belief that Jesus is present in the host following the consecration at a Catholic Mass, even though Jesus, at the Last Supper, “took some bread, and when he had given thanks, broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body which will be given for you; do this as a memorial of me.’  He did the same with the cup after supper, and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood which will be poured out for you’”  (Luke 22: 19-20). 

The Old Covenant is referred to in today’s first reading, Gen. 17:3-9,  when God said to Abraham: “My covenant with you is this: you are to become the father of a host of nations….I will render you exceedingly fertile; I will make nations of you; kings shall stem from you….I will…be your God and the God of your descendants after you,” He was speaking  ultimately  to us.  One of the kings that stemmed from Abraham was Jesus, whose lineage is traced back to King David. Jesus, the Son of God made man,  is our King.   His Kingdom has no end. We are incorporated into that Kingdom in our baptism. Each of us is “rendered exceedingly fertile,” by Jesus’ obedience unto death. Our own fertility comes to full fruition in eternity as proclaimed by Jesus when He said: “…anyone who keeps His word will never see death.”  We bear abundant fruit here on earth when we, by grace, are obedient to the will of our Father as Jesus was. 

Lord, out of your infinite glory, “may…[you] give …[us] the power [fertility] through …[your] Spirit for …[our] hidden self to grow strong, so that Christ may live in …[our] hearts through faith, and then planted in love and built on love, …[we] will with all the saints have strength to grasp the breadth and the length, the height and the depth; until, knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond all knowledge, …[we] are filled with the utter fullness of God.” Yes, may we become as fertile as Christ was fertile!