Total Allegiance

03-06-2021Weekly Reflection© J. S. Paluch Company

In previous weeks we have seen how the theme of covenant — as a preparation for the baptismal covenant celebrated at Easter — occupies an important place in our cycle of Lenten readings. The notion of covenant as a relationship between two parties carries with it an expectation of mutual accountability and fidelity to the terms of the covenant.

When God forged the covenant with the Jewish people on Mt. Sinai, it was a pledge of God’s protection, and it would forever permit them familiar access as the Chosen People. For their part, the Jewish people were to observe the dictates of the law, summarized most succinctly here in the form of the Ten Commandments. To be in a covenantal relationship with the Lord God requires an exclusive relationship, just as discipleship with Jesus — ritualized in baptism — demands a total allegiance to him and none other.

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