THE OLD COVENANT AND THE NEW COVENANT
Br. John Martin Sahajananda
Question: what is the difference between the First Covenant(Old Covenant) and the New Covenant that God promised to the people of Israel?
The First Covenant or the Old Covenant is the symbol of a life lived according to the external laws. The New Covenant is the symbol of life from the Law written in the heart. In every religion there is the First Covenant and there is the New Covenant.
The First covenant is to organise people who have
been under social and political oppression and who were not in a position to
think for themselves; it is to organise people to live as a community.
The New covenant is for a human consciousness that is capable of independent
thinking and seen the limitations of thinking and has seen the limitations of
external commandments.
The First Covenant is to guide the human consciousness that emerges from the unconscious unity to the dualistic consciousness( the sin of Adam and Eve, eating the fruit of knowledge of Good and evil). The New Covenant takes human consciousness from the dualistic consciousness to the non-dualistic consciousness (eating the fruit from the tree of life, Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ).
In the First Covenant God reveals the Law that tells
people what they should do and what they should not do. People say that ' the
Law is the way, the truth and the life'.
In the New Covenant God reveals who human beings are. That self knowledge
becomes the way, the truth and the life. A person will say ' I am the Way, the
Truth and the Life'.
In the First Covenant the Law is written on the
tablets of stone. A symbol of inflexibility, without mercy and compassion.
In the New Covenant the truth is written on sand or heart. A symbol of
flexibility, mercy, forgiveness and compassion.
In the First Covenant, first comes the Law or
religion. Second comes God as understood by that religion and third come human
beings who have worship God in that religion and serve religions.
In the New Covenant first comes God who is greater than religions; second come
human beings who serve God, not religions and third come religions which serve
human beings to realise their potentiality.
In the First Covenant human beings have a collective
identity and live in exclusion of others.
In the New Covenant human beings live in the universal identity and live for the
welfare of the whole of creation.
In the First Covenant people build walls and live
within their boundaries. They say 'our God' and 'their God'.
In the New Covenant people break down the walls and live without boundaries.
They establish one God, one creation and one humanity.
In the First Covenant people give continuity to the
past, to the tradition. They follow the path of loyalty to their ancestors.
In the New Covenant people manifest the eternity in the present. They live the
path of the Moon that receives light from the Sun and gives to the world.
In the First Covenant people experience God as the
God outside, as the God of authority, the God of words, the God of loyalty, the
God of reward and punishment and the God of exclusivity.
In the New Covenant people experience God as the indwelling presence, as the
God of freedom, the God of silence, the God of inclusiveness, the God of mercy,
forgiveness and unconditional love.
In the First Covenant time moves towards future for
its fulfilment.
In the New Covenant time manifests eternity here and now.
In the First Covenant there is movement of becoming,
striving, a movement of emptiness to fill itself.
In the New Covenant it is the life of unfolding, fullness manifesting itself in
relationships.
In the First Covenant there is separation between
secular and sacred, ordinary and extraordinary.
In the New Covenant secular is transformed into sacred and ordinary is
transformed into extraordinary.
In the First Covenant people say ' I am the doer of
actions'.
In the New Covenant people say ' God is doer of all actions'.
In the First Covenant people walk on ground and
leave foot prints for others to follow.
In the New Covenant people walk on water, a symbol of creativity and
originality. People do not enter into the traces left by others and do not
leave traces for others to follow. Every one lives an original and creative life
and invite others to do so. They live like fish in water and like birds in the
sky. Fish and birds do not enter into the traces left by others and do not
leave traces for others to follow.
In the First Covenant people, believers,
believe in the Truth.
In the New Covenant people manifest the Truth through their lives.
In the First Covenant people build permanent houses
and settle down in them. They become watch men or protectors of their
buildings. They make Truth mechanical and they imprison God or Truth in their
mental structures. They respond to the present questions with past answers.
In the New Covenant people live a life of pilgrimage. They live in tents for a
rest. It is a pilgrimage from God to God. They have nothing to defend. Their
journey is from the known into the unknown. They experience God as creativity
responding to the present. They respond to the present questions with the
present answers that come from the creative source of the divine.
Every human being has to begin with the First Covenant and then discover the New Covenant. This is the promise given by God to the Jewish people (to all people, Jeremiah 31.31-34). Jesus Christ began his life with the First Covenant and then at the moment of his baptism moved into the New Covenant. He invited everyone to do the same with the good news: the kingdom of God is at hand, repent. The kingdom of God is the experience of the New Covenant. Repentance is the transition from the First Covenant to the New Covenant.