The Hebrew word “hesed” is translated various ways in the Old Testament. It’s basic meaning is “covenant keeping ability.”
When you buy a car on credit, the dealership provides the vehicle, and you commit to making regular monthly payments. This is a binding agreement, a promise to fulfill specific obligations. In the Old Testament, such a covenant-keeping agreement would be referred to by the word “hesed.”
Because Israel repeatedly broke their covenant with God, yet God consistently demonstrated his love towards them, the meaning of “hesed” evolved. In most modern translations, it’s rendered as ‘loving-kindness’ or ‘tender mercies.’
This Old Testament concept is considered the closest equivalent to “grace” in the New Testament.
In this season, as we commemorate the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord, we are reminded of the covenant God offers. Despite our failures, we rejoice in His gracious gift, through which we can know Him and experience a restored relationship.
The full lectionary reading: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030625.cfm.
Reading 1 – Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Deuteronomy 30 details the blessings and curses associated with the covenant. God calls us to choose life by following His path.
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.
Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him, for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20).
The chorus to the hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” describes how I often feel.
“Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.”
While we quickly affirm that choosing life through following the Lord is the wisest course, we find ourselves easily wandering. It is in this vulnerability that we recognize our deep need for God’s grace.
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
In Psalm 1, the word ‘chaff’ stands out to me. The idea of being worthless chaff is deeply unsettling.
The wicked are not so
but are like chaff that the wind drives away. (Psalm 1:4)
To avoid that fate, verses 1 and 2 offer a prescription: consistently meditating on God’s guidance and direction so that we can live according to it.
Happy are those
who do not follow the advice of the wicked
or take the path that sinners tread
or sit in the seat of scoffers,
but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law they meditate day and night. (Psalm 1:1-2)
During this time of reflection on Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection, let us meditate on His gift to us and His instructions in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).
By centering our attention there and receiving His grace, we can live a life of true fulfillment, avoiding the emptiness of being nothing more than chaff.
Verse Before the Gospel – Matthew 4:17
From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 4:17).
Gospel – Luke 9:22-25
While evil men orchestrated the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ, a loving God was also at work. From the earliest sacrificial system, we see the pattern: a spotless lamb offered to atone for humanity’s sins.
“The Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised” (Luke 9:22).
Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God, was sacrificed to accomplish what we could not—perfectly fulfilling the covenant we continually broke. Through His death, we receive everlasting life.
Let’s use the words of Isaiah to worship our Savior in our prayers today.
Surely he has borne our infirmities
and carried our diseases,
yet we accounted him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have all turned to our own way,
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6)
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed how God guided the events in Genesis 24, leading to Rebekah becoming Isaac’s wife.
Real Voices 