Proclaiming the New Covenant

by Michael Sherer


There's something delightful about preaching from the Lectionary. If you haven't heard of the lectionary, it's a book of scripture readings to be used for worship or devotional purposes. Each day has passages assigned to it and over the course of three years virtually every verse in the Bible gets covered. To paraphrase Forrest Gump, "Preaching from the lectionary is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get." That can be a little unnerving, but in my experience you get whatever God wants you to get, which is invariably just what you needed.   For a powerful example of the lectionary in action, check out MCC's website [http://www.mcc.org/peace/fast/ ], which chronicles J. Daryl Byler's 40 day fast. Each day Daryl sent President Bush a letter based on the day's lectionary texts. . But, that's another sermon.


So, for the last several weeks, I've been on a journey with the Jeremiah 31:31-34 passage. During this time my prayer has been --Lord, what would you like to say through this passage? And help me to be faithful to what you want to say as I write this sermon.


Now, I stand before you to proclaim why I think Jeremiah 31:31-34 is today's sermon text.


First, there is a richness to this text that defies its brevity. That journey I spoke of earlier has been more like a treasure hunt as these four short verses lead us off to some of the most powerful passages in the Bible.  Second, this text just aches to speak to us in our context in so many ways. Watch for the parallels between Jeremiah's time and our own.  There are so many I can't begin to bring them all to your attention. Finally, this text not only predicts the new covenant in Jesus, it illuminates it in surprising ways. Let's get started.


First we need to get to know Jeremiah a bit.  Jeremiah's story is fairly typical for a prophet--nice boy born into a prominent family, in line for a decent job, everything is looking up. Then he gets God's call. Now he has no friends, he's had to leave town, and down in Jerusalem it only gets worse as he risks his life day in and day out, attempting to tell the Kings of Judah something they don't want to hear, getting tossed in jail or into cisterns. He's writing prophecies so inflammatory that he's branded a traitor. Even Biblical scholars will tell you the whole book is one long downer, with the exception of a brief section containing today's text.


That text, Jeremiah 31:31-34, comes from a section referred to by some as the Song of Jeremiah, or even Jeremiah's little book of hope--a ray of sunshine in an otherwise gloomy book.  But, if you put your seventh century BC crown on, you'd find plenty to be unhappy about. Let's start with some background:


The book of Jeremiah and this prophecy in particular come at a pivotal moment in the history of Israel.  The era of Kings is drawing to a close for Israel.  The forces of Babylon are massing and Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, has foretold the fall of Israel. Soon, Jerusalem would fall and leaders of God's chosen people would be led into exile.  Never again would there be a king to lead Israel.  This period in Israel's history was over and even by the most charitable standards it had ended in utter failure.

 

The First Covenant

Now, let's look at the text.  In verse 31, Jeremiah begins:  "The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah."  If you were a contemporary of Jeremiah, the first thing that would likely strike you is the implication that the first covenant, the covenant made with Abraham in Genesis, is going to be replaced. Reading from Genesis 12:1-3


Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you;  And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." 


That's a pretty good covenant.  I like that covenant.  If it's replaced by a new covenant, then what's going to get dropped? Becoming a great nation?  Making our name great?


Meanwhile, back in verse 32 Jeremiah, confirms these fears:

It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers the day I took them by the hand to lead them forth from the land of Egypt; for they broke my covenant and I had to show myself their master, says the LORD. 



God as King

But, wait a minute.  There's a new twist here.  It's not the covenant from Genesis 12. Jeremiah is calling our attention to the Exodus and the flight from Egypt.  Reading from Exodus 14:9-18


Then the Egyptians chased after them {with} all the horses {and} chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and they overtook them camping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.   As Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened; so the sons of Israel cried out to the LORD.   

Then they said to Moses, "Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? 

"Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness." 

But Moses said to the people, "Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. 

"The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent." 

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward.  "As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land. "As for Me, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. 

What's striking about this twist is that Jeremiah is drawing attention to the military dimension of the covenant--that God would fight Israel's battles. This is perhaps the seminal moment in Israel's relationship with God. They were about to be destroyed by the Egyptian army when God intervenes and destroys the opposing army. God demonstrates himself capable of fighting Israel's battles. 


Jeremiah is writing with a purpose. It's a setup. He immediately adds: for they broke my covenant and I had to show myself their master, says the LORD. 


Now how do you suppose that Israel broke the first covenant?  One line of thinking would be that Israel was always breaking the covenant and that the Old Testament narrative is the story of God's faithfulness in the face of Israel's unfaithfulness.  But I think Jeremiah had something more specific in mind. When the 12 tribes entered the Promised Land, the new nation of Israel was led, not by Kings, but by judges and by inference, God Himself.  The transition of Israel from a theocracy to a monarchy is chronicled in the book of I Samuel with great sadness.  The people of Israel demand a king so that they can be like the other nations. They want a King--a strong King to lead them into battle. One can imagine that this was done out of fear.  The middle east was a dangerous place in those days and Israel found itself on coveted land surrounded by enemies big and small.  How, they wondered, could they rely on God to fight their battles in such a dangerous political climate?


At this point, God relents and allows Israel to choose a King, but not without a clear warning.  Reading from I Samuel 8:6-22


6But when they said, "Give us a king to lead us," this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD . 7And the LORD told him: "Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 8As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do." 

10 Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, "This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle [2]and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day." 

19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles." 

21 When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the LORD . 22 The LORD answered, "Listen to them and give them a king." 


"They have rejected Me."  What does this mean, but that Israel has broken the covenant? The King represents a form of idolatry. He is the deal breaker. God does not forsake Israel, but unquestionably the King represents a distancing of Israel from God. The people of Israel, now put their faith in the King and specifically in the military skill and power of the King, yes, even ahead of God.  How else can you explain the rise and fall of Israel's fortunes as king succeeds king in a downward spiral of decreasing dependence on God.  The King now stood between God and His chosen people, and time after time the King demonstrated himself to be a weak link.


Which gets us to the second half of verse 32: I had to show myself their master, says the LORD. God is calling an end to monarchy.  Israel's experiment in reliance on Kings and military might to sustain God's chosen people ends in complete and utter failure. And it wasn't just a military failure. It was a moral failure.  The kings forgot God. They relied, not on God, but on military strength and alliances with surrounding kingdoms through intermarriage and the inevitable encroachment of foreign gods--idols made of wood and stone. God has had enough.


Does this sound familiar?  It should.  We Christians, who have the benefit of an additional 2500 years of history and the example of Christ to guide us are just as susceptible as the ancient Israelites to the forces that would pull us away from reliance on God.  It's a scary world out there.  The enemy has attacked and done us great harm. Our way life, our freedom, and yes, even our faith is in danger. We want a king to lead us into battle, to triumph over our enemies, to keep us from harm. 


Will God abandon us for our lack of faith?  No, God will never abandon us or anyone who calls on Him.  Does God grieve over our lack of faith? Just as He grieved over Israel's rejection.  Does God grieve when his children choose violence to solve their problems?  Just as Jesus wept over Jerusalem, crying "Would that you knew the things that made for peace." Will God judge us for putting our faith in rulers and armies? Don't rule it out.


The New Covenant

Back to Jeremiah.  The first covenant is history, the monarchy, Jerusalem, the temple and its leadership are about to be destroyed, but this is not the end of the Israelites' special relationship with God. In verse 33, Jeremiah announces the new covenant. 


But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD. I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 


This is God's new and better covenant. With this new covenant God would redeem the failure of the monarchy by decoupling Judaism from the nation-state, enabling it to survive the destruction of Israel and its institutions and ultimately, to become a major world religion.  


In this prophecy, God demonstrates that He is capable of redeeming the most spectacular failures into unimaginable successes. But, it's also important to remember that like so many prophecies, the people it was meant for, weren't very interested in hearing it. That first covenant was just fine thank you, we didn't really break it, and this Babylon trip is just a detour on our path to greatness.  That's what Ezra and Nehemiah thought. They were going to rebuild that wall and the temple and restore Jerusalem to greatness.  That's what Jesus' disciples wanted--they wanted him to set up his kingdom and rule.  Indeed, if reliance on the King to defend the faith is the covenant-breaker, it has proved almost irresistible throughout history. Jeremiah's prophecies notwithstanding, Jews hoped for a political Messiah. Christians embraced emperor Constantine's conversion. King Henry the VIII appointed himself head of the Anglican Church.  Zwingli and Luther reformed Catholicism but retained the state church model. Even in our current day, 29% of people surveyed believe the United States is a Christian nation. 


In our current context, Jeremiah's condemnation of the monarchy and call for radical reliance on God, should speak volumes.  


The Changed Heart

To summarize the first two verses, the First Covenant, with its reliance on the nation of  Israel, didn't work. The story of Israel recorded in the Old Testament is the story of a hard-hearted people who are continually straying, continually running after other gods.  It is the story of God's faithfulness and Israel's faithlessness. The success of the New Covenant is predicated on changing people's hearts and direct unmediated relationship between God and His people.  Reading from Jeremiah 31 vss 33-34 "I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 

No longer will they have need to teach their friends and kinsmen how to know the LORD. All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the LORD, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.


If you think about it, Jeremiah has again described a failing of national religion. It cannot change people's hearts.  It can set up structures and appoint teachers and priests, make laws and promote customs and holidays, but ultimately it cannot change hearts. Only God can change hearts. 


At the time Jeremiah wrote this passage, access to God was mediated by the priests and passed on by the structures and traditions surrounding the temple.  This too, along with the monarchy, was about to be destroyed.  In the new covenant, access to God was to be direct, unmediated.  The believer would call on God and God would write His law on their hearts.  If the first covenant was national, the new covenant would be personal.


If the new covenant was at least partially fulfilled in the Babylonian exile, there was more that remained to be done. The early church clearly understood Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, and as ushering in the new covenant. Indeed, each communion we recite Jesus' own words, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." What can we say about the new covenant as embodied by Jesus? Well, first, contrary to the hopes and aspirations of his own disciples, Jesus rejected establishing a political kingdom.  The Kingdom of God is in our hearts.  It transcends nation states with their frail and mortal leaders. It is immune to regime change. It cannot be undone by the moral weakness of one of its members.  It is global. It is inclusive.  It is now.  It is not yet.  It grows and strengthens in spite of persecution.  


Second, it is egalitarian.  All, from the greatest to the least, have equal access to God. Sinners are welcomed and forgiven. Nations have historically had difficulty with this, too. Democracy is a step in the right direction, but we would have to admit that our own country still has significant problems with inequality.


Third, it is universal. Under this new covenant the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and non-Jew is broken down--this new covenant is made possible by our willingness to give up our reliance on kings and armies and nation states and pledge our allegiance to the Kingdom of God and Jesus, who taught us to love our enemies.  Our enemies cannot kill our souls and so we are freed from fear of death. We are freed to love our enemies, freed to transform them into friends.


Again, a national religion cannot break down the dividing wall of hostility. I experienced this first hand this week. I was heading for California, taking United Limo to Midway and working on this sermon.  I was thinking that I'd like to talk to a Jew about the Jeremiah passage. That would be an interesting perspective.  


So, I got on the plane in Midway and there was a man sitting beside me….


Conversation with Imadadin. 


Like the prophet Jeremiah, we are invited, indeed compelled to proclaim the new covenant as embodied in Jesus. This is the Good News. Jeremiah reminds us and Jesus confirms that in the new covenant faith is personal and not national, rooted in a radical reliance on and relationship with God. It is egalitarian in that we are all invited to be in it and all invited to receive God's love, grace and forgiveness and it all adds up to a faith that is universal. Stripped of the baggage of nationalism and militarism, the new covenant can go places the old covenant can't. It starts conversations rather than ends them. It opens the door to share the Good News with people who would otherwise be unable or unwilling to hear it.


But like Jeremiah, you can expect a fair amount of rejection for sharing a message like that.  It is the sad truth that if we wrote a continuation of the Bible about Christianity as the ongoing saga of God's people on earth, it would be shockingly similar to the Pentateuch--the ongoing story of God's faithfulness in the face of our own unfaithfulness. What is the difference between Saul and Constantine? How can we Christians claim to have upheld the new covenant any better than the Jews upheld the first one.  


As our Christian president wages war against Iraq, Jeremiah reminds us that this is not what the new covenant is about.  Our hope is in God, who brings good things out of seemingly unredeemable messes, who forgives our sins and remembers them no more and who gave us Jesus, the founder and protector of our faith.


Praise be to God.