"A New Covenant" - Lent 5B

Lent 5B

March 25, 2012

Jeremiah 31.31-34

 “A New Covenant”

What is the hardest substance known to humankind? Geologically speaking, it is no longer the diamond. Mineral lonsdaleite is similar to a diamond, but it is 58% harder. Even so, I don’t think mineral lonsdaleite is the hardest substance known to us. I think the hardest substance known to humanity is found in the human body, and it’s not tooth enamel. I think the hardest substance is the human heart, the evidence of which we can find anywhere. Open a newspaper; turn on a TV, iPad, or Smartphone, look on Facebook. It’s there for all to see: broken marriages, insane wars, political infighting, and rampant poverty. The list can go on and on.

Or you can open up the Bible and see all of this and more, including how much we ignore God. That’s the back-story to our text from Jeremiah today, in which God promises a new covenant to God’s people, Israel. But, why does God promise a new covenant? Aren’t the old covenants good anymore? As a matter of fact, they are not. God’s people had agreed to several covenants, promising to be in relationship with God in a very special way. But they have broken all of the previous agreements with God and now they are reaping the results of the bad seeds they have sown, seeds of injustice, seeds of idolatry, and seeds of unfaithfulness.

That’s why God targets the heart of the problem—the hardest substance there is—the human heart. This passage from Jeremiah comes in what theologians call the Book of Consolation, a collection of promises addressed to a people in the depths of despair. They have been torn from their country and are now living in a foreign land. Jeremiah tells them that, although they don’t deserve God’s continuing love and blessing, God has not given up on them. God is and always will be their God; they are and will always be God’s people. The day is coming when they will know this in a new way. To know, in this case, means the ability to have a deep and life-giving relationship with God and each other.

Frankly, this whole writing-on-the-heart thing is a bit unnerving for me. I’m not one who can always feel God’s presence, and often mistrust my feelings when I do. Does that make me heartless? Maybe. Then I remember that when the Bible talks about the heart it is not just about feelings or emotions. The heart is also the place of our will and our intellect, involved with what we think and do as well as what and how we feel. And, when God promises to do something new with our hearts, God is talking about being in relationship with God and with each other in a completely new way, a way that is life giving to us.

So, what are some of the implications of this text for us today? For Christians, an obvious one is that Jesus is the fulfillment of this promise. He is the new covenant that we confess in the Holy Communion, “for the forgiveness of sins.” This also means that our new relationships are rooted in a forgiveness that makes these relationships possible. It means that, when we talk about Jesus coming into our hearts, our life of faith is not just a “me and Jesus” relationship. When Jesus comes into our hearts, he brings all of his friends with him. That means that you and I stand with the marginalized and the downtrodden of this world. Furthermore, this new covenant is given to the entire community; it is intensely personal, but it is never private.

Finally, we need to recognize that this is one of those “already, but not yet” kind of processes. God through Jesus Christ has gained a foothold, but we are still living into the life God has for us. What might that look like? One small example: In my former congregation, we had a worship service where we didn’t wear robes, and so I reminded the acolytes (and parents) to dress appropriately. When I was asked what my dress code was (the Law), I simply responded that the acolytes should bring their best selves to worship. In other words, I trusted God wrote something on their hearts and that they would do the right thing. What has God through Jesus in the power of the Sprit has written on your hearts today? Where is God inviting you into a deeper relationship with him and the world he loves? Maybe it’s not that hard after all. Amen.