Sermon by Michael R. Martin
First United Methodist Church of Saranac Lake, NY
Jeremiah 31:31-34 (NRSV)A few weeks ago, we read from Exodus 20 – The Ten Commandments. Exodus 20 is in many ways the capstone of the Israelites great journey out of Egypt. The Lord spoke to Moses, passing along not only what we now call the ten commandments, but a whole host of laws and rules and regulations for living. Just take a quick scan through Exodus 21 through Exodus 23 and you’ll see what He had to say in great detail about servants, personal injury to others, protection of property and restitution for stealing, social responsibility (covering such things as seducing a virgin, taking advantage of a widow or orphan, lending money), laws of justice and mercy, Sabbath laws, and annual festivals. And this covenant was sealed in Exodus 24 when Moses took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people and they responded “We will do everything the Lord has said, we will obey.” Exodus 24:7 And Moses climbs back up Mount Sinai, and enters a cloud, is called by the Lord, and stays for 40 days and 40 nights getting instructions for building all the necessary priestly things for upholding the covenant.
31The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt--a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. 33But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the LORD," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
And this covenant of laws between God and his people was tough. If someone in your family screwed up, you were in trouble for at least four generations. Sure, if you could keep all the commandments you had it made – loved by God for a thousand generations. Quite the incentive . . . but you know, I doubt anybody quite made it.
So, by Jeremiah’s time, God must have been pretty frustrated. Hey, I told you what to do, you wrote it all down. All you had to do was follow all the rules and you’d be blessed for a thousand generations. But it wasn’t enough. The Israelites were just like the rest of us – imperfect flawed humans who, hard as we try, can’t seem to keep from slipping up somewhere along the line. So God spoke to Jeremiah and shared some really good news. There will come a time when I will make a new covenant with my people and I will put my law within them and write it upon their hearts. I will be their God and they shall be my people. My people shall ALL know me, from the least to the greatest. I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.
This is the new covenant you always hear about, the covenant in which we live. Jeremiah and crew could only look forward to the new covenant, but for us, this covenant is here. We have the wonderful opportunity to make a fresh start and establish a permanent, personal relationship with God. A week from now, we will start to retell those powerful events of Christ’s death and resurrection. Remember, come Easter, that it is the New Covenant that was born through those acts. We each can know God because God is in each of us, written on our hearts. And we know the deal is done because God sealed the deal when Christ died on the cross, forgiving all sin and remembering it no more.
A personal relationship with God, independent of all others, doesn’t matter what your father or mother did, your uncle, your granddad. For that matter, it doesn’t even matter what YOU’VE ever done in the past. Forgiven and loved. It is a wonderful feeling. Bask in that glow for a moment.
I’d like to conclude with a remark by John Wesley, which he made while reflecting on what Jeremiah had to say about the law or old covenant versus the gospel or new covenant. He said the prophet’s design is here to express the difference between the law and the gospel. The first shows duty, while the latter brings the grace of regeneration, by which the heart is changed, and enabled for duty.
Michael R. Martin – April 2, 2006
First UMC of Saranac Lake, 8:30AM
