Jeremiah 31: 31-34
John 12: 20-33
Covenants, agreements, contracts. God loves making covenants with us human beings. Can you list the ones recorded in the Bible? Noah and his Sons (Gen 6.18, 9.9), Abraham (Gen 15.18, 17.2,4,19), Moses and all the people of Israel at Mount Sinai (Exod 19), Phinehas (Num 25.10-13), David (2 Sam 7.5-16).
And as we talked about in a previous sermon we have made covenants ourselves especially marriage vows, and these previous covenants between God and the nation Israel were likened to a marriage covenant. But this is a new covenant that God is promising to Jeremiah. The previous covenants were built around an agreement that if the people do this, then I God will do that. A quid pro quo. The prophet Jeremiah does not mince his words, the people have failed, they broke their side of the agreement. In a marriage that often means the end of the relationship but God loves us humans so much that he goes beyond human expectations, goes the extra mile big time and instead of abandoning the nation of Israel he promises something new and extraordinary. Read these verses with me from half way through verse 33:
“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. No 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.”
God’s law, God’s sense of justice and righteousness, of what is right and wrong, and the worship of God, of putting God first in everything will be placed within … who? Them. The nation of Israel, God’s chosen nation. In the time of Moses, the law was written on two stone tablets as the Ten Commandments - an external set of instructions that had to be taught, learnt, followed and obeyed. In the future says Jeremiah they will written in people’s hearts. The focus of the Ten Commandments was a right relationship with God and with each other but people in their weakness failed to keep to it. God says through Jeremiah that he will enable the people of Israel to keep to it by actively working in their lives, writing his law within them. The key to this is in the last verse “ …for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.” God is pointing towards the cross and the promises we receive through it.
Turning towards our gospel reading, the arrival of Greeks, presumably non Jews, prompt Jesus to look ahead to the cross. “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” Just think for a moment of the fruit that Jesus’ death has produced. Forgiveness for sins, defeat of the previous ruler of this world - Satan - eternal life for all, God’s Holy Spirit available for all - leading to a rewriting of our inner selves with God’s law of loving God and loving our neighbours as ourselves within us, written on our hearts. A transformation for all who choose to embrace it. It is a choice as Jesus’ next words in verse 25 show:
“Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
Do you love your life? We are told to love God with our whole being and love our neighbours as ourselves. Surely we are meant to love ourselves and thus love our life as well? This verse seems to indicate otherwise. I think it is all about focus. Do we focus on earthly pleasures or heavenly action? I must admit I alternate between them. There are occasions when I have prayed a prayer which I know is God centred and filled with God’s Holy Spirit and I come away feeling that God has done something miraculous and wonderful and I am left awe struck at how he delights to work in and through us. Then the next day I struggle to engage with Morning Prayer and feel very distant from God. I do not lead an ascetic life style, I have not given away all my money to good causes. I enjoy a good holiday, a tasty wine. The joy I receive when skiing, the pleasure, the exhilaration, the sense of movement is something I want to repeat. So yes I do enjoy life. So what is Jesus meaning?
“Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
I think the answer lies in the next sentences when he points towards his own impending death, something which he knows is drawing nearer, and closing around him like a net, stopping any escape. An inevitable end, yet as we know from the garden of Gethsemane he could have walked away from it. He could have chosen differently and then the fruit of the cross, of the resurrection, would not be ours to enjoy, to receive, to be thankful for.
This last term, the theme in the Collective Worship (Assemblies in old language) for Longden School has been perseverance, with the climax last week and next week building to the cross. In presenting something on perseverance to the children, I have been struck by my own feelings. There have been times in the last months when I have been exhausted, weighed down by the amount of administration and other things that have required my attention, and in leading worship in school I have been preaching to myself to persevere, to keep going.
So what about you? Are you able to daily say, “Lord, your will, not mine”? I wonder if you ever have days when you we do not want to get out of bed, when each day feels pointless, a grind, when just getting dressed is a mammoth task? If that is so how do you keep going? How do you face the day? How do you persevere with the daily tasks, the routine of living?
At the end of his letter to the church in Thessalonika, Paul wrote some final instructions and one line particularly strikes me:
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5.16-18)
Rejoicing always and thanking God for our situation even if it is dire, shifts the attention from ourselves to the enormity of God, recognises that he is ultimately in control, that his will will be done, and opens us to the possibilities of God working in and through us. To the possibility of hearing God say to us “I have glorified my name in all the little things you are doing, the daily actions, the conversations, the perseverance.” And that joy, that thankfulness, that focus on God, is fed by the fact of the resurrection. There is hope beyond the pain, the disorder, the confusion. There is purpose that we may not see or understand now.
God the Father was glorified through the obedience of Jesus and the fruit was for all. God the Father is glorified through our faithfulness, our obedience, our turning to him each day, our trust in him, our worship of him, our joy, our prayers, our thankfulness, our small acts of kindness, of generosity, of looking out for others, loving them as Christ loves us. When we pray for others, when we give something of ourselves to others whether in time or a gift or donation, we connect with them and God is glorified through that and the light shines in the darkness, dispelling it. We become light bearers for Jesus.
As we enter the final two weeks of Lent, persevere, keep faithful, practise what you know is good and right. Remember the new covenant that God has made with us, through the cross and resurrection. Let God write on your heart his love for you, not with a marker pen, not even a permanent marker pen for even that will fade over time. Let God write it permanently within you, let the joy of the salvation, the freedom from sin, that Jesus offers to us, let it become real.
Amen.
Revd Graham Phillips