Covenant & God: A Two-Way Street
Lent 5B
Jer. 31:31-34; John 12:20-33
3/29/09
Lorraine Ljunggren

        Here we are on the Fifth Sunday in Lent only one week away from Holy Week. I hope in this Lenten season we have made time to care for our spirits, to care for our souls. Of course, I hope we do that all year round. But, because Lent has the general reputation of being a season of soul-searching, I hope we have at least stopped racing about on more than one occasion in the past weeks to do some of that soul-searching. I hope we have taken some deep breaths, examined the way we pattern our daily lives, and perhaps come up with some new ways of being – of being in relationship with ourselves, our neighbors, and our God that breathes new life into our hearts. I hope we have spent some of our energy on prayer – on time just to be aware of God's presence and to be aware that we live every moment of our lives in the presence of God. I hope we have looked at our calendars to do a reality check on how we spend our time in the service of others – of how we spend our time serving others within this church community and in the community all around us. I hope we have paid attention to our minds and bodies as well – doing things that enliven our minds and things that benefit the health and well being of our physical bodies.

        If the weeks of Lent have slipped by, or raced by, with some or many or most of these things left undone, the good news is, it is not too late! As the old saying goes, “there's no time like the present.” Whatever our good intentions when Lent began, all the hopes I've just listed are still alive and well and waiting for us to pursue them in ways meaningful to us and to God.

        Today's reading from the prophet Jeremiah is a great passage to contemplate as we consider our Lenten journey because the passage is so filled with hope. The prophet talks about the covenant between God and God's people – a covenant God won't abandon, even when the people of God so mess up their lives one might expect God to, well, 'walk away,' if you will. But, lo and behold, the prophet's message is clear: we can rely on God – it is in God's nature to be in relationship with human beings. The promise God makes in the beginning of creation to love us is an everlasting promise – an everlasting coven-ant. One that God will renew when we most need it.

        I particularly like the way the prophet shares God's intention with the people: “But 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. 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.'” (v. 33-34)

        The goal here is for “every person [to] know the Lord from their innermost being and not just through the teaching of others.” (Synthesis) Of course, this isn't about God waving some magic wand whereby we suddenly know in our heart of hearts all about God or even about God's promises. For me to know God so that I would consider God's promises to be written on my heart, it begins with my longing for it – with my quest to fill the spaces of my heart that only God can fill – with my taking time to read the Bible, to read what others say about it, to say my prayers, to spend time in the midst of others on the journey of faith. While I believe faith is a gift from God, I don't believe it is magic and I don't think we each come to an awareness of faith on the same timetable or even by the same methods. But, I do believe we can trust that God wants to write God's love on our hearts – that God wants to be known by us in our innermost being – and that God wants us to enter into a covenant with God and then with those around us.

        I believe this is vital not only to our own personal well-being, but for the well-being of the whole creation. I came across a reflection I find helpful in considering the sorts of promises – the sorts of covenants into which I enter and why they are important.

        Robert Roth, a writer and social activist in Michigan, writes, “Covenants order our lives, our faith communities, and, in the best of times, our nations. The promises and agreements God makes to us, and that we make to one another, are sometimes made binding by oaths or rituals. Sometimes God simply sends someone down from the mountain with a covenant fully formed and sealed. The covenants of marriage, baptism, ordination, and church membership echo the great historic covenants, such as God's agreement with Noah after the flood and Moses' receiving of the Ten Commandments. [Roth continues,] The biblical covenants are relevant to our lives today because their wisdom—and power to order societies—has much to teach us about a covenantal way of relating to God, to others, and to the created order. The divine-human covenants highlighted in the Lenten readings offer a “two-way street” of rights, responsibilities, and relationships. Over time, biblical covenants were replaced by the laws of feudal societies, kingdoms, and nation-states. Nonetheless, our fragmented, anxious times cry out for the justice, security, and compassion of covenantal living. From secular international treaties to church polity, we see the desire of peoples to have what a community bound by covenant provides.” (Robert Roth, writer and social activist in Michigan, Sojourners online 2009)

        I like what Roth has to say. I believe our lives are different and are better when we enter into covenants with one another. I believe our quest for justice and security and for compassion have their best chance of bearing fruit when we human beings bind ourselves to each other by the sorts of covenants we read about in scripture.

        We have only to look at Jesus' life, ministry, and mission to see what a faithful covenant with God and God's people is all about. We have only to look at Jesus to understand what life rooted in and nourished by God's love is like and what sort of fruit it bears. It brings healing and wholeness where there is pain and separation. It brings knowledge where there is the thirst to know and to be known. It brings tenderness and compassion wherever hurt and sorrow dwell.

        But, Jesus also lives the covenanted life with God knowing full well there is a cost involved. For in order to make justice and security and compassion real in the lives of the oppressed one has to come face to face with the oppressor. In order to lift up the lowly those who are exalted must be challenged to give up some of what they have accumulated. To feed those who are hungry means asking those with plenty to share what they have. To give a voice to the voiceless means the public arena must actually become a 'public' arena where all voices are heard and where all voices are given weight.

        And because Jesus lives committed to bringing about these changes in his time, he will pay the ultimate price. The powers to whom Jesus speaks truth will demand Jesus' life. The powers will use a cross to try to silence the One Who Loves the Lord God with All Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength – the One Who Loves the Neighbor as Self.

        But, my friends, try as they might, the powers of this world will not have the final word! Our presence here today testifies to the fact that Jesus does rise to become the Christ of God. And every time we take the risk of speaking truth to power, the love of Christ shines brightly. Every time we challenge the exalted of our day, the love of Christ breaks through the clouds of oppression. Every time we feed the hungry by our own efforts or by asking others to feed them as well, the love of Christ fills the heart of those whose bellies we fill. Every time we give the voiceless their voice or we demand the public arena be public, the love of Christ will outweigh all else.

        As we prepare to enter into Holy Week, let us covenant with one another and with God, to nourish our spirits, to care for our souls, so that we can become more and more like the One Who Lives Today in Each of Us. Amen.

©2009 Lorraine Ljunggren