Let us pray.
Lord, may the words of my mouth speak your Truth, bring honor to your Name, and draw us deeper into our covenant with you. Amen. Today, Jeremiah prophesied to us about covenant. But what does this actually mean? In it most simple terms, “covenant” is a promise but, more than this, it is a mutual relationship between God, the people (us), and the land. Covenant is the relationship established by God all the way back in Genesis when the Lord promised Adam and Eve, then Noah, then Abraham and Sarah that they would be the founders of many nations and parents of many offspring; the promise to provide, deliver, and protect. Yet, the ancient Israelites broke their end of the promise time and time again. They received, they broke, they were restored. Today we’re looking at this pattern of covenant through Jeremiah. Given...broken...restored...broken...restored...broken...restored…and so on. This whole time I want you to be thinking: What does covenant – God’s promise to be in relationship with the naturally created world – mean for my life and for those with whom I come in contact? Because covenant is and has been given, is and has been everlasting, and is and has been for everyone. Go with me on a journey for a minute… In our Old Testament reading for today, we find ourselves in a state of exile, as captives in a foreign land. Jerusalem, the capital city of Judah, had been ransacked by the regional superpower. The Israelites’ entire way of life – everything they knew – had been destroyed. This state of physical exile conjured a state of spiritual exile, and called into question their relationship with God. The Israelites truly thought they had been abandoned by God. But, I’d like to humbly submit to you that, perhaps, it was they who had abandoned God. The book of Jeremiah suggests that it was the Israelites’ political corruption, mistreatment and abuse of the poor, failure to act justly and seek truth, and idolatry that led them to be captured. They did not honor the inherent dignity, value, and worth of all peoples and the naturally made world. Do any of these sins sound familiar? In essence, the covenant was given...then the Covenant was broken. But, true to form, it was again restored; this time, as a new covenant to be internalized in the hearts and minds of all God’s children. God never actually abandoned the Israelites – The Lord was patiently waiting for them to realize that they needed their Heavenly Protector. In response, God brought the Israelites out of exile and, through the prophet Jeremiah, established a new covenant – an unbreakable covenant in which the law dwelled within the Israelites. In other words, the Lord forever sealed God’s self into the minds and hearts of all who claim to know the Lord. This establishment of a new covenant is proof that God does not give up, even when we might. So after a period of wandering, pain, and some soul searching, the Israelites were reconciled to God. Though this narrative occurred ~2500 years ago, the pattern of given, broken, restored remains true today. ------ Many of you might be wondering who I am, why I am preaching today. Well, you’re sponsoring me for ordination! …which is another form of covenant. See, covenant is in all aspects of life. But more than this, I stand before you as a restored child of God who, just like our Hebrew ancestors, has broken the covenant given to me by our Creator. I, just like any one of us, can recount countless times that I’ve broken my end of the promise to God, there’s a major part of my story that I want to share with you today as an example of God’s unfailing, everlasting Love. When I was in high school, I moved to California and gave up on the Lord. I’d like to be able to blame California for why I broke covenant; however, if there’s any place to experience the Creator’s majesty, it would be running along the beach, sun setting over the Pacific Ocean, breeze blowing all around – like the wind of the Holy Spirit. And yet, I decided I didn’t need nor see God. I prioritized my selfish, worldly pursuits – much like those which sent the Israelites into exile. However, after 3 years of being in my own personal exile, I found myself feeling entitled and empty, longing. But I couldn’t discern why. Until I found myself sitting in the pews of the church in which I grew up. When it came time to assert the Apostle’s Creed, I, for the first time, declared my faith not because everyone else was, but because I wanted to reestablish my covenant with God – that same covenant given to our Biblical ancestors who were lost, wandering in the wilderness, was written in to my heart, too. And God was there, waiting for me, because the Lord never broke God's relationship with me, even though I broke mine with God. Leaning into covenant takes many forms. For me, it just happens to be ordained priesthood. Whatever, the vocation that manifests, God just wants us to uphold our end by saying, “Yes, Lord” and use our talents to create a world rooted in mercy, justice, and love. I am the product of a given, broken, and restored covenant. But I know that God will not forsake God’s covenant with us, the children of God – even when we forget the words written on our Hearts and our Minds. What is more, is that, through Christ, we are all daily – hourly – constantly restored to God. This is what our Gospel lesson for today demonstrates. Through the glorification of the Son of Man, we see the embodiment of the new covenant to which Jeremiah pointed. Jeremiah shows us that we, as humans, have the ability to be faithful; but that obedience is not automatic. Through Jesus, however, we can say that we “Know the Lord,” because we now each have Christ dwelling within our hearts and minds. John also reinforces an extremely important point first illuminated by Jeremiah when prophesying of this new covenant to come. John tells us that the saving covenant, permanently given to us through Jesus’s death, is for all people, from the least of us to the greatest. In a climate such as today, it is imperative that we remember covenant is for everyone. It is only through honoring the inherent worth of all that we can help one another out of our broken states, out of the wandering, back into restoration, so all of Creation can be reconciled with the Creator. Thus, our Gospel gives us the final part of our equation. Covenant was given, we break it, but covenant is also forever restored, for everyone, through Christ. So the question becomes: How do we live in to our forever covenant, even when we break it? Are we the ancient Israelites, like in Jeremiah, longing to see the law that is within us, written on our hearts, so that we may know the Lord? Are we the Greeks, like in John, gathered around Jesus in awe, searching for answers that are in front of our eyes? Whoever we are, take solace in the fact that though the covenant may appear temporarily broken on our side, God never forsakes God’s side of the deal. The story of the Israelites shows us that covenant is given, covenant is broken, but that covenant is restored. Christ, moreover, promises that covenant is everlasting, and covenant is for everyone. May we now live in to our gift of eternal promise. Amen. |