Jeremiah 3:31-34—The cross establishes a new covenant. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God promises to establish a new covenant with His people – a covenant of grace. Through the atoning death of His Son, God has restored His relationship with rebellious mankind. All who trust in the sacrifice of Christ are incorporated into this new covenant (Romans 9:30). It is all God’s work; we can do nothing to earn our place in it.
We hear in our Old Testament lesson words of promise from the prophet Jeremiah, words about a new covenant and a renewed relationship between God and God’s people.
The words are addressed to a people in exile, far from home and bereft of hope. The covenant between God and Israel, the covenant made so long ago at Sinai, is (or seems to be) broken. God has not protected Israel from harm and they have been taken into exile.
Into such a situation, the prophet speaks words of promise. But he frames those promises in terms of the very relationship in question. The prophet speaks of a covenant — like the one made at Sinai — between the LORD and Israel. “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah” (Jeremiah 31:31).
There is both continuity and discontinuity with what has come before. The continuity lies in the character of God and the love God continues to have for a wayward people. God will not abandon Israel forever. God will not forget God’s promises made so long ago at Sinai:
“I will dwell among the Israelites, and I will be their God.” (Exodus 29:45; cf. Exodus 6:7)
“And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be my people.” (Leviticus 26:12)
And it will all be the LORD’s doing. “I will forgive their iniquity, and will remember their sin no more.” The people have not demonstrated a great aptitude for faithfulness during the many years of the old covenant, so this time the LORD will do it differently. This time, the covenant relies solely on YHWH’s mercy, YHWH’s ever-present grace in forgiving a disobedient people and calling them back into relationship with him. 1
Collect for the Fifth Sunday in Lent—Almighty and everlasting God, who hast willed that Thy Son should bear for us the pains of the cross that Thou might remove from us the power of the adversary, help us so to remember and give thanks for our Lord’s Passion that we may obtain remission of sins and redemption from everlasting death; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. 2
Sources:
Illustration “The Crucifixion” is taken from a woodcut by Baron Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872, a distinguished German artist known especially for his book, The Book of Books in Pictures. © WLS Permission granted for personal and congregational use.
1. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/reformation-day/commentary-on-jeremiah-3131-34-5
2. Collect for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, Lutheran Service Book © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis
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