A New Covenant, A New Heart

March 25, 2012 Year B Fifth Sunday of Lent Jeremiah 31:31-34 John 12:20-33 The marriage covenant To have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death. This is my solemn vow. The marriage vow is one of the most sacred vows that two people can make to one another. It is a very personal vow, where two people promise to live 2 lives as one. They promise to live and love one another no matter what. Lent is the season where we look at our covenants, the sacred promises that we have made in our lives. Are we living inside of the promises that we have made, or are we ignoring them. Just as in marriage, two people make promises. Scripture shows that God has made promises to each of us. Promises that were made before we were born, we did nothing to facilitate them. There are two kinds of covenants – there is the convenant such as marriage between two equals. ( the Methodist marriage covenant is between equals – that has historically not always been the case). But the other covenant is always between a greater party and a lesser party. For instance, there is also a covenant between parent and child. The parent is the responsible party – so the terms of the agreement are always set by the parent. That is like the promises that God made with us. God did not ask our permission, God did not ask us to agree. God said this is what I will do, and this is what I expect of you in return. Jeremiah 31 has a covenant from God. God says I will be your God and you will be my people. The conditions of this covenant – I will make a new covenant that will be written on their hearts. Why? Because the people broke the old covenant. The story of the promise of marriage Thornton Wilder, in his play, The Skin of our Teeth, depicts a WWII soldier, George, who returns home to his wife Maggie. He’s been away for years, and the experience has broken him. George announces to his wife, Maggie that he’s decided to leave her for another woman. Faced wither her husbands moral weakness, Maggie mounts a spirited defense. I married you she says because you gave me a promise…That promise made up for all of your faults. And the promise I gave you made up for mine. Two imperfect people got married, and it was the promise that made our marriage. To this, George objects that the war has changed him. But Maggie refuses to let it go: Oh George, you have to get it back again. Think, what else kept us alive all those years? Even now, it is not comfort that we want, we can suffer what is necessary, only give us back the promise. In the play, George and Maggie do reconcile. It’s a difficult road, but they find a way to get the promise back. Jeremiah is also concerned with how to get the promise back, only he’s not talking about marriage, but about the relationship between the people, Israel and their God. All the people had to do was to obey the covenant, and they couldn’t do that. George said that the war had changed him. Life has a way of changing us. Of giving us excuses of why we could not obey God. We can choose to live in the promises of God or we can live above them. It can get so easy to live above them. God is our husband I found it interesting that in Jeremiah, God says I was the husband of the people and they broke the covenant. The people didn’t make the covenant, yet for some reason they disrespected it. They were given the law as terms for the promise, but they broke them. They refused to live according to the law. And maybe that is just it, there is a difference between obeying God and making a commitment to live within God’s will. Obeying is about outer behavior, it is about control, it is impersonal, it sets us up to make justifications of why we cant do it. Living within the law is a personal commitment to do what is right. The convenant of forgiveness God says that I will be God and you will be my people. But the condition of the new convenant is that God will forgive and forget your sins. You are able to live in freedom, most importantly you are able to live in hope. Our scripture starts out by saying – the days are coming. Jeremiah is intentionally creating a future. New circumstance bring new reactions. A town with no hope A Little town in Maine, flagstaff was scheduled to be flooded in order to make way for a new damn. People knew for months that their town was doomed. Roofs needed to be repaired, buildings needed to be fixed. But no one was willing to spend on a house that they knew was going to be destroyed in the future any way. People noticed that as time got closer for the town to be destroyed – thinks started to look more and more bedraggled. No one was willing to fix anything or clean up anything. There was no hope, there was no freedom, no reason to try to do anything different. If God doesn’t love you, if God is threatening to divorce you and to forget all about you – what is the point of living in God’s will? Why obey laws that are designed to mess you up? Jeremiah knew that he had to create a new future, a future with hope, a promise that if you mess up, God will let you start all over again. God wont hold sin against you. Jesus says the time is now Jeremiah says that the time is coming – Jesus says that the time is now. In John 12 Jesus says that it is now time for God to be glorified. But throughout the gospels Jesus reminds us that the future is now – don’t wait for it – but live in it now. The cross ratifies the covenant When Jesus goes to the cross – God is glorified – God has already forgiven and forgotten our sins, our new life can begin. We don’t have to carry our sins around, God wants more for us, but God wants more from us. He is God – we are his people. We are a forgiven people If we are forgiven we don’t have to obey out of obligation, we are free to live in honor, and respect. We are free to change from the inside not the out. Son moved by fathers tears Wangerin has a wonderful story, called "Matthew, Seven, Eight, and Nine" about how he tried to stop his son Matthew from stealing comic books. He tried various uses of the law over several years and continued to fail. Finally, he resorted to something he rarely used: a spanking. He did it deliberately, almost ritualistically, and he was so upset when he finished that he left the room and wept. After pulling himself back together, he went in to Matthew and hugged him. A number of years later, Matthew and his mother were doing some general reminiscing, and Matthew happened to bring up the time when he kept stealing comic books. "And you know why I finally stopped?" he asked. "Sure," she said, "Because Dad finally spanked you." "No!" replied Matthew, "No, because Dad cried." He cared for me, and his tears made all of the difference. The passion of Christ The story of Jesus is our chance to respond to God’s passion. Next Sunday is palm Sunday –the beginning of our journey through the passion story. The story of Jesus pain on the cross, but also the story of God’s love for you. He was so concerned about your sins that he led his son to the cross. Jesus says that if he be lifted up, he will draw all men to him. All will understand God’s love. The cross a chance for our inner transformation Many say that the cross was a ransom for our souls, a sacrifice of God, the supreme act of obeying God. Most important reason, - knew it would create a new community of people committed to transformation, willing to have a relationship with god. A new relationship based on that forgiveness on the cross. We the Easter people, the body of Christ, the church – are the people who dwell in forgiveness. Jesus showed us a new way of being human. A new relationship with God. A new life, full of renewal, full of life, full of hope. The united Methodist marriage ritual says that the covenant of marriage is just life the covenant between Christ and his church. He is our savior – we are his body. In a marriage ritual there is the exchange of rings. In the covenant of Christ and his church there is the cross. It is our symbol of how much God loves us. A symbol of God’s love A baby bird asked his mother, that is air – she said no words to her baby, she just spread here wings and flew. A baby fish asked its mother- what is water – she said nothing, she just swished her tail and started to fly. A baby ant ask his mother what is dirt, she said nothing she just dug a little more. A baby child asked her mother what is love – she opened her arms and hugged the baby. A God fearer asked God what is forgiveness – he sent his son to the cross to die for you. What better promise do you need of God’s love for you? Live your live dwelling in the love of God. Let us pray…..