“A New Covenant”

Doug Lambert 21/03/2021

Readings -

Jeremiah is recognised as one of the great prophets of Israel.  He was a priest residing in Jerusalem and among the people driven into exile in Babylon.  These “chapters of consolation” (Chp 30 - 33) were probably written during that Exile period, around 600 - 580 BCE.  During that time Jerusalem was besieged twice and on the second occasion the temple itself was destroyed.  It is difficult for us to even try and imagine the impact of the Babylonian destruction upon the population of Israel.  Everything dear and sacred destroyed, all the symbols of their cultural identity, and then driven into exile.  This is the context for today’s reading.

Notwithstanding Jeremiah’s reputation as a prophet of doom here are words of consolation. He paints a glimpse of a future in which the people’s relationship with God is restored.  He talks of a “new covenant” but not one chiseled on to stone blocks, rather a covenant encased within people’s hearts.  The covenant itself has not changed, it is how it is to be effected.  This is no longer a covenant which forms the foundation of Israel’s cultural heritage, one which is clearly broken and ineffectual.  This new covenant still rests on the initiative and authority of God, but a new history is being inaugurated.   The new covenant is to be a personal response to God by each individual.  The covenant moves from one of past history and the liberation from Egypt to one of personal experience of God as the foundation of everyday life.  The journey of life in relationship with God transitions out of a cultural obligation to being a personal experience.  

There are communities throughout the world who could have considerable empathy with these ancient Jews.  The occupants of the Kutupalong Refugee camp in Cox’s Bazaar in Bangladesh immediately come to mind. These are mostly Rohingya refugees from Myanmar who started to flee their homeland in 1991.  That initial influx of around 34,000 people is now approaching 900,000.  This 13 square kilometer area has the dubious distinction of being the largest refugee camp in the world.  Its sheer size means it is a source of massive social disruption and environmental degradation. 

Whilst the practical operational cost is largely met by the international community, that does not really do much for the environmental and social costs of an incursion of this magnitude.  The impacts upon Bangladesh and its people are very real and very large. To give some perspective to the problem confronting the Bangladeshi government, note that in 2019 the GDP per capita for Bangladesh was $1850 and Australia was $55000.  This massive catastrophe is not going to go away any time soon.

These Rohingya people are not wanted in Bangladesh or in Myanmar.  The role of the Myanmar government and its military has been and continues to be appalling, but we have to recognise that as a Muslim ethnic minority in a predominantly Buddhist country, support from the people of Myanmar for any kind of refugee repatriation program is unlikely.

Is there a message of hope for the Rohingya such as Jeremiah brought to the Hebrew people in exile? Where is God to be found in this diabolical situation?   These questions come to mind and are not easy to answer.  Those answers which do arise can seem banal, but banal or not I believe them to be true.  God is present in the abject misery of the living conditions; God is present amidst the loss of hope; God is present in Medicines Sans Frontieres and others; God is present in the makeshift Mosques.  Just as the spirit of love is present in all joy and beauty and fulfillment, so that spirit is present in despair, futility, degradation and hopelessness.  Appreciating and understanding this is part of the journey through Lent, and our preparation for Easter Sunday.

Paul’s epistle to the Hebrews picks up this thread in today’s reading as he describes some circumstance whereby God not only stands beside but suffers with humanity in its traumas and seeks to assuage the overwhelming feeling of hopelessness.   The language of the letter reveals that the writer’s intention was to reassure and give confidence in the future.  It recognises that theirs was a very vulnerable environment in which they were exposed to local authority hostility; wider scale persecution; and a resurgence of Judaism threatening the infant church.  From the early Christian’s perspective this was a time of peril. 

Paul takes the listeners back through Jewish history to the time before the division of the tribes, to the King and High Priest Melchizedic, one who performed his role in acts of service and as a peacemaker.  He is also taking people back towards a life in Jesus.  Paul argues for the hearers to move on from the past, from the old orthodoxy, it was legitimate but it has been surpassed by a new reality.   Like them, we too are being encouraged to look forward not back; ahead lies new life in solidarity with the heart of God; the spirit who gives life and hope. 

As a church community we come out of an era where the church lay at the center of our lives, an institution which was respected by the whole community.  As an institution it was deferred to on matters of morality; it was a source of comfort when people were traumatised by events or life’s circumstances.  That time is no more, and the world has moved on.  The church as an institution was so busy looking towards a celestial future it neglected to maintain its focus on all God’s people here on earth.

There are some who find this sad, almost traumatic, but in reality what have we really lost?  It seems to me that what has fallen away is our position and place in the nation’s power structure; our assumed right to determine what is right and wrong for all individuals, especially what is wrong; our historical right to put boundaries around people’s inexorable search for truth about themselves and this glorious mysterious world.  These things may be significant to some ecclesiastical elite but they do not mean much to many of the occupants of the pews and even less to those who never sit in them.

I am proposing that the church cease lamenting past glory, even though at the age of the average member many are quite good at it.  Rather there should be more focus on what we can do towards making today’s task more effective.   We can be consumed by five and ten year strategic plans which are of little consequence if we are failing to meet the needs of this community, here and now.  Responding to the needs of this community in which we live is our mission. That is why we are here.  What can we do better; what more can we do?  To a very large extent, allow the future to look after itself and focus on the present.

If you needed evidence that the Bible is really a random collection of historical and biographical prose then those verses we read from Chapter 12 of John’s gospel provide some.  Reflect on the structure and sequence of the sentences.  Some Greeks present themselves to the disciples requesting to meet Jesus; two disciples convey the request down some sort of command chain to Jesus; he proceeds to deliver a soliloquy on death and his own struggle with where his mission was heading.  What about the Greeks?  Who knows?   John’s images contained here need to be carefully unpacked and there are far more authoritative voices than mine to do this.

What can be said is that Jesus lived in a rural community and his illustrations are frequently sourced in everyday rural life.  The image is of a seed being sown, of the seed dying and then producing new life and vitality.  It might be more helpful to see the seed as having been transformed rather than simply dying it is planted in one form and given the right environment it evolves into another.  In any event, the message is the same, Jesus is the model for a righteous life and in following that pathway you will find fulfilling life.  If you concentrate your energy on an inward obsession with selfish concerns you shrivel and die.

John is foreseeing the time when Jesus’ mission will be open to the Gentiles.  One in which the disciples will be able to go even beyond what Jesus himself had achieved.  The mission horizon is always expanding, encouraging us to think outside the square, challenging our pre-conceptions and cultural prejudices.  John could not even conceive of our life here in Australia, but he could see that there would be a time when this new vision of God and God’s love for the world as revealed by Jesus would be taken beyond the walls of the Jewish community.  There would be much trial and tribulation but in amongst it all there could be life and hope.

Sacrifice embraces any action taken in favour of an alternative deemed to be in the interests of another.  Rejecting the choices that might bring power, status, and wealth to yourself, and accepting instead, the choices made out of respect for all people and all of creation, choices that bring life and opportunity to everyone.  In that situation we will not be a single grain, but a rich harvest. We will not hold onto our life for our own sake, but lose it for the world’s sake.  Our choices, both as individuals and collectively, have consequences that may either support and affirm the value of others, or diminish them.

As for the Greeks, John was right, because here we are 2000 years later, millions of faithful disciples spread across the globe attempting via diverse means and understandings to follow “the Jesus way”.  In his book “Weep Not for Me” John Taylor says:

“In John 12: 20-28 we are given the secret of true aliveness.  It comes through the habitual laying down of life.  This is not an insight that belongs to the Fourth Gospel only:  it shines at the center of the Synoptic tradition.  … …

Death followed by resurrection, life through dying, is the way things are.  It is not truth limited to the one event of Christ’s death and resurrection, nor does it affect us only when we approach the end of our lives.  It is a principle of all existence.  Hang on to what you have of life and you are lost.  Let go, do the necessary dying, and a fuller, richer quality of aliveness will be given to you.”[1]

Jeremiah’s proclamation of a new Covenant came to find its fullest expression in the life of Jesus.  What comes to us throughout the gospels is how the whole focus of Jesus’ ministry was one of justice and compassion within which was an invitation for all people, including Gentiles, to join with him.  Church history reveals that these aspects of his life and mission became sidelined by an imperative to preserve personal and institutional reputation, piety, and power.

The existence of child abuse issues in our institutions both church and secular was significantly impacted by the felt need to preserve the reputation of the institution.  The abuse of women in our political and corporate spheres is generally met with expressions of sympathy, but the responses are designed to ensure that any impact on the entity itself is minimal; compassion and justice are largely missing in these situations.  Perhaps the protest marches of last week are another sign of new beginnings.

Let us go toward Jerusalem with Jesus, not as the unworthy, but as the beloved: those who would serve and follow him; those ones whom Jesus now entrusts to continue God’s love for all people and God’s good creation. [2]

            Amen

Kerry Macmillan and

Doug Lambert

[1] “Weep Not For Me” John V Taylor. Extracts page 40, 42

[2] © A Reflection by Rev Dr Margaret Mayman Page 4 of 4 Sunday 07-Apr -2019, Lent 5C Pitt Street Uniting Church, 264 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW 2000