Jeremiah 31:31 – 34

It has been some time since we have heard from Jeremiah so let’s review the who, what, when, where and to whom of this important prophetic book.  Please take out your time line.  You will see that Jeremiah was active as a prophet from 609 until 586BC.  He was born into a priestly family in Anathoth, a town just 2 ½ miles northeast of Jerusalem.  Those of you with maps in your Bible will find it just above Jerusalem; my Catholic Study Bible shows it on map 6.  He was called to prophesy in Jerusalem during a very difficult time.  King Josiah, one of the few southern kings who remained faithful to God and his covenant, was struggling to hold off the Egyptians who were marching northward under the rule of Pharaoh Neco, who was trying to offer assistance to the Assyrians who were in retreat before the Babylonians.  Jusah was killed in battle at Megiddo in 609BC and his successor, Jehoahaz, was deposed by the Egyptians just three months after he took the throne.  The Egyptians named his brother, Jehoiakim, as successor; he reigned for 11 years before the Babylonians captured him, exiled him to Babylon.   Jehoiakin, Jehoiakim’s successor, fared little better than Jehoahaz; he lasted three months and 10 days, according to the Book of Chronicles, before he was also exiled to Babylon.  The Babylonians named his brother, Zedekiah to be their puppet king; he lasted 11 years before the Babylonians finally destroyed Jerusalem and took all of the Jewish leaders into exile.  Jeremiah was probably among those taken off into exile in Babylon, where he died.  

 

On the first Sunday of Lent, we heard about the covenant that God made with Noah and his descendents.  On the Second Sunday, we heard of God’s test for Abraham after he had made a covenant with him. On the Third Sunday, we heard the commandments that God gave to his people at Mt. Sinai as part of that covenant.  Last Sunday, we learned about the destruction of Jerusalem that resulted from their infidelity to the covenant.  This Sunday, we hear Jeremiah foretell the new covenant.

 

His purpose in foretelling this new covenant is to assure the ancient Israelites – and us – that, in the midst of our trials, we can be assured that our God accompanies us with his unfailing love: “I will be your God and you will be my people.”  And, this assurance is not written on stone tablets, like the first covenant, but in our hearts.  God is establishing a deeper bond with his people than they had ever known.  What is new about this new covenant that Jeremiah prophecies is the intensity of the relationship with God that will come through it.  As we will see in the Gospel, that deep, personal relationship comes through the person of Jesus Christ.  Let’s examine this very encouraging reading:

 

 

31 The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

 

A new covenant: although the term בךת – “covenant” – is found 287 times in the Old Testament, this is the only place in the Old Testament where the term “new covenant” is used.  The idea of a renewed covenant to be made with Israel is a common theme of the prophets, beginning with Hosea. According to Jeremiah, the qualities of the new covenant that make it different from the old are: (a) It will not be broken, but will last forever; (b) its law will be written in the heart, not merely on tablets of stone; (c) the knowledge of God will be so generally shown forth in the life of the people that it will no longer be necessary to put it into words of instruction. In the fullest sense, this prophecy was fulfilled only through the work of Jesus Christ; cf. Luke 22:20; 1 Cor 11:25; Heb 8:8 – 12.   Curiously, neither Matthew nor Mark include “new” when presenting the covenant in their versions of the Last Supper. Luke does, however, and we also saw it in 1 Cor 11:25 and Heb 9:15.

 

32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers the day I took them by the hand to lead them forth from the land of Egypt; for they broke my covenant and I had to show myself their master, says the LORD.

 

33 But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD. I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

 

after those days:  there is a clear eschatological tone to this message so, perhaps it is intended for the time after our Lord comes in glory.

 

write it upon their hearts: the old covenant was written on stone tablets or in a book.  The heart as a writing material is a Jeremian theme (cf. 17:1) and there is a close parallel in Dt 6:6, 11:18.  Remember, the heart for the ancient Israelite is the seat of knowledge and wisdom, not of love, as in our society.

 

34 No longer will they have need to teach their friends and kinsmen how to know the LORD. All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the LORD, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.

 

No longer will they have need to teach: intermediaries will no longer be necessary, since God will intervene directly (cf. Is 54:13).

 

All, from least to greatest:  this covenant is clearly intended for all people, not just the Jews.  No longer will we be absorbed by observing the minutiae of the law – as were the ancient Israelites and the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ time – because the true purpose of the law – to live in the selfless love of God – will be written in the hearts of everyone.

 

I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more:  It is important to note that God does not promise that the people will become faultless. Far from it! Although Jeremiah proclaims that everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know the Lord that doesn’t mean that they are all going to fulfill their call in every dimension. The people will not become sinless saints, but rather they will know who God is and what God is like. Thus, the oracle we hear finishes with the promise, “I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.” That is an ongoing promise. In an imperfect world, sin will be recognized for what it is: an aberration, an abnormal, subhuman way of behaving which will never become the world’s permanent condition. The new covenant is one in which God is known above all else as the One whose great love offers continual forgiveness, thereby opening the way for ongoing conversion.  This is our focus during the Lenten season.

And notice, this is God’s unilateral promise. The core of this new covenant has nothing to do with our worthiness or good behavior, but rather God’s unrelenting love and will to save us.  This means that there is nothing we can do to turn God against them. Their God will always and forever be God for them.  Jesus makes that very clear through his death on the cross for all of us. 

What is the exact nature of the covenant that Jeremiah foretells?  Scripture scholars have long debated this.  Is it a truly “new” covenant?  Is the old covenant no longer to have any validity?  Both are the result of God’s initiative and both are God-centered.  The newness of the “new” covenant is not to be found in the essentials of the covenant but in the realm of its realization.  It will not be broken.  We can now be faithful to this covenant because it is found in our hearts.  And, when we fail, God, will forgive our evil doing and remember our sin no more.

 

As is usual, the first reading prepares us for the gospel, so let’s examine it next.


John 12: 20 – 33

This Sunday, we will hear John’s account of Jesus’ last journey to Jerusalem.  Remember, in John’s Gospel, Jesus goes to Jerusalem several times (cf. 2:13, 5:1, 7:1, 10, 10:22, 12:12). To really understand the passage we will hear on Sunday, we must begin with 12:12.  Here, we read about Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem – a prefiguring of his glorification in heaven after his Resurrection – and see the connection between Lazarus being raised from the dead and the size of the crowd.  We also hear the Pharisees remark, with alarm, that “the whole world has gone after him.”

 

12 On the next day, when the great crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

13 they took palm branches* and went out to meet him, and cried out:

“Hosanna!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,

[even] the king of Israel.”

 

14 Jesus found an ass and sat upon it, as is written:

15 “Fear no more, O daughter Zion;

see, your king comes, seated upon an ass’s colt.”

 

16 His disciples did not understand this at first, but when Jesus had been glorified they remembered that these things were written about him and that they had done this for him.

 

17 So the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from death continued to testify.

 

18 This was [also] why the crowd went to meet him, because they heard that he had done this sign.

 

19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the whole world has gone after him.”

 

The stage is set; now let’s examine Sunday’s reading:

 

20 Now there were some Greeks among those who had come up to worship at the feast.

 

Greeks: not used here in a nationalistic sense. These are probably Gentile converts to Judaism; cf. John 7:35.  The request of the Greeks to see Jesus is a fulfillment of the universal triumph of Jesus that the Pharisees voiced in v. 19.  Their desire to see Jesus places them in opposition to the Jewish leaders who have just voiced their despair over his success.  It is interesting to note that, although the Greeks ask to see Jesus, there is no mention of their actually coming into his presence.  This is probably done to remain consistent with Jesus’ teaching and practice of ministering among the Jews (cf. Mt 10:5, 15:24).  But, this incident probably reflects the struggles the Jewish-Christian community experienced in accepting the non-Jewish converts, whom they labeled as “Greeks.”  Just as they came to the temple to worship during the Jewish feast of Passover, so they would come to worship Jesus.

 

21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”

 

Philip . . . Andrew: as you will see in your footnotes, the approach is made through disciples who have distinctly Greek names, suggesting that access to Jesus was mediated to the Greek world through his disciples. Philip and Andrew were from Bethsaida (John 1:44); Galileans were mostly bilingual. They may even have been personal acquaintances. 

 

See: here seems to mean “have an interview with.”  Like all Greeks, they were curious about Jesus and wanted to get to know him.

 

22 Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

23 Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

 

The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified: The Greek’s desire to see Jesus has become the occasion for Jesus to make one of the most important announcements in this Gospel:  “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”

 

24 Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.

 

It remains just a grain of wheat: this saying is found in the synoptic triple and double traditions (Mark 8:35; Matthew 16:25; Luke 9:24; Matthew 10:39; Luke 17:33).  Using a paradox that already exists in nature, Jesus explains that he must die in order to bring life.  The grain of wheat left to itself produces nothing; only when appears to have died and is buried that it brings new fruit, in far greater abundance than itself.

 

 

25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.

 

Whoever loves his life loses it: John adds the phrases (John 12:25) “in this world and for eternal life.”  This is another observable paradox that the meaning of life so often eludes those who are so busy living well.  Only by treating this life as worthless from a this-worldly view does one gain the only life that really matters.

 

His life: as you will read in the footnotes, the Greek word “psyche” refers to a person’s natural life. It does not mean “soul,” for Hebrew anthropology did not postulate body/soul dualism in the way that is familiar to us. 

 

26 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me.

 

27I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.

 

I am troubled: perhaps an allusion to the Gethsemane agony scene of the synoptics; note that John’s Gospel does not have such a scene.  Of course, Jesus is troubled as he faces his death.  But here, we find the Joannine equivalent where Jesus accepts the terrible sacrifice he is called upon to make (cf. Mk 14:32-42).  In John’s Gospel, we hear Jesus speak of his struggle first in academic terms: “what should I say?”  And then, having spoken of his death first as a teacher – when he speaks of a seed falling to the earth and dying – he now confronts it himself, with great emotion.

 

28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it and will glorify it again.”

 

Father, glorify your name: He asks if he should call on God as Father to rescue him from what is to come, but then repeating that this is his hour, he speaks directly to God: “Father, glorify your name!” With that, just as happened in other Gospels at Jesus’ baptism and transfiguration, a voice came from heaven, this time saying, “I have glorified it and will glorify it again.” Then, Jesus explains what his hour and God’s glory mean: “Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.”

Then a voice came from heaven:  the Synoptics make no mention of a voice from heaven in their accounts of the agony, but speak of it at Jesus’ baptism and transfiguration.

 

29 The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder; but others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”

 

30 Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come for my sake but for yours.

 

This voice did not come for my sake but for yours:  Jesus does not need this reassurance; rather, it is spoken to those who have ears to hear that Jesus is doing the will of the one who sent him.

 

31 Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.

 

Now is the time of judgment on this world:  Ironically, just when it appears that Jesus is to be defeated, it is actually Satan who will be defeated.

 

Ruler of this world: Satan.  

 

32 And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.”

 

when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself: It is when he is lifted up on the cross that the world is given new life and in his ascension that universal salvation will occur.

 

33 He said this indicating the kind of death he would die.


Hebrews 5:7 – 9

We hear from the letter to the Hebrews this Sunday.  There is great debate as to the authorship and true purpose of this writing.  It reflects on the moment we hear Jesus refer to in today’s Gospel account: his submission to the Father’s will, obediently suffering for us, through which he completed the mission for which he had been sent.  Let’s examine this short passage:

 

7 In the days when he was in the flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.

 

He offered prayers . . . to the one who was able to save him from death: at Gethsemane (cf Mark 14:35), though some see a broader reference (see the note on John 12:27).  

 

8 Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered;

 

Son though he was: two different though not incompatible views of Jesus’ sonship coexist in Hebrews, one associating it with his exaltation, the other with his preexistence. The former view is the older one (cf Romans 1:4).  

 

9 and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.

 

when he was made perfect: this does not imply that Jesus was, at one time, imperfect.  Rather, it refers to the completion of his mission.

 

These three readings help us, as we prepare to commemorate our Lord’s passion, death and resurrection, to understand this Paschal Mystery as the sign and seal of the “new and eternal covenant.”  With this new covenant, Satan is defeated and death gives way to new life in Christ.