Rochester, MN UCC - "A New Covenant" - Jeremiah 31:27-34

Have you ever had the experience of wanting to do the right thing, even knowing what the right thing to do is, and yet still not being able to do it? Sometimes knowledge alone isn’t sufficient to change our behavior- we need something else to help us, something to help us change not just our minds but also our hearts.

 It is precisely this experience that the prophet Jeremiah sees in the life of his people, Israel. After entering into a covenant with God Israel knew what they should do: they were to follow the commandments. Yet this knowledge of God’s law wasn’t enough to keep them from violating it. Despite their faithlessness and their failure God refused to give up on them. Instead, God promised through Jeremiah that a new covenant was to be made. This covenant would not be written on stone like the last one. This one would be written on the hearts of the people. “This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” God was going to provide both the inward motivation for following the law and the power to carry it out.

 It is precisely this new covenant that we celebrate and renew each time we receive the sacrament of communion. When the officiant raises the cup and proclaims the words of Jesus, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood,” she proclaims the new covenant prophesied by Jeremiah. Jesus forgives all our failures to follow in the way of God and Jesus grants us His very presence and power to help us follow Him. As we renew our covenant with God this Sunday in holy communion, let us remember to give thanks to the God who refused to give up on us, the One who grants to us all we need to follow in the way of Christ.

 Pastor Andrew Greenhaw