A New Covenant Written on the Heart—Lectionary Reflection for Lent 5B (Jeremiah 31)

Jeremiah 31:31-34 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

³¹ 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. ³² It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. ³³ But 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. ³⁴ No longer shall they teach one another or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.

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                As we have journeyed through Lent, we have been considering the various covenants God has made with God’s people. We started with Noah (Gen. 9) and then moved to Abraham and Sarah (Gen 17) and then with the people of Israel at Sinai, a covenant mediated through Moses (Exodus 20). Then there is the sidebar conversation in Numbers 21 that deals with the breaking of covenant and the healing of that relationship. Finally, as Lent draws to a close, we hear a word about another form of covenant, a new covenant written on the heart. The message of these Lenten readings is that we serve a covenant-making God. Each of the covenants we encounter in our journey builds upon each other rather than replaces what went before.

The first covenant, the one made with Noah, was made unilaterally by God, who simply promised to never destroy the earth with a flood. Thus, it is a universal covenant. The second covenant, made with Abraham and Sarah, is narrower. With this covenant, God promises to give this couple descendants who will in turn become a great nation. Then there is the third covenant that God makes with Israel during the journey through the Sinaia. This covenant is defined by a set of commandments or stipulations found in Exodus 20). These commandments define the nature of the relationship between God and the people. Finally, there is the fourth covenant, the one that will be written on the heart. These four covenants are made with Israel, but as Christians, we embrace them as well. As far as this new covenant described in Jeremiah 31, it is needed because Israel has tended to break covenants God has made with the people. With that in mind, this new covenant will be written on the heart rather than on stone.

                This new covenant is revealed to people experiencing exile through the prophet Jeremiah. This word is offered to the people as a message of hope, such that God wants them to know they will be returning home from exile in Babylon. A few verses before our reading, Jeremiah tells the people that the Lord of Hosts will restore the fortunes of the people of Israel and Judah. The word Jeremiah heard from God was that God would satisfy the weary and replenish those who faint (Jer. 31:23-25). When that day comes, the people will no longer that “The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” Instead “all shall die for their own sins; the death of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge” (Jer. 31:29-30). Things will be different because everyone will take responsibility for their own lives. As Ronald Allen and Clark Williamson write: “Each generation will rightly suffer the consequences of their own sin, but the consequences will not be passed to the next generation. The community can rebuild without being hog-tied by the sins of the previous generation (Jer. 31:34b)” [Preaching the Old Testament, pp. 146-147]. Thus, when they return home, it will be a fresh start. The past will not define who they are going to be in the present and future. The slate has been wiped clean.

                That is good news. The past is the past. However, if they are going to return home and rebuild their lives, they will need a new covenant. This new covenant will be different from the previous one made with the people at Sinai through the mediation of Moses. That covenant, which is defined by the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20), a covenant written on stone, failed to keep the people connected to God. That reality should stand as a warning to modern folk who believe that posting the Ten Commandments in schools and courthouses will make America great again. What Jeremiah learns here is that something new is needed. The people need a new covenant that is written not on stone but on the heart. This is a covenant that must be internalized.

                Now the covenant expectations have changed. The difference is the placement of the covenant in the heart rather than on stone. Not only that but according to Jeremiah, this covenant is such that the people won’t have to teach one another or even say “Know the Lord.”  This new covenant and its stipulations will be innate because the people will have a direct connection to God.

                While Jeremiah directs this word about the new covenant to the people of Judah and Israel as they prepare to return to their homeland after experiencing decades of exile in Babylon, Christians have embraced Jeremiah’s message, believing that this promise was fulfilled in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The author of the Book of Hebrews speaks of a better covenant initiated by Jesus who is, described in Hebrews, as the priest who mediates this better covenant. Hebrews roots this message in Jeremiah 31, which is quoted there, suggesting that in the new covenant made by Jesus, the prior one is now obsolete (Hebrews 8). That interpretation is not one Jeremiah would embrace, and we must be careful that in embracing the message of the new covenant we don’t embrace supersessionism.  Continuing with Hebrews, in chapter 9, we read: “For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, because a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant. Where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established.  For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive” (Heb. 9:15-17)  Paul hints at the message Jeremiah delivers by pointing to Gentiles acting in accord with the law, doing so as a result of their conscience (Romans 2:14-15).

                The use of the concept of the new covenant is used most specifically in connection with the institution of the Lord’s Supper. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus speaks of the cup being poured out as “the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20). Paul also references the new covenant in his description of the institution of the Lord’s Supper: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me” (1 Cor. 11:25). Paul’s account is the oldest, with the versions in the synoptics coming later.  

                The references in the Christian-specific portion of the Bible to the “new covenant” led to this portion being called the “New Testament.” While the Christian embrace of Jeremiah 31 is understandable, unfortunately, it has often led, as noted above, to supersessionism and the embrace of replacement theories in which Christianity replaces Judaism as God’s covenant people. That view is rather specifically described in Hebrews 8. So, while it is appropriate for Christians to embrace Jeremiah 31 to describe the covenant that Jesus established, we need to remember that Jeremiah spoke specifically to the returning exiles promising them that God was reestablishing the relationship with this new covenant. The message Jeremiah wants to deliver is God’s declaration to Judah and Israel: “I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” God’s covenant, which will be written on the hearts of the people, creates their identity as the people of God. Only secondarily does this word speak to us who are Christians.

                Returning to Jeremiah’s description of this new covenant, it is worth noting that there are no explicit stipulations. That is because God’s expectations, which are spelled out in the Mosaic covenant, are internalized. Thus, while earlier covenants were to be taught and passed on from generation to generation, with this covenant that seems unnecessary. Accompanying this message is an expectation that sin will be forgiven and no longer define the relationship with God. This, as Jon Berquist suggests, creates a utopian feel. He writes that Jeremiah offers a vision that is still in the process of realization. Thus, “the internalization of God’s instructions may progress, even if we have not yet reached a day when teaching is irrelevant. The day when sins are forgotten is a day for which all should wait and work. These days are coming, says the Lord” [Feasting on the Word, p. 127]. 

                We too live in the hope that one day the covenant expectations will be so internalized that we will no longer need to be instructed and to instruct. In the meantime, it appears that we still need some instruction. Remember the promise God makes to the people (and by extension to us): “I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” May this word sustain us as we move toward Palm Sunday and beyond.