Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: Jeremiah 31,31-34. Exaudi

Sunday, May 24, 2020

Jeremiah 31,31-34. Exaudi

Jeremiah 31,31-34 (38,31-34 lxx) 3520

Exaudi 042

Esther, Queen. Johanna, Lk 8,3; 24,10. Menaen, Prophet. Acts 13,1.

Vincent of Lerins, France ✠ 450

24. Mai 2020

1. O Jesus, the Comforter sent from the Father and the Son; in our grief console us and in our tribulation comfort us, so that we rely upon You to refresh our anguished souls. Amen. (Starck 188 ¶ 2-3)

2. »Behold the days are approaching, says Yahweh, and a new covenant will be appointed to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah, not according to the covenant I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them from the land of Egypt, they did not persevere in My covenant, and I neglected them; for this covenant was appointed with the house of Israel after those days, now I will give My laws in their minds and write them upon their hearts; and I will be their God and they will be My people; and never ever will the neighbor teach the citizen and each his brother saying: „Know Yahweh,“ for everyone will know Me from their smallest unto their greatest, and I will be kind to their iniquities and I will never ever remember their sins anymore.«

3. Christ is risen! He has risen indeed. Hallelujah! Last week we heard Jesus teach us the Lord’s Prayer. On this past Thursday we heard of His ascension to heaven. And today we hear Jesus promise to send to us the Holy Spirit from the Father. Jesus calls the Holy Spirit both the Comforter and the Spirit of Truth (John 15,26).

4. Centuries before Jesus promised the Holy Spirit, he told the Prophet Jeremiah called: »Behold, the days are approaching and a new covenant will be appointed to the house of Israel.« In Jeremiah’s day, as it was in Jesus’ day, the covenant that was appointed was the Sinai covenant with its laws and commandments regulating the life of the individual person, the nation and their worship. We recall particularly the core principle of this covenant in the 10 Commandments which we learned studying Luther’s Small Catechism. This covenant also provided for redeeming the people from their sin, so a sizable portion of the covenant deals with the types of sacrifices that were to be officiated at the temple. But Jeremiah tells Israel: this covenant will pass away and yield to a new covenant. Jeremiah speaks this in 587 bc and shortly thereafter, almost as if it were an exclamation point to his words, the temple is destroyed by the Babylonians and the sacrifices cease for 70 years.

5. 413 years later, the temple had been rebuilt 3 centuries earlier and the covenant is still in force, but the words of Jeremiah were about to be fulfilled. A new covenant was on the horizon and Jesus was bringing it. Recall Jesus’ words to the Jews in the temple courtyard: »I will destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up« (John 2,18). The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus is the new covenant Jeremiah had prophesied. The new fulfilled the old and thereby replaced it. Recall the Epistle to the Hebrews which begins: »Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the Prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. He is the radiance of the Glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the Name He has inherited is more excellent than theirs« (Hebrews 1,1-4).

6. Yet still 2000 years later Christians are tempted to return to the first, old covenant. Paul was dealing with this dilemma circa ad 50 and is the reason he wrote his Epistle to the Galatians. The issue among the Galatian Christians was that some Jewish Christians from the Jerusalem church had shown up and told them Paul had neglected to tell them to keep the Sinai law – particularly getting circumcised and following the dietary laws renown in Judaism – the Galatian Christians were confused by this and began to follow their advice lest their Christian faith be in doubt or jeopardized. These men, whom Paul derisively calls „these Judaizers“, were saying that faith in Christ is a good, necessary beginning, but that such faith requires completion with further instruction in keeping the requirements of the law (Galatians 3,3-5). Essentially, these Judaizers wanted to merge the old and new covenants together.

7. Paul will have none of this old-new covenant hybrid. He does not mince words when he writes to the Galatian Christians: »I am astonished that you are so quickly turning from the one who called y’all in grace and turning to a different gospel, not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are confusing you and wishing to pervert the gospel of Christ« (Galatians 1,6-7). So Paul reminds them of five key points of the gospel that he had proclaimed to them:

1. We are justified before God through faith in Jesus Christ and not by works commanded in Torah (Galatians 2,16).

2. We receive the Holy Spirit through faith-full hearing of the gospel and not by works commanded in Torah (Galatians 3,2).

3. We are Abraham’s descendants because we belong to Christ, the promised heir of the Divine blessing, and not because we do the works commanded by Torah (Galatians 3,16-18.29).

4. We are sons and daughters (family) of God through Baptismal faith, not through observing religious calendars prescribed by Torah (Galatians 4,10-11).

5. We behave in God-pleasing fashion when we cultivate the fruit of the Spirit of Christ, not when we indulge in the works of the flesh, which are indeed forbidden by Torah, but which Torah is powerless to transform (Galatians 5,16).

Paul reminds us that the gospel is radically law-free. Faith in Christ and the freedom of the Holy Spirit require no supplement or complement from any mandatory Torah-provision. With faith in Christ, therefore, it counts for nothing whether one is a circumcised Jew or an uncircumcised Gentile, whether one is a slave or a free man, whether one is a male or a female (Galatians 3,28; 5,6). The only thing that counts is faith in Christ, faith that gives His spirit, faith that is energetic in loving the neighbor (Galatians 5,6). That faith frees us from all obligations of obedience to Torah and from all other kinds of religious enslavements (Galatians 4,3.9). (Keller Galatians 1990)

8. The old covenant with all its Sinai laws is complete and fulfilled; it is no longer in force and must not be enforced, for the new covenant in Christ is the active and applicable covenant now. The old covenant was merely meant to prepare us for the new covenant in Christ; the old covenant has done that and done it well but its task is complete. Christ, faith in Christ, is the goal of the covenants. Thus we interpret the Scriptures, the two covenants, through the prism of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection (Keller Galatians). The gospel of God (1. Thessalonians 2,2.8-9) is good news. God calls us into His own kingdom and glory (1. Thessalonians 2,12). He has destined us not for wrath; He has destined us to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us, so that we might live with Him (1. Thessalonians 5,9-10). (Keller 1. Thessalonians 1990)

9. God tested the apostles through affliction and approved them (1. Thessalonians 2,4a); at times, God still tests His people through affliction to approve them. This time of pandemic is used by God to test His Church and her Christians. It is a test meant to strengthen our faith in Christ and to be a time of purification whereby the Holy Spirit works in us to better exhibit a life of faith, love and hope (1. Thessalonians 1,3). This requires abstention from every form of evil (1. Thessalonians 5,22), and also leads toward mutual love within the Church (1. Thessalonians 4,9-12;5,14-21) along with Christian love toward those outside the Church (1. Thessalonians 3,11;4,12). (Keller 1. Thessalonians 1990)

10. »Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation« (Hebrews 11,1-2). »Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the Founder and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Jesus is the Mediator of a new covenant. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe« (Hebrews 12,1-2.24.28).

11. Today we hear Jesus promise to send to us the Holy Spirit from the Father. Jesus calls the Holy Spirit both the Comforter and the Spirit of Truth (John 15,26). Next week we will hear Jesus promise that the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in His Name, He will teach us all things and bring to us remembrance all that Jesus has said to us. Amen.

12. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, the Risen One who reigns over the nations and is seated on Your holy throne; daily send forth the Holy Spirit, so that we receive the gifts and blessings of Your heavenly reign. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Sunday, May 24, 2020

Jeremiah 31,31-34. Exaudi

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