Lent 30 - The New Covenant

-

 

Jeremiah 31:31-34

The Israelite people were very familiar with the idea of a covenant. God had entered into covenants with the Israelites through many people including Moses, Noah, Abraham, Adam and more. 

In the past, the Israelites had to obey their side of the covenant agreement by obeying God's laws. If they broke their side of the agreement, they would have to pay for their sins in the form of a sacrifice of some kind.

The prophet Jeremiah claimed that soon God would be making a new covenant with the people of Israel. When this new covenant is made, the law would be in their minds and written on their hearts.

This new covenant that Jeremiah speaks about was inaugurated by Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This new covenant was not about merely obeying God's laws, it gave God's people access to a personal relationship with God.

This new covenant was so expansive and inclusive that "all will know God, from the least to the greatest."

Unfortunately, God's people still turn away from God and do not honour their relationship with Jesus, but they do not have to make sacrifices as they used to when they broke the old covenant because Jesus has already voluntarily made the greatest sacrifice on behalf of all of humanity.

This is the good news of the gospel - that because of Jesus' sacrifice, God "will forgive our wickedness and will remember our sins no more."

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You that You willingly journeyed to the cross and died so that we do not have to suffer the consequences of sin and death. Thank You for entering into a covenant with us so that we may experience a life-giving relationship with You today. I love You and I offer my life for Your service. Amen.

Image Source: Scott Graham

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

The Laws of Leviticus

-
Image
The second and third passages of scripture that are used to condemn homosexuality and clobber LGBTQ+ people come from the often-read book of Leviticus (sarcasm alert). Before digging into these verses, let’s quote them here: “Don’t lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination.” - Leviticus 18:22 “‘If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.” - Leviticus 20:13 These strong words in the Bible have armed anti-gay protesters with enough content to fill their picket signs with hatred and violence. “Homosexuality is an Abomination” and “God hates fags” and “To death with the gays” are all signs that make regular appearances at Pride parades throughout the world, unfortunately often held up by so-called Christians. Regardless of someone’s belief about homosexuality, I will never understand how some Christians see this as a Christ-like response
Read more

The Ceremony that Divided the Church

-
Image
Note: A shorter version of this article was first published with the Jesuit Institute of South Africa. Last week Friday, my family sat down to watch the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The French always have a knack for the theatrics and this year was no different. The performances throughout the long ceremony were mesmerizing and provocative. We went to bed that night feeling tired but excited for the Olympic Games that were officially starting the following day. Little did I know that not everyone shared my enthusiasm. The Outrage I woke up the following morning and decided to browse social media (when is this ever a good idea?). My feed was filled with people sharing their outrage at a particular scene of the Olympics’ opening ceremony. A still picture of the ceremony was being shared alongside a picture of Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” painting which admittedly showed a slight resemblance to the original. According to the outraged folk (including some morally
Read more

Leap of Faith

-
Image
I recently did the Lake Eland Extreme Zip-line with some of my friends from Pietermaritzburg. The zip-line is 1 100 meters long and reaches max speeds of up to 160km's per hour. All that is keeping you from falling hundreds of meters to an inevitable death is 2 cables and a harness that my hysterical brain was telling me would not have been out of place as a car's seat-belt. We arrived early and waited for half an hour as we contemplated our life choices up to this point. Eventually we were all kitted up and ready to go. While I wouldn't say that I have Acrophobia - an extreme fear of heights - as I looked out over the gorge that we would be flying through, breaking the national speed-limit in the process, it is fair to say that my stomach started churning and my legs turned to jelly. It was at this point that I'm sure many of us were trying to think of any reasonable excuse that would get us out of this jump without seeming like a coward. One of the thin
Read more