A Word from Joel - August 6, 2025
“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…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.”
Jeremiah 33:31, 33
God calls Jeremiah to tell the people of Judah that their downfall is coming. It’s a
downer of a message, and it broke Jeremiah’s heart. He is often called the weeping
prophet who knows that it’s going to get worse before it gets better. Nobody wanted to
hear Jeremiah’s message back then, and I don’t think we are interested in it today
either. The people wanted Jeremiah to say nice things, even if they weren’t true. This
should not surprise us. Most people prefer happy lies to hard truths. But Jeremiah told
the hard truths and did so with a broken heart. He didn’t enjoy seeing his predictions
come true, but they did. Jerusalem was sacked in 586BCE and many of its leaders were
exiled into Babylon.
Eventually, Jeremiah speaks of hope on the far side of exile through the new covenant
that God will make with Israel. The way God will do this is not by threats of punishment
or promises of reward but by giving the people new hearts. The promise is that God will
do for Israel what she cannot do for herself, which is to love God faithfully. Israel tried to
be faithful, and they just couldn’t do it. The same is true for us. Our failure as a church,
as a species, is not for a lack of trying but a lack of capacity, so God promises to give
new capacities. Richard Rohr says the new covenant:
God forgives undeservedly, even after direct disobedience! This is a love that
waits and hopes and desires, working toward surrender and trust. It gifts us a
new covenant that we can actually fulfill, just not perfectly or by ourselves. Only
God can fill in all the gaps. Henceforth, there is no such thing as deserving or
earning anything. All is grace.
After 70 years in Babylon, Judah returns home with the hope of a new covenant yet little
evidence that it would be realized. What’s promised by Jeremiah is fulfilled 500 years
later by Jesus the Christ whose life, death, and resurrection is nothing but grace for all.
The new covenant has been with us for 2000 years, yet if we are honest, most of us still
prefer the old covenant of reward and retribution. Nevertheless, God is committed to
doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves by giving us the capacity to love God and
others. God fills in the gaps of all failures, yours, mine, and everyone else’s. That may
sound too good to be true. It may sound frustrating and unfair, and it is both. Praise God
for a grace that is gloriously unfair.
Jeremiah 33:31, 33
God calls Jeremiah to tell the people of Judah that their downfall is coming. It’s a
downer of a message, and it broke Jeremiah’s heart. He is often called the weeping
prophet who knows that it’s going to get worse before it gets better. Nobody wanted to
hear Jeremiah’s message back then, and I don’t think we are interested in it today
either. The people wanted Jeremiah to say nice things, even if they weren’t true. This
should not surprise us. Most people prefer happy lies to hard truths. But Jeremiah told
the hard truths and did so with a broken heart. He didn’t enjoy seeing his predictions
come true, but they did. Jerusalem was sacked in 586BCE and many of its leaders were
exiled into Babylon.
Eventually, Jeremiah speaks of hope on the far side of exile through the new covenant
that God will make with Israel. The way God will do this is not by threats of punishment
or promises of reward but by giving the people new hearts. The promise is that God will
do for Israel what she cannot do for herself, which is to love God faithfully. Israel tried to
be faithful, and they just couldn’t do it. The same is true for us. Our failure as a church,
as a species, is not for a lack of trying but a lack of capacity, so God promises to give
new capacities. Richard Rohr says the new covenant:
God forgives undeservedly, even after direct disobedience! This is a love that
waits and hopes and desires, working toward surrender and trust. It gifts us a
new covenant that we can actually fulfill, just not perfectly or by ourselves. Only
God can fill in all the gaps. Henceforth, there is no such thing as deserving or
earning anything. All is grace.
After 70 years in Babylon, Judah returns home with the hope of a new covenant yet little
evidence that it would be realized. What’s promised by Jeremiah is fulfilled 500 years
later by Jesus the Christ whose life, death, and resurrection is nothing but grace for all.
The new covenant has been with us for 2000 years, yet if we are honest, most of us still
prefer the old covenant of reward and retribution. Nevertheless, God is committed to
doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves by giving us the capacity to love God and
others. God fills in the gaps of all failures, yours, mine, and everyone else’s. That may
sound too good to be true. It may sound frustrating and unfair, and it is both. Praise God
for a grace that is gloriously unfair.
Posted in God, New Way of Being, Prophets, Richard Rohr, Forgiveness
Posted in Richard Rohr, forgiveness, Prophets, Jeremiah, Jonah, New Covenant, Promises, Reward, Capacity
Posted in Richard Rohr, forgiveness, Prophets, Jeremiah, Jonah, New Covenant, Promises, Reward, Capacity
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