Sermon Notes

31 29 In those days they shall no longer say: “The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” 30 But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of the one who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge. 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. . . . 1 17The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, NRSVue)

31 29 “When that time comes you won’t hear the old proverb anymore, Parents ate the green apples, their children got the stomachache. 30 “No, each person will pay for his own sin. You eat green apples, you’re the one who gets sick. 31-32 “That’s right. The time is coming when I will make a brand-new covenant with Israel and Judah. It won’t be a repeat of the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant even though I did my part as their Master.” God’s Decree. 33-34 “This is the brand-new covenant that I will make with Israel when the time comes. I will put my law within them—write it on their hearts! —and be their God. And they will be my people. They will no longer go around setting up schools to teach each other about God. They’ll know me firsthand, the dull and the bright, the smart and the slow. I’ll wipe the slate clean for each of them. I’ll forget they ever sinned!” God’s Decree. . . . 1 17 We got the basics from Moses, and then this exuberant giving and receiving, This endless knowing and understanding—all this came through Jesus, the Messiah. (The Message, MSG)

In the introduction to prophetic literature in her book, Holy Imagination, Rev. Dr. Judy Fentress Williams defines the prophet as an envoy for God: “In simple terms, the prophet speaks on God’s behalf. The message of the prophet is best described as “forth-telling” as opposed to “foretelling.” God conveys messages to the people in order to affirm or correct identity. If the people have lost their way, the prophet issues an oracle of woe, which could be a warning or an announcement of punishment. The prophet may give a word of comfort or an oracle of promise that provides the people with an image of what God has in store for them.”
As God’s mouthpiece, Jeremiah comforts those who have been exiled, offering a word that better days are coming. In spite of present circumstances, and what seems like a bleak future, Jeremiah ensures Judahite exiles that the LORD is still their God. Regardless of their past apostacy, lackluster worship, and failure to live according to justice, mercy and love, the Divine still chooses them as God’s people. Further, God promises restoration, renewal and return to the land to those who have been displaced from their homes through forcible deportation.

This week’s lesson text comes from a portion of Jeremiah that biblical scholars call the “Book of Consolation,” or the “Book of Comfort,” (Jeremiah 30:1-31:40) and it opens with the LORD commanding Jeremiah to, “write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you” (Jeremiah 30:1). As a distinct literary unit within the book of Jeremiah, it is possible that these two chapters could have existed as an independent collection of writings, or a “book,” that was incorporated—along with other sermons, sign acts, and narratives—into the version of Jeremiah that we now have. As a literary unit, chapters 30 and 31 collectively provide a word of hope to the Judahite exiles who are living in Babylon that God has not forgotten them. The words, “the days are coming,” provide a theological framework for both chapters, leading hearers/readers to understand that these portions of scripture speak of future possibilities instead of current difficulties.
Chapter 31, from which this week’s lesson is drawn, is one of the most well-known passages within the book of Jeremiah. The first verse provides a prose introduction to various promises that God declares through Jeremiah’s poetry in verses 2 – 40. The language concerning Rachel—the Hebrew matriarch who mourns her children without comfort—offer a heart wrenching glimpse into the painful reality of Judahite mothers who lost children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to war, starvation, the militarized violence of the Babylonian Empire, and ultimately, exile in Babylon.
However, God promises a restoration of the people to the homeland, and a renewal of covenant evidenced by verse 1, “At that time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people,” (NRSVue). Recounting an “everlasting love,” in verse 3, the Divine promises to gather all those who have been scattered by exile (verses 8-17), and seed the land with people and animals in an act of symbolic re-creation (verse 27). The God who “plucked up” and “tore down,” will now “build and plant,” God’s people as a material manifestation of Divine favor and renewed covenant (verse 28). Because of God’s love and faithfulness, the people will once again flourish in the land. This is where the printed lesson picks up.

29 “When that time comes you won’t hear the old proverb anymore, Parents ate the green apples, their children got the stomachache. 30 “No, each person will pay for his own sin. You eat green apples, you’re the one who gets sick.
In the opening verses of the lesson text, the word of the LORD continues through Jeremiah’s as the prophet invokes the recurring thematic words of the Book of Comfort, “in those days,” (NRSVue) or “when that time comes,” (MSG) to console the people with a promise concerning how children will no longer have to suffer for the sins of their fore-parents. The saying, “Parents ate the green apples, their children got the stomachache,” is a piece of proverbial wisdom that Judahites employed to explain how the exile in 587 BCE was a consequence for Judah’s collective disobedience and apostacy. However, now that the LORD has renewed covenant with the people of Judah, each new generation will be responsible for their own actions. They will have the opportunity to choose to be faithful to their covenant relationship with God, or not.
31-32 “That’s right. The time is coming when I will make a brand-new covenant with Israel and Judah. It won’t be a repeat of the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant even though I did my part as their Master.” God’s Decree.
In verses 31-32, Jeremiah again invokes the language “the time is coming,” to make a declaration that most bible-literate Jews and Christians are familiar with: the promise of a new covenant. This covenant goes beyond the Mosaic covenant that the LORD gave on Mt. Sinai because the Israelite/Judahite people were not faithful to the obligations of that covenant. In fact, the marital language of verse 32, “a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord,” (NRSVue) highlights just how “broken” the Mosaic covenant is.
While Christians often utilize this text in tandem with the New Testament scripture (Jesus’ institution of a new covenant) to assert Christianity replaces the Mosaic covenant and the Jewish scriptures (Hebrew Bible), this is not what is at work in Jeremiah 31. Here, the prophet Jeremiah ben Hilkiah, and the writers/compilers of the book of Jeremiah, are focused on providing hope to the Israelite/Judahite community that God is gathering and reconstituting during the Persian period (5th – 4th centuries BCE). God’s purpose for Judahites is that they should live, survive, prosper, and thrive practically, spiritually, economically as self-determinant people who exist within an unbreakable bond of relationship with their covenant God. The fact that God’s intrinsic nature is love and chesed (often translated loving kindness) should foment hope within the exiled people of Judah.
33-34 “This is the brand-new covenant that I will make with Israel when the time comes. I will put my law within them—write it on their hearts! —and be their God. And they will be my people. They will no longer go around setting up schools to teach each other about God. They’ll know me firsthand, the dull and the bright, the smart and the slow. I’ll wipe the slate clean for each of them. I’ll forget they ever sinned!” God’s Decree.
In verses 33-34, the results of a newly instituted covenant between the LORD and the people is promised with beautifully poetic language. The Divine says, “I will write it on their hearts,” symbolizing the intimate, deep, and personal nature of this renewed relationship. This covenant will be living and breathing as opposed to being chiseled on stone. Also, as with last week’s lesson, these words invoke The Shema of Deuteronomy 6, because the LORD also speaks of inscribing the law on their hearts as well.
Essentially, God requires obedience from the Judahites, and the Judahites have been formed into obedient covenant observers because of the exile. The people will no longer learn how to be obedient Judahites from each other, they will be individually and collectively tutored by personal relationship with the Divine. Further, God will provide them with a “clean slate,” forgetting every sin.
1 17 We got the basics from Moses, and then this exuberant giving and receiving, This endless knowing and understanding—all this came through Jesus, the Messiah.
In the final verse of the lesson text, the lesson moves from the Hebrew Bible (Jeremiah 31) to the New Testament (John 1:17), to reflect on how the Gospel of John interprets this notion of “new covenant.” John says the Mosaic law was an initial lesson in covenant relationship, because it was based on the law. However, Jesus—as Messiah—provides the final lesson in covenant relationship because the Word “became flesh and dwelled among us,” (NRSVue) and “moved into our neighborhood,” (MSG) as a testament to God’s grace and chesed (covenant loyalty).

i. Fentress-Williams, Judy. Holy Imagination: A Literary and Theological Introduction to the Whole Bible (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2021) 165-166.
ii Brueggemann, Walter. A Commentary on Jeremiah: Exile and Homecoming (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1998) 323.
iii. Ibid. 291.