October 30, 2011 - Reformation Sunday

God Makes A New Covenant
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Reformation Sunday – October 30, 2011

Marriage vows are meant to be kept. They're meant to be forever. That's built right into the traditional vows. The two people getting married promise each other something like this: “I take you to be my spouse; to have and to hold from this day forward, in joy and in sorrow, in plenty and in want, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish as long as we both shall live. This is my solemn vow.”

As long as we both shall live. This is my solemn vow. And yet we all know relationships where those vows are broken, where for one reason or another, the relationship ends before death. Some break-ups take us completely by surprise, the ones where everything seemed good from the outside. And then there are others that we can see coming from a mile away – there are plenty of warning signs along the way that let everyone around know that there's trouble ahead.

The relationship of God and the people of Israel was like that. It was like a marriage – a relationship built upon vows, built upon the covenant – the promises – of God and God's people. God had long ago taken the Hebrew people as God's own, to have and to hold, in joy and in sorrow, in plenty and in want, in sickness and in health, for all time. God promised to care for them, to lead them into the promised land of milk and honey, to provide for them. And in return, the Israelites had promised to love and serve God above all else.

But when we enter into Jeremiah's tale this morning, we find that God and God's people have come to a crossroads. The relationship has been strained to the breaking point. They're undergoing what we might call a trial separation. And everyone should have seen it coming a mile away. After all, God had sent prophet after prophet to them, reminding them of the promises they had made, pleading with them to return to the LORD God with all their hearts. And yet they had gone astray. They have been unfaithful. They have not kept the great commandments we heard Jesus talk about last week – the 2 great commandments that were part of the covenant relationship long before Jesus came along: To love God with all their heart and soul and mind, and to love their neighbors as themselves. They had turned to the worship of other gods. Fearful of the nations surrounding them, they had put their trust in human leaders and human power to protect and shield them, instead of trusting God. They had failed to care for the widow and orphan and stranger in their midst.

And so now here they are, carried into exile in Babylon, cut off from the God who loves them, wondering if there is a chance for reconciliation, if there is any way for love to conquer betrayal, for forgiveness to heal the hurt they have caused God.

We too, break covenant with God. In our baptism, God makes promises to us – claims us as God's own children, vows never to leave us or forsake us, cleanses us from the power of sin – and yet time and time again, we succumb to sin's death grip on us. Like the siren's song, we hear sin singing, and it lures us to our doom, but often we go willingly. We turn away from the God who created and loves us to follow our own path. We fail to be faithful to the promises we make at our baptism – promises which boil down to the 2 great commandments – to love God and love our neighbor. We fall into greed and anger and self-righteousness, into apathy and judgment and harshness. As Jesus says, “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” And there are times when we find ourselves at the crossroads, face to face – finally – with the depth of sin, with our own brokenness, forced to admit that we have turned away from God, and wondering how to make it right. Wondering, as the series in Ladies Home Journal says, “Can this marriage be saved?” Can this relationship between God and humankind be healed? Can it be restored?

We hear God's answer to the people of Israel in the words of Jeremiah this morning. It is an announcement and an open invitation for the people to come to the renewal of vows ceremony. Sometimes we do renewal of vows to mark an important anniversary. But sometimes, people who have been through a rough time in their marriage, who have been on shaky ground and come through it want to recommit, want to publicly make promises, to renew their relationship. That's what's happening here: “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. 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. 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. 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.” God promises a new covenant, a renewed relationship – not based on laws written and recorded on stone tablets, like the Ten Commandments, but a law written on their hearts, inscribed on their souls, where it cannot be lost or misplaced or broken, but is carried within them, built into who they are, revealing their relationship to God, spilling over into their relationships with each other.

This is God re-committing, renewing the vows, through this tremendous willingness to forgive and forget, to put the past behind them and move forward, to grant grace and compassion and mercy that opens the way for the people to return, not just to their homeland, but to God.

God calls us to the same vow renewal ceremony – offering us a new covenant – not one written in stone, but one that comes to us in flesh and blood, the Word Incarnate – Jesus Christ who offers us his body and blood, and with it, forgiveness, mercy, love – this great, undeserved free gift of grace – always free, but never cheap, this grace that cost Jesus his very life.

May we come before God and renew our vows, offering our lives and our love, giving thanks for the love of the One who has promised to love us and be with us - in joy and in sorrow, in plenty and in want, in sickness and in health – all the days of our life.

Amen.