+ 5th
Midweek Lenten Service – March 21st, 2018 +
Jeremiah 31:31-34
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Growing up, there was a fluorescent
light in the basement that seemed to have a mind of its own. Sometimes it would
turn on right away. Other times – usually when I was looking for something
important – it would seem to take forever to turn on.
If you’re like me, our memory seems
to work the same way most days. One moment we can remember the name of our 5th
grade teacher and the next we’re struggling to remember that guy who said that
thing in that one movie, you know the one right?
One moment we can remember every
detail about the day, hour, moment, and what the weather was like when you met
your spouse, and the next you can’t remember where you put our keys down when you
came inside.
One moment we can remember any
number of grievances against someone, and the next we have trouble remembering anything
we could have possibly done to offend or hurt anyone else.
In the Old Testament, Israel had
their own memory issues as well.
By the Red Sea, Israel praised YHWH
for their deliverance from Egypt. But in the wilderness, they grumbled against
YHWH, rebelled against His word, and forgot the Lord.
In the time of the Judges, YHWH
raised up one leader after another to deliver and rescue his people. But they
rebelled and rejected YHWH; everyone did what was right in his own eyes, and
they forgot the Lord.
In the days of Israel’s kings, YHWH
anointed David his chosen servant, cleared Israel’s enemies from their borders,
promised to build a temple through David’s son, Solomon, and promised David that
One would come from his family who would reign on his throne forever. But
Solomon’s wisdom turned to folly, filling his home, the Lord’s house, and all Israel
with idolatry. Israel’s worship turned from YHWH to false gods. The kingdom
divided and king after king, with few exceptions, forgot the Lord.
Later, when Israel was in exile and
captivity in Babylon it would have been tempting to think. “Here we are in a
foreign land, far from our home and the Lord’s house in Jerusalem. We’re all
alone. Perhaps we’re better off dead. We broke the Lord’s commandments and he no
longer remembers his covenant. We forgot the Lord and the Lord has forgotten
us.”
It’s true. Israel forgot the Lord
more times than they could remember, but the Lord never forgot his people. YHWH
always remembered his holy covenant, his oath he had sworn to Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. He remembered covenant he made with Noah, Abraham, David, and Israel.
Through his prophet Isaiah, YHWH
declared to Israel…
I formed you; you are my servant; O
Israel, you will not be forgotten by me. I have blotted out your
transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return
to me, for I have redeemed you.
Through his prophet Jeremiah, YHWH
spoke to Israel to remind them time and time again.
“I will forgive their iniquity, and I will
remember their sin no more.”
This was Good News for Israel. And
it is Good News for us too.
After all, we have a lot in common with
Israel. We’re quick to forget our faults and slow to forget anyone who has
sinned against us. But memory issues aren’t the real problem. Like Israel our
spiritual amnesia is much deeper – not in our head, but in our sinful hearts. If
you, O Lord, kept a record of our sins; if you, O Lord, remembered all our sins,
who could stand? None of us. Like Israel, we have rebelled and grumbled against
the Lord. Each of us has done what is right in our own eyes. Like David we have
lusted in and murdered in our hearts. Like Solomon we have failed to fear, love,
and trust in God above all things. We have forgotten the Lord.
But the Lord has not forgotten you.
The Covenant YHWH swore to Abraham
he makes with you as he makes you his own child in holy Baptism. As many of you
as are baptized into Christ have put on Christ. And if you are Christ’s, you
are Abraham’s son, heirs according to the promise.
The son and king YHWH promised to
David was born for you in the city of David, a true Shepherd King who laid down
his life for you on the cross. “I, I am he
who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I
will not remember your sins.”
The yearly remembrance of the Passover
has been replaced by a greater feast of remembrance in Jesus’ body and blood. In
bread and wine, body and blood, Jesus remembers his holy covenant with you, his
sacrifice for you, and we receive his forgiveness, life, and salvation.
“For
behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the
former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.
The covenant of Sinai that we, along with Israel, broke and failed to keep, God has kept for you. All its demands have been fulfilled and kept in your place.
“Behold,
the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will
make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the
covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the
hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though
I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is
the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,
declares 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. And no longer
shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to
the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember
their sin no more.”
The Lord who knows all, sees all,
and remembers all, promises to forget our sin; it is remembered no more. It is
gone. All of it – our sin, guilt, doubt, sorrow, and death – it’s all on Jesus.
The Lord who sent Jeremiah and the
prophets to Israel sent his only-begotten Son to die for you. You are not alone.
You are not forgotten. The Lord remembers you, as surely as he promised the
thief on the cross next to him.
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Truly I say to you, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”
In the Name of the Father and of
the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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