Let’s think about these words from the prophet Jeremiah... I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts...
It’s all very poetic isn’t it... and this in the midst of the book of Jeremiah where huge issues are at stake. Faithfulness of the leaders is called into question. Forces outside the nation are chomping at the borders threatening to burst through from all sides. Jeremiah has been accused of being a false prophet.
In the midst of all of that, we hear these wonderful, simple, hope filled words. God says... I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts.
How can that be... How can God get the law, the law... as massive as it is and put it within us...
Well think about the progression of God’s relationship with humanity. According to the Bible it all started with one person in the Garden of Eden, and one simple rule... one rule... don’t eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
After that, after the fall, after the realization that temptation was going to play a huge role in the story of humankind... more rules came along... and more rules, and more rules.
Hundreds and hundreds of rules guiding the behavior and faith of the Israelites. The early history of Israel is a saga of seesawing back and forth between faithfulness and rebellion. And according to the scriptures, each time Israel was faithful, they enjoyed peace and prosperity. And every time they were rebellious, they endured hardships.
Jeremiah comes onto the scene warning that turning from the one true God to other gods would bring about tragedy, and sure enough, the Babylonians came and swept through Judah taking people into captivity.
But in the midst of all the doom and gloom - Jeremiah was not a popular prophet - he utters these beautiful words of hope.
A new covenant is coming... a new covenant not like the covenants of old. Filled with specific and peculiar commands. Filled with so many instructions that it was practically a full time job trying to abide by ever single detail.
No this covenant would be different.
I think it’s a little like this... when you first develop a relationship with a person, you are not familiar with their ways and what makes them tick. As that friendship develops, you learn more and more about them, until eventually you’re comfortable around each other. And you’re understanding of them continues to grow until you get to know them inside out and eventually you can finish their sentences, pick out their favorite snack food and but them gifts that aren’t returned to the store at the earliest convenience.
As you get to know someone, you get to understand them to the point where you just know their likes and dislikes.... “oh they’d never wear that shirt”, or, “they’d love to have that”. As we go deeper into relationship, we don’t need to be reminded of all the little things about the person, we just know them.
For humankind, it was that sort of a relationship with God. Over the centuries our shared understanding of God has grown and deepened. Something that started out as simple as a single rule became a complex system of commandments with specificity that boggled the mind.
And then, according to Jeremiah, a time would come when it would become simple yet again. A new covenant was coming that would be an internal covenant written on our hearts.
For us Christians, we automatically think of the teachings of Jesus which can be boiled down to two very easy commandments...
“Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself.”
Simple... easy to learn, easy to remember. And I wish I could say that it was easy to carry out.
From a single rule... don’t eat that fruit... through a myriad of commands... including any food that is touched by any water that comes from any vessel that has been touched by a gecko shall be unclean (Lev. 11)... and back to two simple rules... and both of those rules are centered on love.
We make our faith too complicated at times I think. We try to create great volumes of theology and church polity which boggles the mind. All the while God is going... no... just love one another. Love me and love one another. That’s it. That’s all I want from you, that’s all you have to do. Simple, done, over.
It’s written on our hearts from the moment we breath our first breath. Love.
It’s a part of our lives at every age. Love.
It’s what the world needs. It’s what you need. It’s what I need. To love and be loved.
Because when that happens, then every thing else falls into place.
Jeremiah lived during a complex time when competing superpowers were trying to overcome Judah. Egypt was trying to conquer them from the south and Babylon from the north.
Jeremiah, no doubt, longed for a simpler time when faith would be easily achieved. He longed for that moment when the laws of God would be held in our hearts instead of our heads. When we would just and simply be God’s people.
We long for such a time as well. Life becomes overly complicated very quickly. We think it ought to be easy to right the wrongs of society. To overcome the problem of homelessness. But in order to do that we have to address the complex issues of the economy, not to mention the mental health issues faced by so many homeless people and the difficulty of finding qualified mental health providers willing to address such a huge problem. Life becomes too complicated too quickly.
So God gives us a simple, simple couple of commandments so as not to add to our burden. Simply love. Simply love.
Our collective relationship with God has led us to this insight. Love.
I was reminded of an old story the other day... a woman, intent on living her life as well as possible, sets out to find the great wisdom teacher who lives high on a mountain in Tibet. It takes her weeks and week to make all the arrangements. But the day has arrived and after traveling by plane, taxi, river boat, horseback and on foot... she arrives at the little hut. she is a bit disappointed because she thought it would be like in the movies, filled with ornate statues and symbols. Instead she enters a very plain, austere single room hut.
The master offers her tea as she begins to tell him how many different books she’s read and how many different teachers she’s had, from learned rabbis to ministers, from yoga instructors to monks. And all the different paths she has followed trying to attain enlightenment. She’s telling him all this as he’s pouring her tea, listening. He pours until the cups full and continues to pour. He pours until the saucer is full and continues to pour.
Finally, she stops him as the tea is running across the table... It’s full, it’s full, stop.
Just so, he says, just so. You must empty yourself in order to receive.
If it’s not overly complicated, there’s a part of us that doesn’t trust it. If it’s not chock full of instructions and difficult tasks it must not be worth much.
Jesus came with a simple message. Not an easy message, but a simple one. A message that fits easily into our hearts. A message that worked in Adam’s time and in Jeremiah’s time and it works in our time. A message that can solve the world’s problems. A message that fills life with meaning and gives us a reason to get up in the morning. A message to which we can dedicate our lives, and build a church around.
It takes a second to learn and a lifetime to do.
Love. The gospel in a word is love. Put it in your heart and you can’t help but sing...
