Weekly Bible Notes, 6th April 2003
Lent 5, Passion Sunday
Year B, Purple
| First Reading: | Jeremiah 31:31-33 |
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| Second Reading: | John 12:20-33 | |
| Commentary: | Covenant | |
| Prayers: | for Sunday and the week ahead |
Opening Verse of Scripture桺salm 51:10
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Collect Prayer for the Day桞efore we read we pray
Most merciful God, who by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ delivered and saved the world: grant that by faith in him who suffered on the cross we may triumph in the power of his victory; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen
First Bible Reading
Jeremiah 31:31-34"The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, " declares the LORD.
"This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbour, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." (This is the word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God)
Second Bible Reading John 12:20-33
Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. "Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus." Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honour the one who serves me.
"Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!" Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. (This is the word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God)
Post Communion Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, you have taught us that what we do for the least of
our brothers and sisters we do also for you: give us the will to be the
servant of others as you were the servant of all, and gave up your life and
died for us, but are alive and reign, now and for ever. Amen
Commentary: Covenants
With war going on in Iraq, it is strange to think that the reading from Jeremiah this morning was spoken to a group of people who were held prisoner near Baghdad.
The passage from Jeremiah is about a new covenant. Covenant is the Bible抯 word for an 慳greement.?When we make an agreement today, we might shake hands, sign a legal document, or if we are feeling romantic, perhaps give a ring or 憇eal it with a kiss.?nbsp;
In the Bible we read about some very serious covenants and actions which followed.
- There was the covenant with Noah following the flood, when God promised humanity that he would always be faithful. The rainbow was the sign of that agreement.
- The covenant with Abraham was made after Abraham showed great faith in God, and God declared that he would make Abraham抯 descendants a great nation. The sign of that covenant was circumcision.
- Then there was a covenant with Moses, when God delivered the people out of captivity from Egypt. The covenant was sealed at Sinai with the giving of the written law, the Israelites promised to be obedient and to have no other Gods but Yahweh.
The problem was that the Israelites continually failed to keep their part of the bargain in these covenants. The prophets, like Jeremiah, realized that human sinfulness made them weak partners in the deal. So through the prophets, God spoke of a new kind of covenant, not written on tablets of stone like the commandments, but on the hearts of the people. This 憂ew covenant?was not to be just for the Jews but for all the people. Jeremiah spoke about this new covenant.
Jeremiah was born in Anathoth, 3 miles north of Jerusalem and began preaching about 627BC. Jeremiah witnessed the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 BC. Jerusalem was captured and destroyed and the people were taken away into exile in Babylon. Babylon was the centre of the Babylonian empire, a place on the river Euphrates about 60 miles south of Baghdad. Jeremiah believed that God was loyal to those who were loyal to him, but God had been hurt by the way the Jews had been unfaithful. Jeremiah saw the invasion by the Babylonians as the punishment of God. But, he also believed that God would bring a new future of hope, if the people only trusted and believed.
Chapters 30-33 are sometimes called 慣he Book of Consolation?and the
passage today
from Chapter 31 is one of the most well known in the whole book. Jeremiah
wrote about a 憂ew covenant.?He wrote, 慣he days are surely coming, says
the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel.?nbsp;
Five centuries after Jeremiah, the death of Jesus was the fulfillment of the covenant promised by Jeremiah, and Jesus announced that his own blood was the seal of that new covenant. At the exact time when the lambs were being slaughtered for the Passover, Jesus saw himself as the new lamb of God and started the new covenant with his blood. And, from that day on, billions of Christians have celebrated Holy Communion with the words, 慣his is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of me.?nbsp;
So in the midst of captivity and hopelessness, Jeremiah wrote of God抯 forgiveness and willingness to enter into a new covenant with the Hebrew people. He wrote that God would forget the old covenant that they had broken so often and remember their sin no more. This was not blind optimism, he knew that God did not want to punish people, but rather to change their hearts.
Jeremiah knew that God would forgive the people and forget their violations of the old covenant. Jeremiah knew that God loves humankind so much that he would try again and again to show his love. Jeremiah did not know exactly when or how God would enact a new covenant, he simply knew with absolute certainty that God would bring them new hope.
The new covenant established by Jesus is the ultimate and final covenant between God and human beings. On God抯 side of the contract, he promises to love us, forgive us, and guarantee us the hope of eternal life. On our side of the covenant, we are expected to put our faith and trust in Jesus. We are called to affirm our faith that Jesus is the Son of God and that his life and teaching and death and resurrection provides ultimate meaning for our lives and salvation for our souls. Charles Royden
Hymns (Hymns & Psalms)
- All my hope on God is founded 63 H&P
- I抣l go in the strength of the Lord (on service sheet)
- All I once held dear (on service sheet)
- Lord of creation to you be all praise 699
- To God be the glory 463
Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead
Soul of Christ, sanctify us; Body of Christ, save us; Blood of Christ, refresh us; Water from the side of Christ, wash us; Passion of Christ, strengthen us; O good Jesus hear us; Within your arms, hide us; From the power of darkness defend us. Bid us come to you that with your saints we may praise you. Amen From the Anima Christi c 1300
Almighty God, your Son came into the world to free us from all sin and death. Breathe upon us with the power of your Spirit, that we may be raised to new life in Christ, and serve you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Methodist Worship
O Christ give us patience and faith, and hope as we kneel at the foot of thy cross, that however ill the world may go, the father so loved us that he spared not thee. Charles Kingsley
| First Reading: | Jeremiah 31:31-33 |
| Epistle Reading: | John 12:20-33 |
| Commentary: | Covenant |
| Prayers: | for Sunday and the week ahead |
| Intercessions | |
| Sermon: | Pictures of Jesus:
PDF format (The PDF format includes a commentary) |