Jeremiah 31:31-34

On this 5th Sunday in the season of Lent, one week before Palm Sunday and Holy Week, we will look one more time at the Biblical practice of covenant-making in the Hebrew Scriptures, reading from Jeremiah 31:31-34.

In Jeremiah 31:32, the Lord references “the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.” This refers to the covenant recorded in Exodus 20, and following, and in Deuteronomy(which both include the Ten Commandments). Go back and Read Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5-6. Why does it say, here in Jeremiah 32, “…when I took them by the hand…?”

In Jeremiah 31:34, the Lord asserts that there will be no need to teach the Law of Moses because people will know it by heart. Have you ever grown from knowing “right and wrong” as a learned-lesson, then committed it to heart as an automatic way of life? What is the difference between having to be taught and simply knowing?

In Jeremiah 31:34, the Lord makes a dramatic change: no longer will obedience to the law be a matter of reward and punishment. It will become a matter of grace: “I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.” Have you ever experienced the difference between doing right in order to be rewarded (and to avoid punishment), and doing right as an act of gratitude? For example, one might obey the speed limit in order to avoid being ticketed and fined. But one who is “let off with a warning” might find new motivation from their gratitude for having had the punishment set-aside.