Good Morning Friends,
Today’s scripture is about the way that evil will be overthrown and the spiritual sovereignty of the Lord meeting the challenge of a crisis. Scripture is revealing the overthrow of Satan as ‘prince’ or ruler of this world and the re-establishment of the spiritual sovereignty of the Lord on earth through the sacrificial death of the Son of Man. It is about a time of crisis. My understanding is that our word “crisis” is actually a Greek word. The Greek word, spelled with a ‘k’ rather than a ‘c’, carries all the meanings or definitions that the term does today and in some translations is used to describe in addition the time of judgement. The word crisis means (1) a situation that has reached a critical phase, (2) a crucial time or state of affairs in which a significant change is impending, (3) a turning-point for better or worse, (4) a decisive moment or event. The Greek term had an additional definition not typically attached to our word today; that being, the rendering of a decision or verdict in a trial or great contest. It is relevant as we approach the time of the Passion of Christ and how our personal stories are reflected in the work of Christ and whether we choose to call on the name of Jesus to curtail evil in our lives. So, When You Face A Crisis Are You Choosing To Live A New Covenant Life?
Scripture: 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.
Jeremiah 31:31-34 (NRSV)
In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,
Hebrews 5:7-9 (NRSV)
Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor. “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say— ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.
John 12:20-33 (NRSV)
When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness!”
Luke 22:53 (NRSV)
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Genesis 3:15 (NRSV)
Message: Well maybe the New Covenant of Jeremiah is not exactly the New Covenant of Christ but there are some similarities for sure to be written on our hearts. Typically Jeremiah’s vision is a sharp rebuke of the existing hierarchy of Jerusalem and the Temple practices. Jesus overturns the tables of the Temple with a similar rebuke. Jeremiah is thrown in a cistern for his message and Jesus crucified. It is a time of crisis for them both and their nation. But they both have a sense of hope for God’s plan to be played out. In a couple of weeks, it will be Resurrection Sunday. And there is a lot to think about between now and then regarding what this event in history means for us in our lives today and perhaps especially what it means to suffer, maybe even weep and still thrive. It is supreme irony that Satan’s overthrow – his being “cast out” – was achieved by an act perpetrated by the Prince of Darkness which he thought would guarantee his triumph – the death of Christ Jesus. In Luke 22:53, Jesus states that His arrest, trial, and crucifixion was manifest that the Power of Darkness was having his hour; that is to say, these things came about because God allowed Satan to do with Jesus whatever he was pleased to do. Satan did not comprehend that his hatred for Jesus, which led him to work through Judas and the wicked Jewish leaders in accomplishing Jesus’ betrayal and murder, actually accomplished his own destruction. But it was prophesied that it would be so in Genesis 3:15. I believe that the shift in Jeremiah’s proclamation that offered Israel hope in the midst of their most depressing period of history, give us hope to embrace the truly new covenant that God makes with us through Christ’s death and resurrection. I think that this new covenant that God makes with us through our relationship with Jesus, is ultimately a personal covenant, one that we embrace in our hearts beyond being a corporate covenant alone. Jesus makes it clear that whoever serves him will be honored by the Father. Jeremiah had a sense of this heartfelt commitment as today’s scripture witnesses. Thankfully as Christians, we are not left to simply embrace the terms of the Old Covenant to which Jeremiah reformed. God has established a totally New Covenant with his people, through the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. And we need not look any further than to our Lord’s words of institution for the new meal he offers to replace the Passover, when Jesus takes the cup and says, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for many, for the forgiveness of your sins.” For the Christian, the Temple system has been destroyed once and for all. Jesus’ death on the cross has brought to fruition, what Jeremiah had only an inkling of what God was about to do. And it is my hope, that through the power of God’s Spirit, we might have our own hearts open to see this progression of understanding of God’s grace, to redeem us from sin and death. For God has, throughout the history of his establishing a covenant with his people, remained faithful, and promised to be with us, even in the darkest hours, and the midst of our pain.
And So, the early Christian identified Jesus as the Suffering Servant who will redeem God’s people from their sins…taking shame and turning it into something that honors God. And we too need to experience Jesus as the Messiah in this way, realizing the costly price of being all in like Jesus. In fact, associating Christ’s death with the redemption of sins, is based on the concept of the Suffering Servant. For the next couple of weeks, we have the dramatic story of the Passion of Christ being playing out in a way that makes it clear that our salvation depends on Jesus. So, as we read about the close of Jesus’ public ministry and the experience of life breathed into something that had ended. The stage is set for Jesus’ betrayal, death, and resurrection. We have the dizzying drama to take our emotions a full 360 from Palm Sunday to the Crucifixion and finally to the Resurrection. And typically, the sounds of this special Passover are woven into the song of hosannas, laments, and hallelujahs. For our minds seek to hear the fulfillment of scripture, for in hearing the clip clock of a colt and the breaking of an alabaster jar of perfume our minds join in the story. However everything is jumbled together in our emotional memory, and the silence of lament on Maundy Thursday is battling the potential of praise and that leads us to pray for Jesus to sort out our senses even as we hope to glorify Jesus in the hopes of a resurrection Day and New Covenant written on the hearts of us all. Appropriately in preparation today on Saint Patrick’s Day, even though Patrick was not Irish, we sing for the peace of a “Gaelic Blessing” at church and play handbells to the tune of “Savior, Like A Shepherd Lead Us,” as a prelude. Friends March Madness has begun but I will be contemplating the trinitarian aspect of a Shamrock and thanking God for growth even as I practice up on the Handel we will sing in two weeks. In Christ we can overcome whatever befalls us.
Pray we give thanks for all our many blessings – for the gift of life; for the fellowship that we share with one another; and for all that sustains us from day to day. Pray we are thankful for the gift of God’s Son, Jesus the Christ, through whom has been revealed God’s unmerited, forgiving love, and called us into a new covenant relationship with our Creator as redeemed children. Pray through the power of the Holy Spirit, our faith be strengthened so that we might prove to be worthy disciples of Christ. Pray we take as much personal responsibility as possible in accepting that God is not going to abandon us even when we are suffering. Pray we live a life of the New Covenant freed and loved to glorify God embracing a peace that surpasses our understanding. Pray Christ’s heart be our heart.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 