Who will watch over us?

Gordon Kennedy October 17, 2022 0 0

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Jeremiah 31: 27–34 (NRSVA)

27 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals. 28 And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord. 29 In those days they shall no longer say:

‘The parents have eaten sour grapes,
    and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

30 But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge.

31 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. 32 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. 33 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. 34 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.

Violence breeds violence. Injustice gives birth to injustice. The judgement upon wickedness is more wickedness. Going down is easy and quick. Planting and building for grace and growth is slow. There is no fast–food justice.

PRAYER:

Broken–hearted Father,

Share with us your tear-stained face.

We know the pain we suffer watching another bear injustice.

We long to act, to bring relief, to share companionship, to stand beside.

If we who are sinful agents of injustice know how to do this, how much more will our Father in heaven?

Watching Father,

We rejoice that you are not a Father who glances,

You are not a God of the quick, uninterested glimpse.

You watch slowly over all you have planted,

You patiently observe all you would build.

Those coming days may not yet be these days.

The new beginning of justice may seem small and fragile,

Just a few shoots, a whispered promise,

Just the first words written.

May we take hold of your stretched out hand.

May we enter into the new life of your new covenant.

May we live in our lives the new law you have started to write within us.

Lord Jesus, may the hand we hold be your nail scarred hand,

May the life we live be your new resurrection life,

May the law which shapes us be your new covenant law of love.

It may seem slow to us,

But each transformed life, every renewed act, every grace inspired word,

Hastens the breaking in of your restored justice.

As you plant and build the life of Jesus in us, keep hold of us that we may persevere in Christ. Amen.