Lectionary Commentaries for July 4, 2021
Messiah and New Covenant

from WorkingPreacher.org


Narrative Lectionary

Commentary on Jeremiah 33:14-18; 31:31-34

Steed Davidson

• 5/30/2021: Jeremiah 1:1-10; 7:1-11 Call and Temple Sermon
• 6/6/2021: Jeremiah 18:1-11 Potter and the Clay
• 6/13/2021: Jeremiah 36:1-8, 21-23, 27-31 Scroll Burned and Rewritten
• 6/20/2021: Jeremiah 29:1, 4-14 Letter to the Exiles
• 6/27/2021: Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15 Planting and Building
• 7/4/2021: Jeremiah 33:14-18; 31:31-34 Messiah and New Covenant


Week 6: Messiah and New Covenant

Jeremiah 33:14-18; 31:31-34

These two passages look beyond the disaster periods to a time of restoration. They address different concerns: leadership (33:15) and interior renovation (31:31). Leadership at various levels receive harsh criticism in the book (22:1-30; 23:9-40). Despite this negativity, 33:14-18 anticipates a future where a Davidic monarch and the Levitical priesthood perform prominent functions. The David monarch springs as a new branch that bears, in this period, the appropriate fruits of righteousness and justice. That the branch springs from the same tree that presumably bore branches that we cut down does not matter since the branch will bear the divine name and nature built upon right relationships (33:16). Restoring relationship becomes another critical feature of the new age. If the restoration of the monarchy seems forced and incomplete, lacking any hints of transformation, then individual transformation springs from interior renovation (31:33-34). Restoration to ensure right relationships will rest upon an internalization of divine teaching. As Jeremiah ingests the divine word in order to speak to the people at the initiation of his prophetic career (1:10), the future is marked by the intake of teaching that leads to living right with one another. Renewed relationships serve as the start of a new dispensation of mutual help and divine forgiveness. 

What are the critical relationships where trust needs to be rebuilt in order to live into a future marked by justice and right relating?