Why does God promise his chosen people a “new covenant” (Jeremiah 31)? After generations of God’s gracious offers of covenant, chaos continually overcomes covenant.

People continue to turn away from God and his ways. The mystery of evil is deeper and broader than we can fathom. God will bring about the new covenant in his one and only Son.

Jesus fulfills all of the covenants which we have encountered throughout Lent: the covenant with all creation, the covenant with all nations, the covenant shaped by commandments, the covenant restored. He holds all things in himself (Colossians 1), we are all sons and daughters of God in Jesus, he is the obedient one and fulfills the law, he will always restore.

How is the new covenant brought about by Jesus? He takes all of the chaos, sin, suffering, and death, on himself. Jesus is the “grain of wheat that falls to the earth and dies” (John 12) – this is the parable that he tells prophetically about himself.

But this is not just a story. It is a reality that Jesus lives through … “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.” (Hebrews 5)

The “new covenant” is something we receive through faith in Jesus, and it bears much fruit in our lives. How can we, in Christ, sacrifice ourselves and our communities, so that this “new covenant” can bear much fruit in the lives of others