Jeremiah tells us that from his mother’s womb God appointed him to be a prophet to the nations (1.5). God calls him “to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant” (1.10).
Jeremiah, who comes from a priestly family, begins his prophetic ministry during the reign of King Josiah, Judah’s last great king (627 B.C.). Josiah supports religious reforms that call the Israelites back to the worship of Yahweh alone, but at the same time he tries to forge alliances with Egypt to take advantage of Assyria’s weakening power.
In 609 B.C., God sends Jeremiah to preach a sermon in the Jerusalem temple. “Walk in the law, or I will make this temple like Shiloh and I will make this city a curse for all the nations” (26.4,6). As a result Jeremiah gets arrested and nearly put to death for treason.
The prophet seeks to uproot the spiritual complacency of the people of Jerusalem. He wants them to place their trust in God rather than political alliances because alliances mean accepting the gods of the allies. He insists God will spare the city and the temple if the people keep the law.
Jeremiah wears a yoke to show that Babylon, the emerging superpower, will make Judah its vassal. He smashes pottery to show what God will do to Jerusalem. He gets thrown in a cistern and left to die. All this happens because he threatens the ruin of the temple, the sign of God’s presence among the people.
However, Jeremiah not only uproots, he also plants hope in God’s faithfulness. During the Babylonians’ siege of Jerusalem, he buys a plot of land near his home village. He invests in Israel’s restoration, just before the city falls and is destroyed.
In Sunday’s first reading, Jeremiah promises God’s faithfulness as the people face national ruin. God will plant new hearts in the people and restore in their spirits the possibility of keeping the covenant as a relationship with God.
A New Covenant
The days are coming, says the Holy One, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors the day I took them by the hand to lead them forth from the land of Egypt; for they broke my covenant, though I was their spouse, says the Holy One.
This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Holy One. I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer will they have need to teach their friends and kinsfolk how to know the Holy One. All, from least to greatest, will know me, says the Holy One, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.
Jeremiah 31.31-34
- What law do you find written in your heart? Who is its origin?
- What yoke do you find burdensome and unholy in your life?