NOTES for Jer 30:1-31:26

For a person living many centuries after the catastrophe of captivity and the return from it, brought up in an entirely different culture, it is not always simple to understand this exultant joyful news that "God will have mercy on His people." At times it is just as difficult to accept such ideas about God, who now destroys cities and villages in anger, now forgives them and returns them from captivity. But one way or another, we all live in this world, where the mystery of suffering is replaced by the mystery of salvation. And that means this exultation, this joyful round dance in which "old men and young men together" and in which "sorrow is turned into joy," can become an expression of our faith as well, of our knowledge that God loves us no matter what.

Now that the people of God have been led away into Exile, Jeremiah no longer denounces their sins, their apostasy from God. Now he comforts his people, promising them renewal and a return to their homeland. The promised land had always been part of God's covenant, union, and agreement with Israel. He promised to give it to Abraham and his descendants, and then to Moses and the Hebrews who followed him. In the Bible, the Holy Land is a foreshadowing of the eternal unity of man with God, of eternal life, of unceasing love (Heb 4). Now the prophet emphasizes that the land will be returned to the people not simply so that they may live on it, but for service to God, for the deepening of faith, and for a new life with God.

Applied to our life, this may mean that everything God gives, including as a result of sorrows and turning points in life, must serve our greater devotion to God, the strengthening of faith, and the renewal of love.

We are often inclined to perceive our relationship with God according to the principle of "crime and punishment" or "stick and carrot." That is, if we behave well, then God will help us in life: He will let us live this life well and then take us to Himself in paradise. But if we make a mess of things in this life, He will punish us. This principle of religious relationships goes back to hoary antiquity. In many ways, such was the moral theology of the Israelites in the period before the Exile, and, for some reason, of most Christians past and present. One could still explain that Israel went into exile for the sin of idolatry, but why did the best people, those most devoted to the Lord, end up in captivity?

This mystery is revealed to the prophet Jeremiah, and to other prophets: the Lord does not work by the stick and the carrot. He is guided only by fatherly love for His people and, in general, for all people. He permits the exile only for the correction of the people, for their cleansing from paganism, while loving Israel with an everlasting love that does not depend on their "behavior and diligence." The God of the Bible is the God of unconditional love; God is love.

The prophet speaks on behalf of the Israeli people, it is in particular to these people that God manifested Himself and opened His love and His favor to them. But, certainly, it is not only the description of the happened event, but also a prediction, that can and needs to be understood in the spiritual sense. In almost over five centuries after the prophet Jeremiah, God will manifest His love to all people in the fact that the Son of God will come into this world to bring the good will - salvation. Let’s notice that and in the case of people, and in the case of every individual, God's lovingkindness is not the corollary of some kind of righteousness, of some merits, but comes only from God's everlasting love. It is still important to see that the lovingkindness "extends" to us, and is not imposed, and in order that it becomes for us reality, it is necessary to accept it.

The prophet speaks on behalf of the Israeli people, it is in particular to these people that God manifested Himself and opened His love and His favor to them. But, certainly, it is not only the description of the happened event, but also a prediction, that can and needs to be understood in the spiritual sense. In almost over five centuries after the prophet Jeremiah, God will manifest His love to all people in the fact that the Son of God will come into this world to bring the good will - salvation. Let’s notice that and in the case of people, and in the case of every individual, God's lovingkindness is not the corollary of some kind of righteousness, of some merits, but comes only from God's everlasting love. It is still important to see that the lovingkindness "extends" to us, and is not imposed, and in order that it becomes for us reality, it is necessary to accept it.

In today's reading from the book of the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord says that He will gather His people, but from His words one can conclude that He Himself also scattered them. Here one can picture this: the people of God are like a handful of grains in His palms. These grains quarrel among themselves and loudly declare that they do not want to lie in the handful and in general know for themselves what they should do and how to live. And the Lord opens His palms, and the grains scatter over the earth.

But since God did not plant them, but precisely let them go, they are lying on stones, where they cannot sprout at all. And when the disobedient grains understand that they seem to have received the "freedom" they themselves wanted, but in fact are simply lost and terribly alone, then the Lord gathers them back into His hands to plant them where He had intended to plant them. And now, having learned all the "joys" of false freedom, they accept His help with gratitude. Something similar happens with each of us...

Today the prophet speaks of the future new covenant with His people. This covenant will be based on direct knowledge of the Lord, on personal faith, and on each person's personal responsibility before God.

This change of covenant from the old to the new does not happen automatically. If today we speak of ourselves as participants in the new covenant established through Jesus Christ, then unfortunately this does not mean that we have already grasped and embodied in life the New Testament principles spoken of in this prophecy of Jeremiah. Many Christians still live not by their own faith but by someone else's, saying: "I believe what the Church believes," or "Let the church leaders answer before God for all church problems." Every day we need to break through to our own heart, so that we ourselves love, believe, trust God, and take responsibility for ourselves and for our neighbors. This is incompatible with a consumer attitude toward God or toward the Church. It requires personal knowledge of God as a Person and of His will.