Jim was 16 years old. He'd only been driving for six months, but already his parents had paid the fines for two tickets that Jim had received for speeding. On the day that Jim's parents received a notice from their insurance company telling them that the cost of their automobile policy had been increased, they told Jim that they needed to talk. After supper, Jim and his parents sat at the kitchen table. It was a serious gathering.

His mother began, "We seem to have a problem here. We know you want to be able to drive the car and we want you to be able to. But you need to understand how important it is to obey the speed limits."

Jim's father spoke. "Your mother and I have talked about this and we have agreed to allow you to continue to use the car if you agree not to speed again." The father looked directly at his son, "Are you willing to agree to that, Jim?"

Jim said, "Yes."

His mother handed him a sheet of paper. She said, "We thought this was important enough to put in writing so that it was absolutely clear to everyone." Jim read the two sentences on the paper in front of him. "We agree to let Jim use our car." Below this sentence both of Jim's parents had signed their names. The second sentence said, "I agree not to break any speed limits while driving the car." Below this sentence there was a blank line for Jim's name. Jim signed the agreement.

Two weeks later Jim got another speeding ticket. Jim's parents were upset and disappointed. They had attempted to make a serious agreement with their son, but it had not worked. The big question was: What would they do now?

In some ways the story of the agreement between Jim and his parents is similar to the scene described in today's Old Testament lesson. A very important agreement, a covenant, had been made between God and the people of Israel. Yahweh had promised to be their God and care for them while the people had promised to live according to the commandments that God had given them at Mount Sinai. In Old Testament times the making of covenant agreements was a serious business. We know this both from biblical sources and from records of some non-biblical covenants that have survived from that period.

Covenant making was surrounded with ceremony. The promises were made before witnesses. The documents recording the agreement were placed in a special place and provisions were made for periodic public readings. The promises that each party made were not to be taken lightly. For example, the Hebrew phrase "to make a covenant" literally means "to cut a covenant." When covenants were made there was actually cutting involved. To signify the seriousness of the covenant pledges, a number of animals were each cut into two parts and the parts were separated. The participants in the covenant then walked between the parts of the animals as a symbolic way of saying, "If I do not keep my promises in this covenant, may what has happened to these animals happen to me." Covenants were literally made in blood. The book of Exodus describes some of the ceremony that was involved when the covenant at Sinai was "cut." We read, "Moses took the blood (from the sacrificed oxen) and threw it on the people, and said, 'See the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you' " (24:8).

With a full awareness of just how serious it was, the children of Israel entered a covenant with Yahweh at Mount Sinai. They promised to obey the commandments that God had written on the tablets of stone for them. They promised to follow the moral guidelines found there.

Then, just like 16-year-old Jim did, the people of Israel broke their promise. Many times in the book of Jeremiah Yahweh speaks through the prophet describing the way in which the people were ignoring the covenant. In chapter 7 of Jeremiah the Lord says, "This command I gave them, 'Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk only in the way that I command you, so that it may be well with you.' Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but, in the stubbornness of their evil will, they walked in their own counsels" (7:23-24). Again, in chapter 11 the Lord says, "They did not obey ... but everyone walked in the stubbornness of an evil will. So I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not" (11:8). Finally, in our text for today, chapter 31, the Lord refers to this Sinai covenant as "a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband." The Lord uses the analogy of a broken marriage. The people had broken their promise. They had broken the agreement.

In other passages of the book, Jeremiah goes to great lengths to let his readers know that Yahweh was upset and disappointed. God had attempted to make a serious agreement with the people, but it had not worked. The big question was: What would God do now?

But first, let's return to Jim's house. Jim's parents thought and thought about what they should do. The parenting books that they had read recommended that the best thing to do would be to let their son experience the logical consequences of his actions. At the same time, Jim's parents knew how important the car was to their son and they hated to see him go through the agony of being denied the use of it. The two of them talked about it for a very long time. What should they do?

Finally they came to a decision. They called Jim to the kitchen table. It was another serious gathering. Jim realized that he had blown it big time. He knew that only a miracle could save him now.

Jim's father held the signed agreement in his hands. Without saying a word, he held up the sheet of paper in front of him and tore it in two. Then he looked at Jim and said, "This agreement did not work. Your mother and I have decided to make a new agreement with you. We're not going to write this one down, so please listen closely, Jim."

Jim needed no encouragement. He was already listening very closely.

His father said, "The new agreement is this: We agree to let you use our car and you agree not to break any speed limits while driving the car." Jim stared at his parents. He was confused. What he had just heard his father say sounded exactly like the agreement his father had just ripped up. Jim said, "I don't get it. What is new in the new agreement? What is different from the first agreement?"

Jim's mom responded, "We love you, Jim. We love you more than you can probably ever know. We believe that you are a good kid. We are going to forget about your previous speeding tickets. We are going to pay the fine on this new one and then we are going to forget about it too."

She gave her husband a quick glance and continued. "What makes this a new agreement is that we believe that you will keep your promise this time. You messed up and we have forgiven you. We hope that, in the process, you have come to a better understanding of how much we love you. We expect that it will make a difference in how you view your relationship with us. We expect that you will keep this new agreement with us not because you are supposed to, but because you want to."

Jim sat in disbelief. They were not only giving him the use of the car, they were giving him their unconditional love and forgiveness. It was too good to be true.

Again, the story of the agreement between Jim and his parents is quite similar to the story of the covenant between Yahweh and the people of Israel. As we have already noted, the people had completely broken their covenant promises and God was upset. They had blown it big time. Only a miracle could save them now. That miracle was to be found in the free forgiveness of God.

Some Bible scholars refer to our text as the most important passage in all of Jeremiah and one of the mountain peaks of the entire Old Testament. It begins with these words, "The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel" (31:31). Talking to a people who do not deserve it, God says, "I love you." God makes them a promise. "The days are surely coming," says the Lord," when I will make (that is, I will "cut") a new covenant." God planned to cut this covenant differently in order to show God's great love for the people.

"The days are surely coming," writes the prophet and, sure enough, the days of this new covenant did come. In Jesus Christ God entered into the world of time and space to cut a new kind of covenant with God's people. In this new covenant, it was not animals that were to be sacrificed and cut. It was the Christ himself who was cut. On the Friday, which we call "Good," it was his blood that flowed.

Looking further at our text, it appears as if God expected that the proclamation of a new covenant that was centered in God's love and forgiveness would bring about a change in the people. Earlier in the book of Jeremiah God had spoken with anger against the people saying that their sin "is written with an iron pen; with a diamond point it is engraved on the tablet of their hearts" (17:1). What a different message in our text for today! The Lord says, "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" (31:33). God now says that instead of sin, God's law will be written in the people's hearts. For something to be written on a person's heart is a Hebrew expression that refers to the person's character. The heart is understood to be the seat of decision making.

Notice what is being said here. The new covenant does not involve the giving of new law. That is unnecessary. The people had already received God's law in the first covenant at Sinai. The only real difference between the old covenant and the new is that this time the people will be faithful. "I will be their God, and they shall be my people." God seems to expect that, in response to God's forgiving love to the people, they will begin to obey the law. They will do so not because they are supposed to, but because they want to. It will be written on their hearts. It will be so deeply a part of their consciousness that it will become a part of who they are. Incredible! It was too good to be true!

As you can see, the two stories in this sermon are similar in many ways. Both Jim's parents and God loved their children. They offered them forgiveness. As a result, Jim and Israel became new people. A new agreement, a new covenant, was created. Who would have thought that love could have such a power to change people? It was amazing! It was too good to be true!

Yes, that is exactly correct. It was too good to be true. After the new agreement went into effect Jim did okay for a while, but then he was pulled over for doing 72 in a 35 MPH zone. It turned out to be a mixed bag for the children of Israel too. They had their moments of faithful obedience, but they also continued to break and ignore the laws that were supposedly now written on their hearts.

At Jim's house, his parents took the car keys from him. They had paid Jim's other fines because he had complained of having no money of his own. For this final speeding ticket his parents sold Jim's stereo and Nintendo and used the money to pay the fine.

There are probably some of you who, as you hear what Jim's parents did, are mentally applauding them for finally doing some responsible parenting. You may well be thinking that Jim was long overdue for some "tough love."

God, on the other hand, may not get much applause in the parenting department. God does not resort to strong discipline. In Jeremiah God promises to "remember their sin no more" and then in the New Testament we encounter the climax of this promise in the death of Christ as an atonement for people's sins. God pays the price for our sin. God pays the fine for our breaking of the law.

What's going on here? Does God have really lousy parenting skills? Did an all-knowing God really expect that people would magically change in response to this crazy kind of new covenant? Was God actually surprised when people did not begin to lead completely pure and moral lives in response to a lavish display of love and forgiveness? How could that be? We know God is not stupid. What's going on here?

For this text to make sense we need to return to the beginning of our sermon text. The first words are: "Behold the days are coming." This is an eschatological formula. In other words, this is a phrase that Bible writers use when they are referring to future events. Once we know this, it gives a whole new perspective to the passage. The complete fulfillment of the new covenant of which God speaks will only come into existence at the end of time in the world to come. Until then, it serves as a metaphor. It is a vision from God of what our covenant relationship with God will someday become. At that time we will perfectly become the people God created us to be. It is a glorious vision, but for now, it is too good to be completely true.

Even though it is only a vision of the future, it is nonetheless an important part of our Christian walk on this side of eternity. The Christian faith has always acknowledged that the kingdom of God is a paradox. The kingdom will not come into full splendor until the second coming and, at the same time, the kingdom has already begun in the coming of Christ. Our new covenant with our God in that kingdom hangs in the tension of being "already but not yet."

As a result, we are a lot like Jim and the children of Israel. Sometimes we do pretty well. Sometimes we live and act in a way that it appears that God's law is indeed written on our hearts. Perhaps there are even times when what Paul said of the Corinthians could be said of you, "that you are a letter of Christ ... written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts" (2 Corinthians 3:3).

At other times, we do a very poor job of keeping God's law. We blow it big time. I know those times in my life. You know those times in your life. Yet, when it happens, God does not give up on us. God continues to look at us through "behold the days are surely coming" eyes. God is a parent who knows that a new day is coming when the children will finally live lives of complete love and service to one another.

Until then, we each have our good moments and our bad. And in the midst of it all we have God's incredible promise in this text: "I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more" (31:34). The promise of the new covenant is not a promise that we will become sinless, but rather, it is the promise for the forgiveness of our sins.

It is the same promise that we experience each time we celebrate the eucharist. It is the promise we receive along with the bread and cup. The cup of promise that Christ offers us is the new covenant in his blood, which is given and shed for the forgiveness of our sins.

What a joy it is to receive such an incredible outpouring of love from our God! What a powerful love it is that we experience! It touches and changes us. We become new people. A new reality is created. It's as though God's vision of the new covenant becomes more than just a vision. In the midst of such joy we think, "This is too good to be true!" And then ... another reality sets in and we find ourselves sinning once again. We think sadly to ourselves, "Yes, it is too good to be true."

That is finally where we always end up, isn't it? The whole vision of a new covenant in which we always stay connected to God is just that -- a vision. The idea is just too good to be true. That's where it all ends ... except for one last thing. It would all end there except for the fact that our God does, in fact, have some pretty strange parenting skills. God continues to look beyond our sin, no matter how many times we mess up. God continues to reach out to us, to love us and to forgive us no matter how many times our sin angers and disappoints God. God promises to be a heavenly parent who will never leave us to pay the fine ourselves when we break the law. We ask ourselves if it is really possible to have such a parent? Well, such a thing would definitely be too good to be true, except for the incredible good news that it is true.