God is Making you… His People
Jeremiah 31:31-33

† In Jesus’ Name †

May the grace and mercy of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ convince you that you are the people of God!

• Missing at the Feast…

It was a card table, probably purchased back in the 1950s. It came out for every Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner, with 4 folding chairs that were far sturdier than they looked.

At 18 to 19, just starting to date Kay, I understood that I would be sitting there with her 5 and 7-year-old nephews, Kay’s 14-year-old niece, and Kay.

It was the kiddie table, and we were the younger folk there.

I did think that there would be a time when I could move to the adult table; I just didn’t think it would take until I was in my fifties.

As we share in the Lord’s Supper, we are in the present moment, and yet we are also part of that great feast when Jesus returns. It is what we are looking towards, yet we are a part of it as well, as with angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven, we praise God, our heavenly Father.

There is no kiddie table at that feast, for we all have matured and become complete in Christ.

And we see that promise in the passage read earlier from Jeremiah. 

• The Difference Between the Covenants

Jeremiah describes how people related to God in the reading. “I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them…

It sounds more like Israel acted like a toddler rather than a partner of God’s. I picture Israel as a toddler having to be brought to the table, seated, then getting up to see what’s happening everywhere else. What’s on their plate? Is their chair better than mine? And, of course, causing all sorts of spills and breakage, left behind as something else catches their eye.

The world is not different today, and neither are many of us in the church. We want what we want when we want it! We often “unintentionally” redesign Christianity to be more consistent with what we wish… rather than allowing God to conform us to the image of Jesus.

It’s easy to throw a tantrum against God, demand what we want…that we cry and howl and tell Him to get lost. Heck, even at the last supper, the disciples fought over who was better…

And Jesus bows down… and takes a towel and washes their feet….

• Preparing them for the new covenant…

And in doing so, shows them a new way…

We often talk about foot-washing as an example – this is how we should serve others. But Peter had to learn something first – to let Jesus wash his feet, for boy, they needed to be cleaned….

We need to be drawn into this relationship, this covenant with God. We need God to do what He’s promised to do, the promises we’ve been looking at – God’s work.

And that is seen easily this night. Everything about the Passover points to his sacrifice in the morning – a sacrifice he looked forward to – because of the joy of Jeremiahs’s promise being fulfilled.

• How God puts His instructions inside us…

Here it again…

“But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,” says the LORD. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

That is why Jesus says this is His blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. The Body and Blood shed for you that all your sins, including those tantrums, are forgiven.

This is why we are here… this is what it is all about… God with us.

A new relationship that goes beyond anything we can think or imagine.

A relationship where God comes to us feeds us, and makes us know we are home… for we are His people. 

So let’s celebrate – with the feast that is the foretaste of the feast to come…