BEING ONE OF God’s prophets can be…umm, challenging. Time and again, they’re asked to deliver a word from God to people who don’t want to hear it. Occasionally, those who receive the message repent. But often, the prophets are hounded and persecuted instead, just for speaking the truth.

Moreover, prophets are sometimes destined to watch helplessly as the judgment of God falls on his unrepentant people. This was particularly true of Jeremiah. Like other prophets before him, he had the task of warning the kingdom of Judah that disaster was coming: the city of Jerusalem would fall to the Babylonians and the people would be carried off into exile. Like the prophets before him, he was persecuted for daring to say such things. For example, Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, allowed Jeremiah to be thrown into a cistern, presumably to starve to death. The prophet escaped only by the kindness of a royal official who knew this was wrong.

Unlike the prophets before him, however, Jeremiah bore the horrific burden of actually watching the fall of Jerusalem happen in real time. The Babylonians laid siege to the city for over two years, forcing the people to surrender before they starved to death. Then the Babylonian army swept in, razing the city and destroying the temple. King Zedekiah was captured, and after cruelly being forced to watch the execution of his sons, his eyes were gouged out. Jeremiah’s earlier prophecy had come true, a warning that has earned him the nickname of “the weeping prophet”:

If you do not listen,
    I will weep in secret
    because of your pride;
my eyes will weep bitterly,
    overflowing with tears,
    because the LORD’s flock will be taken captive. (Jer 13:17, NIV)

Ironically, after they took over, the Babylonians actually treated Jeremiah pretty well.

But even as Jeremiah grieved for his people, he knew that exile would not be the end of the story. Yes, God’s people had failed in their responsibility to honor their covenant relationship with God, and paid the gruesome price. But in Jeremiah 31:31, the prophet also speaks hopefully of a day in which God will establish a “new covenant” with his people:

“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
    after that time,” declares the LORD.
“I will put my law in their minds
    and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.
No longer will they teach their neighbor,
    or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’
because they will all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the LORD.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
    and will remember their sins no more.” (Jer 31:33-34)

WHAT DOES ALL of this have to do with the letters of John?

As we’ve seen, 1 John 2:12-14 is a highly stylized set of verses, as if John were quoting from something else, like a poem or a song. Rhetorically, the passage comes off more like a sermon than anything you’d find in a letter. And while there’s no sure way to know, some scholars believe that John was echoing the words of Jeremiah.

Remember, John has already spoken of the old commandment which is also a new commandment, which may point back to new covenant promised by the prophet. In Jeremiah 31, the prophet speaks of the forgiveness of sin, as John does in the passage we’ve been studying. Jeremiah speaks of the day in which all of God’s people, “from the least to the greatest,” will know him directly; similarly, John addresses himself to children, young adults, and fathers.

And most importantly, at the core of the new covenant is a true knowledge of God: not just knowledge about God but a relationship of love, and from the human side, obedience. God’s law is no longer something to be obeyed from the outside, but from the inside; God’s ways are written on his people’s hearts and minds.

John, too, emphasizes this intimate knowledge of God, reassuring the members of his community that they do indeed know the Father, and Jesus Christ, the one who is from the beginning. Perhaps, as John remembers the words of Jeremiah, he also remembers the words of Jesus at the Last Supper: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:20). The prophetic promise of Jeremiah has come to pass, through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

So was John deliberately echoing Jeremiah? Perhaps. Did those who heard his words understand the reference? Who knows?

But we’re capable of making the connection ourselves. We celebrate the new covenant every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. When we do this, we shouldn’t just remember that Jesus died a long time ago so we could be forgiven for our sin. We should also remember that we are called to respond in gratitude by obeying the command of Jesus to love one another. That’s what John wants to see in his community. And if he were to walk into any of our congregations today, that’s what he’d want to see in us.