In our reading for today, we have another version of this love imperative:  “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”  Our example of love is the way Jesus loves us.

We live in a world in which changes occur so rapidly that we can’t begin to keep up with all of them.  Change is present in every aspect of our lives and it is so rapid that we can no longer really even speak oxymoronically about “constant change” because the rate of change itself is changing—increasing all the time.  So many things change so fast that we can hardly adjust.

The prophet Jeremiah’s words are for the people to give them hope in a dark time.  He wants to assure the people that God will give them “a future with hope.”

There are portions of the Bible known as “wisdom literature.” Most of the wisdom literature is found in the Hebrew Scriptures:  most prominently in Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon.