Jeremiah 36:1-19.  Yesterday we saw God use a faithful non-Jewish family to teach the unfaithful Jews what they were missing; to challenge them about their lack of response to his repeated messages to them.  And that family, the Rechabites, weren’t even being directly obedient to God, although they were honoring one of his principles by their actions.  It was interesting to think that they were doing instinctively what the Jewish people would not do in spite of repeated direct communications from God.  In today’s reading we see more of the attitude that led to the downfall of the Kingdom of Judah.

In verse 1-3 the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah.   God told Jeremiah to write down all the messages he had given Jeremiah up until that day; messages for the Northern Kingdom, messages for the Southern Kingdom, and messages for all the nations of the earth.  In verse 1 we learn that it is the fourth year of King Jehoiakim.  Jehoiakim bdcame king in 609 BC so that would mean that this happened in 605 BC.  That is an interesting year because it is also the year the Nebuchadnezzar crushed the Egyptian army at Carchemish and demanded allegiance from the Judah and the other kingdoms in the area.  It was also that year that the first captives were taken to Babylon, including the prophet Daniel.  If Jeremiah was to writhe all of his messages on the scroll (and that certainly looks like what God told him to do) it could have been quite a job.  Jeremiah first delivered messages from God in the thirteenth year of Josiah (Jehoiakim’s father); that would have been 627 BC.  How would you like to have to write down every homework assignment from the beginning of your school career (for Jeremiah it would have been 22 years, that’s a lot of writing).

As we saw yesterday and in our reading of Jeremiah there is a lot of repetition in his messages, in fact God even made a point of that yesterday. But the leaders and people were not getting it; they were hearing but not listening.  Jeremiah obeyed God and called his secretary, Baruch, who then began writing everything Jeremiah told him; all that God had told Jeremiah.  When Baruch completed the scroll Jeremiah asked him to take it to the Temple and read it on a “fast” day.  Evidently Jeremiah had been banned from the Temple.

In verse 7 we see that Jeremiah hopes the people will call out to God and ask for help and forgiveness.  The word translated “supplication” means to “fall down”, the idea is to show respect and humility.  Jeremiah hoped the people would be reminded by the word on the scroll of their defection from God and would beg him to help them back.   In verse 8 we see that Baruch obeyed Jeremiah and read the scroll in the Temple.

Verse 8 was a summary of the actions of Baruch in reading the scroll.  Verses 9-10 are a more detailed description of the reading.  In verse 9 we learn that the actual reading happened in the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoaikim, 604 BC.  This is probably the same reading that is described in verse 8, it would have taken some time to write down all of the messages Jeremiah had given over a 22 year time span.  We don’t know when in the fourth year they started writing but we are now about a year later.  We see that there was a time of “fasting” and many people were in Jerusalem.  The point of fasting is not to punish the body but to spend extra time talking to and listening to God.  For most that would have involved going to the Temple (although Jeremiah regularly communicated to God outside of the Temple).  In a way fasting isn’t about what you aren’t doing as much as it is about what you are doing,; focusing on God.   In the Temple they would have heard Baruch reading the scroll of Jeremiah’s messages.

In verses 11-16 we see one of the religious leaders reporting to the others who were in the palace hanging out.  You would think that on a national day dedicated to communicating with God that they all would have been at the Temple, but they weren’t.  The messenger told them all about what Baruch had been saying so they called for Baruch.  They then asked Baruch to re-read what was written on the scroll to them (wouldn’t it have been better if thay had just been in “church” like everyone else?).  When he finished reading they all looked at each other and were afraid.  We don’t know if they were afraid because of the message they had heard (which consistently had been one of destruction of Judah, Jerusalem, and the Temple), were afraid because of the frequent appeals by God for the people of Judah to turn back to God (which the leaders and most of the people had regularly ignored), or if they were afraid for Baruch because the king probably would not appreciate the message.  In the days of the kings father (Josiah) a similar thing happened when a scroll of the Old Testament was found stuffed away in the Temple, when it was read King Josiah tore his clothing (a sign of great sadness and sorrow)(2 Kings 22-23).  Interestingly the guy who made the report to the others and one of the guys in the palace were the grand-son and son of the guy who had delivered the other scroll to Josiah, and Elnathan’s dad, Achbor, was involved too (2 Kings 22:15).  At the end of the reading they told Baruch that they were going to tell the king what they had heard for him.

In verses 17-19 the religious leaders to whom Baruch had read the scroll asked him where it had come from, did Baruch write it (like maybe he was writing what he remembered) or had Jeremiah told him what to write.  Baruch informed them that he had written down words dictated to him by Jeremiah.  The officials told Baruch to go find Jeremiah and hide.  Clearly at least part of their fear was for the safety of Baruch and Jeremiah.  They must have also had some sense that the words were actually those of God; they were going to report them to the king whom they believed would be very unhappy about the message.  If they had though the words were just Baruch’s biography of Jeremiah then they probably would not have passed them on.  I’m sure they feared for their own safety too, since they would be delivering an unpopular message to Jehoiakim.

I think it’s important to see that being God’s messenger can be a risky job.  In 2 Corinthians 5:20 we are told that we are Jesus’ “ambassadors”; he says that God is using us to bring the world back to him.  In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus told his followers to go into the whole word and make followers (literally “students”) of his.  It is clear from the history in the Old Testament (see “The Old Testament Connection”), from the history of Israel and Judah, and from our own personal histories that people like to do their own thing, nobody likes to admit that they are a failure and that they cant get by on their own.  The message of Jesus is “good news” but it also offends almost everyone.  The message of Baruch could have been good news, there was time to turn back, but most in Judah were offended.  That is why Jeremiah and Baruch needed to hide, but they needed to proclaim too. We need to tell the world about Jesus, through our lives, our actions, and our words but many wont like it and some may even try to harm us.  E need to be faithful and careful.  In the book of Mark Jesus said he had come to teach (Mark 1:38) but he was also careful when in the presence of those who hated him.  He was focused and wise making sure he could finish all that God had for him to do.  We need to be faithful too, we need to live for and tell others about Jesus.  We also need to be wise when danger is present and carefully figure out what God wants us to do.

God help us remember that we are here to help a lost world understand the way back to you; we need to be Jesus’ ambassadors.  It may take a long time and involve a lot of rejection and suffering but we need to do what you tell us to do; we need to deliver the “word of Yahweh” that as been given to us.  God help us be faithful, keep us safe, and give us words of life, word of healing, words that communicate your love and care for the world.