Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Obedience
- Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity. Our true identity comes only from our Father.
Imagine
being as close to Jeremiah as Baruch is.
Imagine seeing all of the persecution that Jeremiah endures. Then imagine hearing Jeremiah say to you, “Hey. I can’t go into the temple anymore because
they hate my messages and I’m banned.
So, guess who gets to go in my place?”
Then Jeremiah looks at you and winks.
Imagine for a moment what you feel.
It would
be only natural to feel a little fear and panic. Jeremiah has gotten nothing but grief for his
messages from God. Now they are your
burden to carry. What do you do?
This is a
great chapter in obedience. Baruch is
obedient. He doesn’t miss a beat. He goes right into the temple and delivers
the message as planned. He knows what
happened to Jeremiah, but he lived obediently in spite of the human reaction.
How is it
that Baruch can respond? He’s able to
see Jeremiah’s example. Even though
Jeremiah has had to put up with personal rebuke, personal scorn, and even
imprisonment, Jeremiah is still around and still hearing from God. He hasn’t been silenced. God has been with Jeremiah all along. How can Baruch continue on? If God has been with Jeremiah, then Baruch
knows that God will be with him in his obedience as well.
The
really cool thing is that what Baruch hopes will happen actually does. Baruch finds a group of people who are
sympathetic to the message. Those people
help protect him when the message has to be delivered to the king, who is less
than sympathetic to the message. God
does protect Baruch as God protected Jeremiah.
Baruch’s obedience is rewarded.
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