Year 9, Day 89: Jeremiah 36

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Jeremiah 36 gives us a mix of perspectives.  This chapter speaks of obedience.  This chapter speaks of leadership.  This chapter speaks of complacency.  These are all good topics.

First, take obedience. God tells Jeremiah to write down all the words of the prophecies.  Jeremiah obeys.  He has them written.  Jeremiah tells Baruch to go and read them.  Baruch is obedient.  Some of the city elders hear the words and tell Baruch to come read them in front of everyone, Baruch obeys.  Throughout this entire chapter we hear obedient servant after obedient servant pursuing God’s will.

The chapter also speaks about leadership.  Kudos to the city leaders for hearing the words and wanting to take them seriously.  They ask Baruch to come and read them before everyone.  They even go so far as to tell Baruch and Jeremiah to hide while they go before the king and read the words.  They handle themselves in righteousness in the midst of a very trying time.

On the other hand, the chapter speaks of Jehoiakim.  He could have heard and repented!  The whole point of God’s action was to prod him and his people into repentance.  Instead of repenting, he burns the scroll.  This is a significant issue for leadership.  In this one act of rebellion, he also hinders the people’s ability to repent as well.  He certainly doesn’t prevent their repentance, but he absolutely makes it more difficult for them to come to repentance!

Unfortunately, this allows a revisit of the leaders in Jerusalem.  They did marvelously in bringing the content to the king’s attention.  Unfortunately, history tells us that Jerusalem never came to repentance.  Babylon defeated Jerusalem and went into exile.  The leaders could have gone to the people themselves.  They could have circumvented the king.  They didn’t.  When the king burns the scroll, the fade back into the shadows rather than risk asserting themselves against the wishes of the king.

This brings up the topic of complacency.  Humans beings often choose the easy way.  We choose the path of least resistance.  The bold person stands up to do bold things in times of trial.  The average person fades into the shadows, not wanting to buck the system r risk losing what they have.  In the end, God gives the people an opportunity to save themselves.  The leadership fails the people because complacency is easier than boldness.

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