Reading: Jeremiah 33-36, Psalm 22

In the winter of my first year of college a friend talked me into going to see a movie I had never heard of. Today I am highly skeptical of such things, but this friend had convinced me to see The Matrix under similar circumstances earlier that year, and as that series had not yet been ruined by it’s sequels, I was game. The movie was the epic Paul Thomas Anderson drama Magnolia, one of the stranger movies I have ever seen. While I would not necessarily recommend the film, it is certainly not like anything else I’d seen at that point in my life. There are a pile of themes at play in the movie, but I bring it up here because of the setup of a smorgasbord of “chance meeting” stories that loosely connect but don’t appear to have much to do with one another, until by the end you realize the filmmaker is suggesting there is something more than chance at play in all these meetings. The stories, which share characters but little else, are all about the same thing: promises not kept.

Here there are four stories, separated by time and apparently having little to do with one another other than the characters involved, but that all make a single point about obedience.

First we have Jeremiah, who we are reminded is imprisoned, receiving a message about God’s covenant faithfulness. There is as much surety in God fulfilling his promises as there is in the sun and moon continuing to rise and set.

Second, we have the disobedience of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah. He has apparently obeyed God’s command to set free all Hebrew slaves, but then reneged and taken them back. For this he will be displaced to Babylon.

Third we go back in time to the reign of Zedekiah’s brother Jehoiakim, and are told a story about the Rechabites. These are not a tribe of Israel, but a clan of Kenites, the descendants of Moses’ father in law, Jethro. Their forefather had sworn them to a covenant not to become farmers but to remain nomads. Part of the covenant was to not drink wine. The point is they obeyed, and even though this was not one of God’s covenants, he so respects their obedience to their sworn word that he makes them a promise: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall never lack a man to stand before me.

Finally, we get the introduction of Baruch son of Neriah, who serves as Jeremiah’s scribe and mouthpiece during his imprisonment and hiding. During a nationwide fast, which you would think means they are open to hearing from God, Jeremiah has Baruch read a scroll of his prophecies to the leaders of the people, and eventually the king. The leaders of the people hear Jeremiah’s words and are afraid. Afraid for Jeremiah. So afraid they send him into hiding. Good thing, too, since when the king gets his message he tries to have Jeremiah killed. Then he has the scroll read while cutting it up and burning it. Nice campfire activity for the king of Judah, burning Scripture. Following the burning, Jeremiah has Baruch write another copy, and many similar words were added to them. The implication is that this scroll eventually morphs into the book of Jeremiah, which we are currently reading.

So, why is the book arranged this way? What are Jeremiah or Baruch trying to tell us by putting these four stories here, in this order? It is not chronological, clearly, but there is a progression of ideas. Yesterday and in chapter 33 today we heard about God’s faithfulness, which is basically his claim to be obedient to his own sworn words, the covenants. Then we get a story about Zedekiah breaking a pretty big covenant law by enslaving a fellow Israelite. That whole Exodus story being about release from bondage makes this a bit of a slap in the face to God’s covenant with Israel. Third we have a story about a radically faithful people who aren’t even Israelites, but who have obeyed their sworn word. Finally we have Jehoiakim, a king who not only ignores the covenant, but sets fire to the words of the prophet. Jeremiah is making a point about obedience, one that will be picked up by the New Testament writers when they talk about the true children of Abraham as heirs of God’s covenant. God is faithful. God respects faithful people. When God’s people are not faithful, they will be punished severely. There will be a record of their actions and the consequences for future generations.