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Context No. 2101 of 4322 · Baruch

Context · Reflection

Baruch 1:1-9: in context

1These are the words of the book which Baruch the son of Nerias, the son of Maaseas, the son of Sedekias, the son of Asadias, the son of Helkias, wrote in Babylon, 2in the fifth year, in the seventh day of the month, at the time when the Chaldeans took Jerusalem and burned it with fire. 3Baruch read the words of this book in the hearing of Jechonias the son of Joakim king of Judah, and in the hearing of all the people who came to hear the book, 4and in the hearing of the mighty men, and of the kings’ sons, and in the hearing of the elders, and in the hearing of all the people, from the least to the greatest, even of all those who lived at Babylon by the river Sud. 5Then they wept, fasted, and prayed before the Lord. 6They also made a collection of money according to every man’s ability; 7and they sent it to Jerusalem to Joakim the high priest, the son of Helkias, the son of Salom, and to the priests and to all the people who were found with him at Jerusalem, 8at the same time when he took the vessels of the house of the Lord, that had been carried out of the temple, to return them into the land of Judah, the tenth day of Sivan—silver vessels which Sedekias the son of Josias king of Judah had made, 9after Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon had carried away Jechonias, the princes, the captives, the mighty men, and the people of the land from Jerusalem, and brought them to Babylon.

The book of Baruch opens with a scene of the exiles in Babylon responding to the reading of God's word. Baruch read the words of the book in the hearing of the king's son and the elders and all the people, from the least to the greatest. And their response was not mere listening. They wept, fasted, and prayed before the Lord. They took up a collection of money according to each person's ability and sent it to Jerusalem for offerings, along with the returning temple vessels. The word they heard moved them to grief, prayer, and concrete action.

What the exiles do when they hear God's word is instructive: they respond with their whole selves. They do not simply listen and move on; the word pierces them, and they weep. They turn to God in fasting and prayer. And they act, gathering money and sending it to support the worship at Jerusalem. Their response to hearing God's word was grief over sin, turning to God in prayer, and concrete deeds. The word did not merely inform them; it moved them, and it moved them to action. This is the response God's word is meant to produce in us, and it exposes how often our own hearing falls short. We can hear God's word regularly and remain unmoved, unchanged, listening without weeping, hearing without turning to God, receiving the word without acting on it. The exiles show a fuller response: their hearing led to grief over their sin, to prayer, and to deeds. Be doers of the word, James urges, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. The hearer who does not act, he says, deceives himself; the word rightly heard produces not just listening but response. When Ezra's people heard the law read, they wept; when Josiah heard it, he tore his clothes; and here the exiles weep and fast and pray and give. The right response to God's word engages the heart and issues in action. This searches how we hear God's word. Do we listen and remain unmoved, hearing without being pierced, receiving the word without turning to God or acting on it? Or does the word move us, as it moved the exiles, to grief over sin, to prayer, to concrete deeds? God's word is not given merely to be heard but to be responded to, with a moved heart and with action. The exiles wept, prayed, and gave when they heard the word; and we too are called not merely to hear God's word but to let it move us, turning us to God in prayer and repentance and issuing in the deeds that show we have truly received it.

When I hear God's word, do I listen and remain unmoved, hearing without being pierced and receiving it without turning to God or acting on it, or can the exiles, who wept, prayed, and gave when Baruch read the word to them, show me the fuller response God's word is meant to produce, so that I let it move my heart to repentance and prayer and issue in concrete action, being a doer of the word and not a hearer only?

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