A Story of God and All of Us - By Roma Downey Page 0,68
But his is not a position of power. Jeremiah is hunched, his head and wrists locked in the wooden stocks. Though he is an old man, deserving of respect, a pulsating wave of people walk past as the sun rises over Jerusalem. They could ignore him as they make their way to the well to fetch the morning water. Or they could easily find an alternate route on their way to the market for their daily bread. Instead, the abuse of Jeremiah has become a game. He is defenseless against the shouts of abuse. His beard is thick with spittle and vomit. Jeremiah accepts it. This is his lot in life.
Jeremiah knows he was marked out by God as a prophet before he was even born. "Why does the way of the wicked prosper?" Jeremiah asks God, hoping the conversation will help him endure this humiliation. "Why do all the faithless live at ease when the faithful are hunted down like dogs?"
Jeremiah's will has finally been broken. He no longer has the strength to speak God's message. His body aches each and every day from his many injuries. His head has been shoved to the ground and kicked more times than he can remember. He is a one-man army, fighting a weak king and a wayward people. He is alone. Always alone. Not a friend in the world. But this habit of talking to God has been with him a lifetime. When Jeremiah tires of the fight, God is his refuge and his solace. His comforter. God's words are a lamp unto his feet in times of darkness, showing him the way to go.
Jeremiah talks to God, if only out of that lifetime habit. "They will never hear,"
Jeremiah mumbles. "If I cannot open their hearts with truth, and help them remember the Lord's compassion, what else is left?"
God hears all prayers. He answers them in many ways. Jeremiah is at 170
his lowest ebb, and his prayers to God are answered by his one friend on earth: Baruch. The scribe hurries to the stocks, where he bribes the soldier standing guard to unlock the chains. The soldier is shocked to see a member of the royal court standing before him, wearing the brightly colored robes of his position. He takes the money and looks the other way.
"Why are you doing this?" Jeremiah asks, as Baruch drags him away. "If they find out, you'll lose everything."
Baruch would not ordinarily put himself at such great risk, but God has moved him to act, putting it upon Baruch's heart to help Jeremiah. So as he comes to Jeremiah's aid, he says the words God placed so carefully on Baruch: "I can no longer remain silent. I've seen you before. I've heard you speak. And I've always known that God is with you."
Baruch pulls Jeremiah into a small room in the temple. Finding a cloth and bucket of water, he cleans the scum off Jeremiah's face. But Baruch recoils as he begins to sponge the blood from the prophet's back, laid bare so many times by whips and beatings that thick, ropelike scars crisscross the flesh.
Jeremiah pulls away from Baruch. The scribe is about to apologize, thinking that the scars were Jeremiah's secret, and that he has somehow
embarrassed his new friend. But the prophet is clutching his head and struggling to his feet. Baruch instinctively reaches out to help, but Jeremiah waves him away and steadies himself on a nearby pillar. His whole body is convulsed, and his thoughts no longer reside in the present.
Baruch steps back, unsure of what he is seeing. Then Jeremiah begins chanting like a seer, channeling the words of God. "They have set up their detestable idols... defiled my house..."
The scribe is aghast as he realizes that it is not Jeremiah who is speaking.
Baruch is listening to the words of God, as God speaks them. He frantically hunts for a scroll to write it all down.
"Prepare yourself. I am bringing disaster from the North," Jeremiah continues. "I am bringing terrible destruction."
Baruch scribbles furiously.
"I will give their children over to the famine, hand them over to the 171
power of the sword," Jeremiah continues. "I will hand all your country over to
my servant... the king of Babylon. I will make even the wild animals subject to him."
Neither Baruch nor Jeremiah knows it, but this prophecy of God's wrath is all too real. King Zedekiah's betrayal of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon is about to be punished.