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Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Words have power, don't they? A simple phrase can lift us up or tear us down. A carefully crafted speech can inspire a nation or lead it astray. But what about the words of God? Our lessons today confront us with the sheer power, the divine purpose, and the undeniable persistence of God's Word, even in the face of human defiance.

Our primary text comes from Jeremiah 36:1-8, 21-23, 27-31. This dramatic narrative unfolds during a turbulent time in Judah, just before the Babylonian exile. The Lord commands Jeremiah, who is under royal restriction, to do something radical: "Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations, from the day I first spoke to you, from the days of Josiah until today."

This is significant. God isn't just speaking to Jeremiah; He's commanding that His words be written down, recorded for permanence. Why? The purpose is clear in verse 3: "It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the disaster that I intend to do to them, so that everyone may turn from his evil way, and that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin." The written word is a clear, tangible call to repentance, motivated by God's profound desire for their forgiveness and restoration.

Since Jeremiah cannot go to the Temple himself, he commissions his faithful scribe, Baruch, to read this scroll to the people on a day of fasting. Imagine Baruch, standing in the bustling Temple courtyard, publicly reading these weighty words of warning and judgment, followed by the compassionate offer of forgiveness. The people listen, some with fear, some with curiosity. As to why Jeremiah could not go into the Temple, the exact cause isn't definitively stated, but it was a situation that physically prevented Jeremiah from delivering God's message in the temple, necessitating Baruch's role.

News of the scroll reaches the royal court. King Jehoiakim, a notoriously wicked king, demands it be brought to him. And here, we witness one of the most audacious acts of defiance against God's word recorded in Scripture. As the scribe reads the scroll to the king and his officials, Jehoiakim's response is not repentance, but scornful rage. In verse 23, we read: "As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a scribe’s knife and throw them into the fire in the brazier, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier." He systematically destroys God's message, column by column, literally burning away the uncomfortable truth.

This act is more than just burning a piece of parchment; it's a profound rejection of God's authority, God's warning, and God's offer of mercy. And there are consequences. God's response is swift and severe: "Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which King Jehoiakim of Judah burned... And concerning King Jehoiakim of Judah, you shall say: Thus says the Lord: He shall have no one to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day and the frost by night. And I will punish him and his offspring and his courtiers for their iniquity, and I will bring on them and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem and on the people of Judah all the disaster that I have pronounced against them, but they did not listen."

The key takeaway from Jeremiah is this: You can burn the messenger, you can burn the message, but you cannot silence the Word of God. God's word endures. His purpose cannot be thwarted by human arrogance or rebellion. The first scroll was destroyed, but God immediately commanded another, with the same words, plus more.

This brings us to our Gospel lesson from John 5:31-38, which powerfully complements Jeremiah's narrative by shifting our focus from the written word to the Living Word, Jesus himself. Jesus is confronting Jewish leaders who question his authority. He tells them, "If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true." He's not asking them to take his word lightly. Instead, he points to a series of undeniable witnesses who confirm his identity and divine origin.

First, he mentions John the Baptist, a respected prophet whose testimony about Jesus was true. Then, he points to his works – his miracles, his healings, his teachings: "The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify to me that the Father has sent me." These works are not just impressive feats; they are God's stamp of approval, a divine witness. Finally, and most powerfully, Jesus states, "And the Father who sent me has himself testified to me." God the Father is the ultimate witness.

But despite all this testimony—from John, from Jesus' works, from God the Father—the Jewish leaders still do not believe. Jesus cuts to the heart of their rejection in verses 37-38: "You have never heard his voice or seen his form, and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he sent." They diligently searched the Scriptures, believing that in them they would find eternal life, but they missed the core message. They failed to recognize that the very Scriptures they studied were testifying about Jesus himself! They had the written word, but they failed to receive the Living Word.

How do these two profound encounters with God's Word speak to us today?

Jeremiah shows us that human attempts to suppress God's word are futile. You can burn a scroll, but God's truth will find a way to be spoken and known. John shows us that even when the ultimate revelation—Jesus, the Son of God—stands before people, they can still choose to reject him. Yet, his truth remains truth, validated by God himself. God's word, whether written or incarnate, is persistent and will accomplish its purpose.

The Purpose of God's Word is Transformation. In Jeremiah, the word is given so people might "turn from their evil way." It's a call to repentance that leads to forgiveness. In John, the Scriptures are meant to lead us to Jesus, that we might believe in him and have eternal life. Both point to God's desire for our transformation and salvation, not just our intellectual assent. We know, not just in our mind, but in our hearts as well.

King Jehoiakim's burning of the scroll is a chilling symbol of a hardened heart that actively resists God's truth because it challenges his comfortable wickedness. The Jewish leaders in John's Gospel, though outwardly religious, demonstrate a hardened heart that fails to recognize God's voice and truth in Jesus, despite overwhelming evidence. The danger isn't just ignorance, but active rejection or stubborn blindness. These passages challenge us to consider how we receive God's word. Do we, like Jehoiakim, try to cut out the parts that make us uncomfortable, the parts that call us to repentance or sacrifice? Do we, like the Jewish leaders, diligently study the Bible but miss its central message—Jesus Christ? Do we read it, but fail to let it "abide" in us, to shape our lives, to transform our actions?

Haven’t we seen and heard just this, today, where people pull out the parts of scripture that suit their purposes? They dissect scripture to emphasize or support what they want people to believe about them and not about the actual meaning of the entire Word of God.

God continues to speak to us through His written Word, the Bible, and most profoundly through His Living Word, Jesus Christ, who is revealed on every page. May we have ears to hear, hearts to receive, and wills to obey, so that God's powerful and enduring Word may truly take root in us and bear fruit for His kingdom.

Amen.