Sunday 9th March 2008
Lamentations 3:19-33
Evening- Magheralin
DISCLAIMER
Sermons are the fruit of prayerful reflection- having studied the text, commentaries and other people’s interpretation. Any use of particular phraseology or similarity with other people’s work which has not been duly acknowledged is an oversight for which I apologise.
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It seems to me that in recent years-
grief has been nationalised.
Take something like the death of Princess Diana.
Seldom before had so much grief
been expressed so publicly, by so many people.
There had been state funerals-
people filing past deceased heads of state-
processions of black clad mourners.
But there was a sort of hushed quality to those memorials-
that contrasted with the unbridled emotion and near hysteria that poured out in 1997.
We have seen the images- or perhaps witnessed these things first-hand.
Flowers, and teddy bears, and football insignia, and tears, all mixed together.
People are struggling for some way to express- what?
Revulsion, disgust, solidarity, compassion, need and despair.
There are plenty of people to tell us
how to deal with life’s harshest experiences.
I remember, (at College), in one of the counselling classes- someone saying that if people felt like breaking plates then that would be fine;
someone else suggesting that someone should wet a tea- towel and, summoning all their emotion, wring it out as tightly as possible.
That seemed to be a very secular kind of response to the issues people endure.
It could play a part perhaps.
In scripture people tore their clothes, they wore sackcloth or ashes- They expressed themselves physically.
But also in words.
And it is some of those words that we’re going to look at this evening.
Very ancient words- written against a very traumatic background for God’s people.
Like a lot of Old Testament passages,
(perhaps more so than New Testament)
we lose a little of the impact of the text- by reading it in translation.
When it comes to Hebrew- How the passage is written the structure of the text, the clever choice of words- is almost as important as the overall message.
When it comes to Lamentations- it is a hard read- but it is also a work of art!
The first couple of chapters (and the last) use an acrostic pattern.
There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. Each of the verses in those two chapters begins with a different letter of the alphabet. Clever! and a good device to help someone to remember it.
But when it comes to chapter 3, which is our focus this evening- Chapter 3 is 66 verses (we are only going to look at the middle bit...)
and it is 22 stanzas of 3 verses each- and you’ve guessed it-
each beginning with a letter of the alphabet- but read it in English and we miss that.
You might know people who work out their "issues" in poetry or prose...
people who write letters, people who compose blogs on the internet.
But in some ways the book of Lamentations is more like a list of song lyrics.
The book doesn’t have a storyline as such-there’s no narrative.
But as the writer expresses himself- and chapter 3 is in the first person-
there is an invitation to us to see if we can make these words our own.
Sometimes songs only make sense when the writer themselves is singing them- But with Psalms, for example, and Lamentations is like a collection of Psalms- we can make them our own.
So what is the background of the incredible pain that breaks through in the book of Lamentations?
We link our understanding of Lamentations
with the ministry of the prophet Jeremiah.
Jeremiah had a tough time- He had spent 40 years preaching the same message- and from the world’s perspective he was a failure- because the people seemed to take no heed of his warnings.
He suffered personally- but the book of Lamentations deals with the suffering of the people.
When the invading forces destroyed the city of Jerusalem in 587 BC-carrying people away into exile, forcing people into starvation, huge loss of life- a traumatic and defining moment in their history-
there was clearly an outpouring of grief.
I was tempted this evening-
to use the same points about life’s hard circumstances
that I used last week (when preaching on 2 Cor 1)
I wonder would anyone have noticed-
had I said- when life is hard:
Run to God
Learn the lessons of suffering
Show compassion.
But this text is of course slightly different-
The first point this evening is that
we need to acknowledge the problem of human suffering.
Verses 19 and 20:
"I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me."
The writer was obviously dealing with the normal questions, the understandable questions that come to mind in the midst of the hellish
experiences the people were enduring.
What have I done to deserve this?
Why has God allowed this to happen
(which we’ll turn to specifically in a moment.)
But the diagnosis of scripture is always penetrating and honest,
accepting the reality of human suffering, and accepting the reality of divine discipline and judgment.
the guilt of the world-
in individual and corporate sin.
We’re tempted to say immediately
but here’s the good news.
But, we need to stay there just a little longer.
We could rush towards hope-
(and we will sound that more positive note in a moment..)
But we need to recognise how bad the fracture is between us and God-
that has brought this pain.
Lent is a good time, of course, for doing this.
A time for taking our sin seriously-
That’s where we began on Ash Wednesday-
in Hebrews and in Romans.
We don’t want to focus only on sin-
and on its devastating consequences-
but it dulls the hope- if we don’t realise how serious it is.
We will get to the hope
when we have also accepted that God allows human suffering.
This is hard to take!
God not only allows it-
but is in control of it.
This was what Judah,
and by extension everyone else
has to accept- the sovereignty of God- even in suffering.
Verses 27 and 28
"It is good for a man to bear the yoke,
while he is young.
Let him sit alone in silence,
for the Lord has laid it on him."
And then we struggle with the interpretation of verses 32 and 33-
"Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.
For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to the children of men."
God can discipline his children-
but it is
for their own good.
making us better by allowing our circumstances to become worse.
God punishes the sin of Judah-
after seemingly endless warnings-
for their good!
God allows grief-
The writer knows God is ultimately in charge-
chapter 1:20-22
"People have heard my groaning,
but there is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my distress;
they rejoice at what you have done.
May you bring the day you have announced
so they may become like me.
"Let all their wickedness come before you;
deal with them
as you have dealt with me
because of all my sins.
My groans are many
and my heart is faint."
It looks like God has turned against his people-
but, lest we genuinely despair-
this is also a book about hope!
It’s no accident I think-
that right at the heart of the book-
in the middle verses of the middle chapter
of this cleverly arranged collection-
you’ve got a wonderful passage about looking beyond suffering!
Verses 22-24
"Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."
and verse 31
"For men are not cast off by the Lord forever."
As one commentator puts it-
The message of this book of Lamentations is:
"Life is hard, but God is good."
There’s something to hold on to.
We could get all Hebrew again-
but it’s probably enough to say that God is faithful to his covenant.
They have broken their promises,
denied his rule,
and doubted his salvation.
But God is loyal,
he is unchanging,
he shows parental concern for the people,
his love does not run out.
You get the hint from Lamentations-
that looking back, the writer can see God’s faithful hand.
He sees that they can come through
he knows he is dealing with the living God.
But we have more to look back on this evening.
We look back to what Jeremiah was looking forward to.
To God dealing not just with human pain but with the sin problem-
because the ultimate response to the problem of suffering is clearly
the cross.
Jesus’ death on the cross is both sacrificial and tragic-
it is an instance of human suffering and of divine grace,
it is a life willingly given- but also cruelly taken-
both in fulfilment of God’s law and against it.
How can we respond practically to what we have heard.?
Be honest with people about the pains of life.
"The world" does not need Christians telling everyone life is always rosy- it needs us to deal with things the way they are.
Acknowledge the problem and barrier of sin-
and confess it in repentance.
Acknowledge the faithfulness of God and rejoice in it.
We can face the pains of life,
which as we said last week, and this,
will inevitably come.
We have choices-
we can live in Christ or not.
with the Holy Spirit in us or not.
We can face the pains of life with God or without him.
