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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
War atrocities, like those alleged against Russia in Ukraine, including possible genocide, are nothing new in the history of war. For example, in tonight’s Reading of the second of five laments over the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, laments usually held to be Divinely‑inspired through the prophet Jeremiah, we hear of such things as young and old, women and men, fallen by the sword in the dust of the streets, killed by the Lord; infants and babies fainting for hunger in the streets of the city like a wounded man and their life’s being poured out on their mother’s bosom; and women eating the fruit of their womb, the children of their otherwise tender care. Such consequences of sin prompted the elders of the people to sit on the ground in silence, to throw dust on their heads, and to put on sackcloth; such consequences of sin prompted the young women of the city to bow their heads to the ground; and such consequences of sin prompted the inspired prophet to call both for the people to pray ceaselessly to the Lord and for the Lord Himself to see what He not only was passively permitting but also was actively carrying out against His chosen people. Thus, what I have termed “Jeremiah’s Lament”, is the fifth and final of our “Snapshots of Repentance” for this Lenten season; like the “Golden Calf”, “Aaron and Miriam”, “Achan’s Sin”, and “David’s Son” before it, “Jeremiah’s Lament” is an another example of both repentance and forgiveness of sins that is not only instructive but also comforting for us. For, our native land does not have to have suffered the cruel ravages of war, nor do our lives have to lie in shambles, in order for God to use tonight’s Reading for our benefit.
In the Reading, striking is the Lord’s righteous anger against Jerusalem—righteous anger that did not spare even: His Ark of the Covenant (if it still existed at that time in the Temple’s Most‑Holy Place); righteous anger that did not spare even His Temple; righteous anger that did not spare even His altar; righteous anger that did not spare even His priest and prophet (killed in the Sanctuary); righteous anger that did not spare even the proclamation of His Word and the finding of prophetic visions; and righteous anger that did not spare even His festivals and Sabbath. Rather, the Lord seemed to have given Jerusalem’s enemy reason to celebrate their victory as its people once celebrated before the Lord, but Jerusalem’s people had listened to false prophets, with their deceptive visions and misleading oracles, false prophets who did not expose the people’s iniquity or restore their fortunes with forgiveness. The resulting hypocritical worship of the Lord was just part of the people’s blatant God-defying sin and covenant-breaking rebellion for which, after nearly a millennium of exceptional patience waiting for the people to repent, God finally executed the curses with which He long before had warned them (for example, Deuteronomy 27:1-28:68). To the people, the situation was as if God had undone all that He had done for them since He had brought them out of Egypt, as if their end had come, as if God had cast them off, and as if all God’s promises had come to nothing.
The sinful nature that they and we share, and our actual sin, deserve God’s same righteous anger, carried out in its fullest measure. Too often we despise preaching and God’s Word; we do not hold His Word as holy; we do not gladly hear and learn that Word; and we do not receive as we should that Word in its Sacramental forms. Such sins against the Third Commandment are just part of our blatant God‑defying sin and covenant‑breaking rebellion. In the Reading, the elders’ and young women’s repentance was too late to prevent Jerusalem’s destruction, though presumably not too late to prevent their eternal damnation. Likewise for us, when we turn in sorrow from our sin and trust God to forgive us for Jesus’s sake, then God gives us eternal salvation, even if here and now we still suffer consequences for our sin.
In the Reading, like mothers who could not feed their starving children, Jeremiah seemed unable to comfort the people of Jerusalem, but that seeming inability does not mean that the people of Jerusalem were, much less that we are, without comfort. Even in such severe punishment from God there was still hope, but relief would have to come from Him. Despite what God had done, He alone could and eventually did remedy their situation, as He alone did and does remedy our situation. As Jeremiah says in his next lament, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to and; they are new every morning, so great is His faithfulness. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him in faith, to the soul who enabled by Him seeks Him; so, good is that one waits quietly for the salvation of the Lord and puts his mouth in the dust. For, the Lord will not cast off forever but will have compassion according to the abundance of His steadfast love. (Lamentations 3:22-33.) Indeed, that steadfast love sent God’s Son into human flesh and to the cross bearing the sins of the world. There, as Jerusalem’s enemies had scoffed at Her, His enemies scoffed at Him (Matthew 27:39). There, He died for us, in our place, the death that we deserved. And, because He rose from the dead never to die again, so, if we suffer death here and now, will we rise from the dead never to die again.
In the words of the Reading, God “restores our fortunes”, and God “restores our fortunes” through His Word and Sacraments, which is partly why in the Reading God’s seemingly bringing an end to Divine service is so striking! Yet, God did not forever deny the people then, and He presently supplies us with His Word and His Sacraments! The bread and wine that the infants and babies cried for in the Reading can make us think especially of the Sacrament of the Altar where bread is the Body of Christ given for us and wine is the Blood of Christ shed for us so that as we, who are baptized and absolved, eat and drink we also receive the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.
So blessed by God through His Word and Sacraments, we are transformed. We begin to at least try to keep His Commandments, including His Third Commandment, regarding the right use of His Word and Sacraments, and all His other Commandments, as well. And, since, even transformed, in this lifetime we fail to keep those Commandments perfectly, with daily sorrow over our sin and trust in God to forgive our sin, we live both in the forgiveness of sins that we receive from God and the forgiveness of sins that we extend to one another. We know that those who trample underfoot the Son of God, who profane the Blood of the Covenant that sanctifies them, and who outrage the Spirit of Grace deserve a much worse punishment than death here and now (Hebrews 10:29). So, we repent daily while we can, until we finally experience our full and complete transformation with the glorification of our bodies on the Last Day in the unmediated eternal presence of God.
“Jeremiah’s Lament” is one “More Snapshot of Repentance”, that, like the other “Snapshots of Repentance”, is both instructive and comforting for us. For, we have seen sin and its temporal consequences, but we have also seen repentance leading to forgiveness of sins, forgiveness given especially through God’s Word and Sacraments. Holy Week is soon upon us, until then, may God bless our repentant walk in this season of Lent to the glory of His Holy Name.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +