Believing is Seeing

Image Credit: An den Wassern Babylons (By the Waters of Babylon) – Gebhard Fugel, Diözesanmuseum Freising

 

Proper 22 (27), Year C
5 October 2025

Lamentations 1:1-6
Lamentations 3:19-26
2 Timothy 1:1-14
Luke 17:5-10

 

Some tragedies become central to our human story. For example, World Wars 1 and 2 are central to the 20^th century European story.

The destruction of Jerusalem’s temple in 586 BC is central to the Jewish story. Even today Jews argue that the 586 tragedy was as great as or even greater than the Holocaust. Jews commemorate the Babylonian destruction of the first temple through the annual Tisha b’Av fast. On the evening of Tisha b’Av Jews recite the book of Lamentations. Tisha b’Av is not just about mourning history but it also serves as a time of self-reflection and penitence. Tisha b’Av includes a focus not just on the past but also a focus on the present and on the future. This morning I invite us to join our Jewish neighbours in a time of self-reflection, penitence and a focus on the present and the future.

I begin with self-reflection. Self-reflection includes an honest look at the past. Jerusalem’s past in 586 was a past filled with evil words and evil actions. Here is how the writer of 2 Chronicles describes the past for the lonely city of Jerusalem who we meet in our reading from Lamentations this morning. (2 Chronicles 36:14) “All the leading priests and the people were …… exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations; and they polluted the house of the Lord that he had consecrated in Jerusalem”…… they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising His words, and scoffing at His prophets until the wrath of the Lord against His people became so great (ominous words) that there was no remedy.

The consequences of the people’s unfaithfulness were devastating. The Babylonians invaded Israel. The Babylonians had no compassion on young men or young women, the aged or the feeble …. The Babylonians burned the house of God, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burned all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its precious vessels …… those who escaped from the sword ….. became servants in Babylonian exile far from Jerusalem.

So the opening verse in our reading from Lamentations does not surprise us: “How lonely sits the city that once was full of people! How like a widow she has become, she that was great among the nations! She that was a princess among the provinces has become subject to forced labor.” Jerusalem is compared to a bereaved widow and a degraded princess. The once flourishing capital city of an independent nation is deserted. Many of its people are dead. And the princess, the ruling class, is now subject to forced labor.

An honest look at the past leads to self-reflection. In 586 BC self-reflection needed to be done by the few survivors in Jerusalem. Jerusalem’s self-reflection becomes clear in verse 5 of Lamentations 1. The city of Jerusalem takes on the persona of the bereaved widow. Listen to how the poet describes Jerusalem. “Her foes have become the masters; her enemies prosper because the Lord has made her suffer for the multitude of her transgressions; her children have gone away, captives before the foe.”

As far as Babylon was concerned Judah had rebelled against Babylonian rule. Their rebellion required a response from Babylon. So Babylon destroyed Jerusalem. But as far as Lamentations is concerned, Jerusalem’s rebellion against God had to be punished. People must take responsibility for their evil words and evil actions.

I want to elaborate on our need to take responsibility for our words and actions. The Bible compares God with a loving Father. God, the loving Father, teaches His children to be concerned for the poor, the widows and orphans; God teaches his children to be concerned for the foreigner who has no legal rights in our country, God teaches his children to be concerned for people limited by physical and mental handicaps and to show that concern in tangible ways.

In ancient Israel, when God’s instructions were followed people lived in harmony with one another, kings ruled to benefit their subjects, the needs of the poor, the widows and the handicapped were all looked after. The challenge of the Bible is to allow ourselves to be taught by people who build community, to allow ourselves to be taught by people who love God and neighbour, who have a concern for other people. Israel before 586 obeyed teachers who taught community leaders, who taught kings and priests to ignore God’s instructions and to use their positions of influence to benefit themselves in ways that were community destroying.

The obvious question for us then is: How are we doing in our response to God as teacher?” God is concerned for the poor, the widow, the orphan, and the foreigner who has no legal standing in our community, the person with physical or mental handicaps. I am thankful that our church has a refugee committee working toward bringing relatives from our first refugee family to the safety of Canada. Our culture prizes individualism. The Christian is concerned for the other person. How do we as individuals show our concern for other people? How do we as a church show that concern?

I am thankful this morning that our short reading from the opening poem in Lamentations was followed by our chant from the middle poem in Lamentations. Without this central poem in the book, all we have heard about is suffering, a suffering so great that people and architecture are engulfed in that suffering.

And the opening 2 lines in our chant continue with the theme of extreme suffering. Listen to the poet’s testimony: “The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall!” Wormwood and gall are symbols of bitterness, sorrow and calamity. This person only has bad memories, a likely reaction to the trauma and violence of war – unwanted flashbacks and nightmares. He continually thinks only of his afflictions until he sinks into misery and depression.

But then the poet does the unexpected. The poet makes a deliberate, determined, teeth gritting decision to call something to mind. This is an act of the will, not an act of the emotions. Hope is borne out of pain. He moves from hurting body to hoping lips. This is not a naïve, optimistic hope, but a serious and profound act of expectation that is only too aware of the hurtful reality from which it demands deliverance.

Listen to these unexpected hopeful words. (Verses 22 and 23) The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, God’s mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

The poet speaks to God for the very first time in the book of Lamentations. He speaks these words to God but these words are surrounded before and after by words of uncomforted pain. He speaks these words at a time when people are not yet forgiven for their sin. He speaks these words even as his suffering continues. There is no apparent change in the poet’s circumstances.

But there is a radical reversal in the poet’s perspective. Once he utters the name of the Lord, he cannot help remembering past experiences of God’s covenant love. He quotes from Exodus 34:6, words spoken by God to Moses, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness …” the end of Verse 23 in the poem turns this truth about God’s love and faithfulness into a daily renewed reminder, a reminder that is new every morning. Great is the Lord’s faithfulness. The Lord is known. And the Lord is remembered.

So in verse 24 the poet can say, “The Lord is my portion.” The Hebrew word translated “portion” comes from God’s promises to priests in Numbers chapter 18 verse 20. Priests had no portions of land. God was their portion. God sustained them. Like a priest, this poet is entirely dependent on God for survival. The Lord is his portion. Israel’s portion of land is gone but God is still Israel’s portion.

Our chant this morning finished with some very hopeful words beginning with “Therefore, I will hope in the Lord.” There has been no change in the poet’s circumstances. What is changed is found in the word “patience.” The poet will wait for God and the poet will direct his hope toward God. The poet waits patiently.

And finally there is the word “good” used in two different ways. The Lord is “good” to those who wait for him. And (in response to God’s goodness) it is “good” that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

How this poet can apply the word “good” in the aftermath of the most horrendous suffering under the hands of God’s judgement is amazing. This man knows that punishment does NOT have the last word. He knows God’s promises recorded in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 30:4 talks about punishment this way. God in Deuteronomy says to Israel, “Even if you are exiled to the ends of the world, from there the Lord your God will gather you and from there he will bring you back. God will rescue his rebellious people. The poet can have hope because the Lord is good. The Lord will bring them back.

Often when we apply the word “good” to God, we use the word “good” to talk about our homes, our possessions, maybe our good health. All these are evidence that God is “good” to us. But this poet applies the word “good” to entirely different circumstances. He has accused God of “killing without pity” He has accused God of “destroying without mercy.” He has told God that God has forgotten his people completely.

Do you see the poet’s boldness before God? He blames God for the people’s current miseries. He implies God has renounced God’s covenant with Israel. Yet, he has the audacity to call God back to covenant faithfulness. He boldly insists God do His part. He refuses to accept God’s silence. God guarantees deliverance. So the poet can have hope.

In spite of the evidence to the contrary, this poet is absolutely convinced that it is “good” to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. He is convinced that God is “good.” The man has hope because he is convinced that God is “good.”

Let me summarize. The book of Lamentations is difficult for us to read. It is easy to say God is “good” given that we live in a peaceful country like Canada. The writer of Lamentations tells us God is “good” in the midst of suffering unleashed by the human cruelty of the Babylonians, a suffering that can never be justified.

If you read the entire book of Lamentations you will find that the Babylonians are never spoken of in the entire book. Instead, the poet says… “The Lord has made her (Jerusalem) suffer for the multitude of her transgressions.” Jerusalem sinned greatly. The Lord has rejected Jerusalem. God proclaimed a time of rejection.

The poet knows the pain of God’s abandonment. The poet knows God is free to act as God chooses. But the poet also knows God’s choices must take into account human trouble. The poet refuses to let go of the goodness of God. He remembers God’s goodness in the past. The poet has hope for a future for a people in the midst of a major tragedy – a tragedy that is the result of our transgressions.

I am thankful for the hopeful ending to our morning chant. I am thankful that we call out to God. I am thankful that we can exercise our minds in the midst of the hard times and remember God’s goodness in the midst of these sometimes major tragedies. I am thankful that we can live our lives in hope.

I am also thankful for the hope that becomes more clear as we read the gospels each Sunday. I am thankful that God sent His Son who suffered unjustly and demonstrates beyond all doubt that God’s mercy has the last word. Like our Jewish neighbours, we are people who wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

Amen.

(Ron Vonk)