 Lamentations 5 begins with the word, remember. Chad Bird helps us understand the significance of this word. You can click here to read the article. If you read Chapter 5, you might realize that Jeremiah doesn’t share anything he hasn’t already said before. It’s as if he knows that only an act of God can change reality. And perhaps that’s the point of the entire collection of laments… that only divine acts of mercy like healing, humility, servanthood, a crucifixion, and a resurrection can bring complete restoration and freedom to love and serve God and others. Which means that all of life is remembering to die to ourselves so that we can rise again with Jesus.
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 This lament, without the anointed one, is hopeless. But, with Yahweh’s anointed One, Jesus, there is always hope in moments of despair. In Hebrew religion and culture, three roles were designated to represent God’s presence and power.
Prophets were people who were individually called by God to forthtell truth. We think of people like Elijah, Jeremiah, and Isaiah. Prophets are often beaten up and ignored either out of ignorance or fear. Ultimately, prophets bring conviction and comfort to their recipients - even if (or perhaps especially when) they don’t completely understand the message themselves - like Jonah. Without prophets, there would be no real-life truth-telling. Priests were the people who stood between God and His people. If you think of them as bridges, priests will carry God's people's sins, burdens, and praises by offering sacrifices on behalf of a community. In turn, the priests would also echo God’s words of forgiveness, cancel the debt caused by people’s sins, and instruct God’s Word to the people. Without priests, there would be no reconciliation or justice for sin between God and people. Kings were the royal representatives of God’s authority and power in human space. At one point, God’s people saw that other nations had kings who ruled with efficiency and human energy. Forgetting that they already had a King in Yahweh, they asked for a king - and God gave them kings. Some of them were Godly, like David. Others were ungodly, like Saul. Regardless of their character, kings were to execute God’s human laws among communities of people. Without kings, there would be no legal, moral, or ethical order, only chaos. This context is essential to understand when it comes to Lamentations 4 because this Hebrew poem is lamenting the loss of all three unique relationships with God. The prophetic voices have gone silent. The priests have been taken from the temple. The king has been killed. In every sense, for the Hebrew people, God is gone. The good news is that the lament is also a prophetic word in itself. While the lamenter expresses the collective memory that their humanly anointed prophets, priests, and kings are gone (Lamentations 4:20), the title “the Lord’s anointed” is a direct reference to the promised rescuer Messiah from Genesis 3:15. Don’t miss that Jesus is the prophet of prophets, the priests of priests, and the king of kings. He is the One who is also carried off into foreign places, silenced, taken from the temple, and killed on the cross. He is also the One who, three days later, rises again to new life. And that new life continues to speak truth into our world today through His Word. He continues to stand between God and all people because Jesus is the Lamb of God - the sacrifice of sacrifices for all sin. And Jesus is the king of kings who rules and judges with the equity of grace and mercy. This lament, without the anointed one, is hopeless. But, with Yahweh’s anointed One, Jesus, there is always hope in moments of despair.
When you’re in the pit, sometimes you just need to sing something. As a teen, I listened to my “angry music” when I was in the pit of self-loathing. You probably had your go-to music, too. Spirituals rose out of the pit of slavery. If you’re in worship on Sunday, you’ll get to sing one with our choir! And the Hebrew people leaned into well-known songs when they were in the pit of the Babylonian captivity. Lamentations 3 demonstrates how the Hebrews leaned into their ancient songbook: the Psalms. I can find Jeremiah leaning into at least 10 psalms. Read the chapter and see how many you can find. When Jesus is in the deepest, darkest pit of the death on the cross, He also leaned into the ancient Hebrew song: My God, my God why have you forsaken me? (Psalm 22). Music is an art that reminds us of the past, centers us in the present, and points us to the future… and that’s a gift from God we cherish while we’re in the pits of life. Remember, you always have a song to sing. Let me know in the comments what songs you lean into when you’re in the pit… because when you’re in the pit, sometimes you just need to sing something. |
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Pastor Tim Meet Pastor TimTim Bayer has served as Our Savior's Lead Pastor since September 2019. He also serves as an Adjunct Instructor at Concordia University - Irvine, a National Leadership Facilitator and Resource, and with the Northwest District of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. Archives
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