Prophetic Lament

A Call for Justice in Troubled Times

Soong-Chan Rah

• Publisher: IVP
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9780830897612
• Topic: Teologia e religione
• Subtopic: Commento della Bibbia

Missio Alliance Essential Reading ListHearts Minds Bookstore's Best BooksRELEVANT's Top 10 BooksEnglewood Review of Books Best BooksWhen Soong-Chan Rah planted an urban church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, his first full sermon series was a six-week exposition of the book of Lamentations. Preaching on an obscure, depressing Old Testament book was probably not the most seeker-sensitive way to launch a church. But it shaped their community with a radically countercultural perspective.The American church avoids lament. But lament is a missing, essential component of Christian faith. Lament recognizes struggles and suffering, that the world is not as it ought to be. Lament challenges the status quo and cries out for justice against existing injustices.Soong-Chan Rah's prophetic exposition of the book of Lamentations provides a biblical and theological lens for examining the church's relationship with a suffering world. It critiques our success-centered triumphalism and calls us to repent of our hubris. And it opens up new ways to encounter the other. Hear the prophet's lament as the necessary corrective for Christianity's future.A Resonate exposition of the book of Lamentations.

Lamentations 1

It is a moment very few people forget—the moment your father dies. For most of my life, I had a tumultuous relationship with my father. He abandoned our family when I was young and, understandably, I resented his absence. His departure left us in dire financial straits, and we ended up living in a low-income, inner-city neighborhood in Baltimore. My mom took two low-paying jobs to keep our family together, but her long work hours resulted in both my parents being out of the home. Deep-seated animosity built up over the years toward my father. Infrequent and irregular contact with him only fueled my resentment and anger.

Then in his seventies, my dad returned home. Nearly destitute, he took advantage of the graciousness of my mom, who received him back home. She declared that it was the responsibility of the mature Christians (the rest of the family) to extend grace to the one who had wandered away from the faith. She embodied the story of the gracious father loving the prodigal son.

Not long after my father returned to my mom’s house, he suffered a major stroke. After several weeks in the hospital the prognosis was not good, and he was moved from the hospital to hospice where he would linger for nearly a month. My wife, newborn daughter and I were living in Massachusetts when my father was incapacitated in Maryland, so I flew down right after the first stroke. That trip resulted in aggravating my animus toward my father. Not only had he returned after years away, but also he had returned just in time to saddle my mom with the medical bills and to further burden his family. I went back to Massachusetts but returned several weeks later when I was told that he might not have long to live. By this point, my anger had amplified along with his mounting medical bills. I went to his bedside but did not give thought to the reality of his imminent death.

Later that evening I found myself in the family waiting room listening to my mom and my sisters as they began to talk in detail about the funeral arrangements, an event that would happen in just a few more days. It finally hit me with full force that my dad was really going to die. I left the waiting room, rushed over to my father’s room and kicked out my nieces and nephews. Alone with my dad, I sat by his bed and clasped his hand in mine. Through tears and with a tight grip on his hand, I offered him my complete forgiveness. I asked for his forgiveness for the years of bitterness I had harbored against him. Through his tears and his tightening grip, we were reconciled just hours before his death.

The reconciliation that occurred with my father on his deathbed required an important realization on my part: my father was dying and this could be my last chance to talk to him. Our history—a history of loss and pain—took on added meaning when I acknowledged the reality of his death. That reality changed the equation.

Everything dies eventually. The best and worst of lives come to an earthly end. Kingdoms and empires wax and wane. Cities have their moments in the sun then fall into disrepair only to rise up surprisingly from the ashes. Different eras of the church come and go. Local churches are planted and churches shut down. Even churches with impressive buildings made of crystal can declare bankruptcy. Death and its impact cannot be avoided; it must be dealt with. The reality of death and the ongoing cycle of life and death remind us that through it all, YHWH1 remains Lord over all. The question is not whether there will be death, but how we will understand and address this reality.

In Lamentations 1, we encounter a people who have experienced a great loss. Jerusalem has died, and the reality of this tragic event elicits lament. As the people of God recount their suffering and their painful history, they call out to God in the midst of their shame and ask many of the same questions we ask today: Where is our hope even in the midst of suffering and death? Can we see God in all circumstances of life? Does our understanding of a historical reality impact our current reality? Does our response to God reflect our understanding of a shameful history and a painful story that must be acknowledged in the face of death?

1

THE REALITY OF SUFFERING AND DEATH

The Historical Context of Lamentations

Lamentations does not occur in a vacuum. Historical circumstances shape the unique and specific responses that emerge. The devastating effects of the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. serve as the context and impetus for the poetry of Lamentations. Not only does Lamentations address a specific moment in Jewish history, but it also addresses a disaster of catastrophic proportions for God’s people.

Lamentations 1:1-3 offers an overview of Jerusalem’s fall. Verse 1 begins with a description of Jerusalem, “who once was great among the nations,” “once so full of people,” and “queen among the provinces.” The once great and prominent status of Jerusalem contrasts with her current state. She is now “a slave,” “a widow” and “deserted.” In verse 2 we are introduced to her emotions as “bitterly she weeps at night, tears are on her cheeks.” Verse 3 summarizes her experience as “affliction and harsh labor.” The background story that leads to Lamentations culminates with the exile in verse 3: “Judah has gone into exile. She dwells among the nations; she finds no resting place.” (It is noteworthy that Jerusalem is personified as a female. A later section will explore the significance of this personification.)

Jerusalem finds herself alone with no one to turn to for help. The city of Jerusalem has moved from being the capital of a great nation to isolation and alienation, with many of her residents sent away into exile. Delbert Hillers notes that the opening cry of Lamentations 1:1 has the effect of “an incredulous question: ‘How can it be that . . . ?’—an expression of the speaker’s astonishment, grief or indignation at what has happened.”1 The first three verses of Lamentations remind the community why lament is necessary: a national tragedy has occurred. In verses 1 and 2, Adele Berlin finds that “the division into two groups of lines corresponds to the two parallel comparisons between Jerusalem’s past and her present.”2 Lamentations 1:1-2 presents the contrast between the Jerusalem of a previous era and its current state. This reality rooted in a historical event provides the setting for the lament that follows. The fall of a once-great city provides the background for the emotional depth in Lamentations.

The big picture context for the book of Lamentations emerges from God’s historical relationship to the children of Israel. Under the reigns of David and Solomon, the nation of Israel flourished. After King Solomon’s death, two kingdoms emerged: the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Ultimately, both kingdoms were exiled as punishment for their infidelity and unfaithfulness to their covenant with YHWH, with the fall of the northern kingdom preceding the fall of the southern kingdom of Judah. Jerusalem as the capital of Judah was the final holdout against conquerors from the north, and a long siege ended in its eventual conquest by the Babylonian marauders.

The fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians meant complete devastation to the city and her residents. The Babylonians were ruthless conquerors who followed a scorched-earth policy, burning and salting the fields so subsequent crops would be compromised, then proceeding to fill the wells. They destroyed the nation and the land. Particularly upset that Jerusalem had resisted, the Babylonians showed no mercy. As historian John Bright describes: “The land had been completely wrecked. Its cities destroyed, its economy ruined, its leading citizens killed or deported, the population consisted chiefly of poor peasants considered incapable of making trouble.”3 The remnant of Jerusalem stood in utter dismay at the destruction of their once-great city. Jerusalem had measured herself through worldly standards of wealth and prosperity. Now that Jerusalem lay in ruins, those standards were out of reach.

The destruction of Jerusalem serves as the apex of suffering for God’s people. The last stronghold for a formerly great nation fell, inaugurating the exilic period for God’s people. When this tragedy occurs, the people of God tumble to the depth of despair. In Jere­miah 29, we are given a glimpse of two possible responses to the national tragedy of exile. On the one hand, God’s people were tempted to withdraw from the world. On the other, they were tempted to return to their idolatrous ways. Lamentations 1:1-3 reminds us of the tragic set of circumstances that confronts God’s people. They have fallen from the heights. A vibrant city filled with people now lies deserted. A noble queen has now become a slave (v. 1). How will the people of God respond to this tragedy?

Although the proper response to the historical reality of this text is the lament offered in Lamentations, Jeremiah 29 presents two unacceptable options available to God’s people sent away into exile. Jeremiah responds to the situation described in Lamentations 1:1-3 by sending a letter “from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon” (Jer 29:1). Jeremiah 29:4-7 reveals YHWH’s command for the exiles when they are tempted to withdraw from the world:

This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

The call in Psalms to seek the peace and prosperity of Jerusalem is turned on its head with the command in Jeremiah 29:7 to “seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile,” that is, Babylon. The familiar formula and the anticipated call to seek the peace of Jerusalem would have been a sign of hope that the exiles could turn their attention back to the Promised Land. Instead, they are commanded (very unexpectedly) to seek the shalom of Babylon. YHWH implores his people to continue to live life, even in the midst of shattered dreams and expectations. They are to conduct life in all its fullness, including building homes, planting gardens, getting married and increasing in number. Even in the midst of a foreign land, they are not to hide from the world, but instead seek ways to engage and even contribute. Life continues even as a community struggles with its place and identity. Escape from the reality of a fallen world is not an option. Jeremiah confronts the desire by a defeated people to give up and run away. The reality of Lamentations 1:1-3 should not result in the impulse to escape, but instead should result in engagement.

The exiles were disheartened by how far they had fallen as evidenced by Lamentations 1:1-3. God’s people were tempted to flee and disengage from the world around them in response to their reality, but Jeremiah 29:4-7 challenges God’s people to not take that option. Jeremiah’s letter to the exiles does not allow for that option. The people of God are to seek the peace of Babylon and not to disengage with the ready-made excuse that Babylon is a wicked city. They are not to give in to the temptation to withdraw from the world when things are not going as they had planned.

Jerusalem and American Christianity

In contrast, American Christians have often found themselves in positions of privilege in American society. However, the temptation to withdraw from the world has still presented itself to both twentieth- and twenty-first-century Christians in the United States. Similar to the self-view of Jerusalem in Lamentations 1:1-3, American Christians hold an elevated view of themselves. Into the twentieth century, the American church would claim an exceptional status in American society as well as believing in an exceptional status for the United States. However, challenges to the assumption of exceptionalism in the twentieth century would lead to the desire for the church to withdraw from society (similar to the temptation confronting God’s people in Jeremiah 29:4-7).

At the onset of the twentieth century, optimism reigned over the possibility of the church’s role in society.4 For much of American history, the Protestant church held the belief in America’s role as the city set on a hill, shining the light of Christ to all nations. Marsden describes the ethos of the American church in the first two decades of the twentieth century: “Success and progress still seemed the dominant mood, underlined by much rhetoric about unity, together with activism, and by beating the drums for the latest crusade.”5 Hope for a Christian century reigned over American Christianity.

By the end of the first third of the twentieth century, this optimism would be severely compromised. While theological liberals continued to hold a more optimistic view of American society,6 the fundamentalist stream that helped form evangelicalism moved away from such optimism. Theological conservatives in the middle of the twentieth century leaned toward a more pessimistic view of the role of the church in society. Disheartened by a perceived sense of rejection by American society (particularly following the public embarrassment of the Scopes trial), fundamentalists retreated from American society.

Dispensational eschatology provided additional fodder for fundamentalist separatism. As Randall Balmer posits:

Evangelicals suddenly felt their hegemonic hold over American society slipping away. . . . The teeming, squalid ghettoes, . . . festering with labor unrest, no longer resembled the precincts of Zion that postmillennial evangelicals had envisioned earlier in the century. . . . Faced with this wretchedness, American evangelicals looked to alter their eschatology.7

Dispensational eschatology, which envisioned the current epoch of world history as only befitting judgment and destruction, fit this worldview. It asserted that the last days of this world could not be redeemed and that we were simply waiting for the destruction of this world and the institution of the next world. The current world, particularly the urban centers, had become uninhabitable for the good Christian. This increasing pessimism over American cities coincided with the influx of former slaves migrating from the Mississippi Delta to the northern cities and the increased number of non-Protestant immigrants from southern and eastern Europe. Rapid industrialization and the changing face of the urban landscape resulted in an increasingly negative view of cities and of society. White Protestant flight from the city, therefore, became the solution for those fearful of such change.

The negative perception of a changed city aligned with dispensational eschatology. A drastic change from above would be required to stop the flood of secularism and societal decay.

With their embrace of dispensationalism, evangelicals shifted their focus radically from social amelioration to individual regeneration. Having diverted their attention from the construction of the millennial realm, evangelicals concentrated on the salvation of souls and, in so doing, neglected reform e...