Jeremiah 8:18-9:1

8 ¹⁸My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick. ¹⁹Hark, the cry of my poor people from far and wide in the land: “Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not in her?” (“Why have they provoked me to anger with their images, with their foreign idols?”) ²⁰“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” ²¹For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me. ²²Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored?

9O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people!

The historical situation that Jeremiah lived in was a dire one. The small kingdom of Judah was caught between two of the superpowers of that time: Egypt and Babylon. Judah had submitted to Babylonian control with great reluctance. Zedekiah, the king of Judah during this time, eventually rose in open rebellion against the Babylonians and with this rising the Babylonians marched out against Jerusalem determined to put a stop to this small troublesome nation once and for all.

This is not a story of where the little guy wins.

Scholars believe that this lament was written during the time of the Babylonian siege, as the people see the armies that are encircling them close around them, cutting off hope, prosperity, and life.

There are debates about who it is that is lamenting. Undoubtedly the people are lamenting as they cry out that God is not present with them. God and Jeremiah lament over the people's idolatry and yet still refer to them as "my poor people". There is a "cacophony of lamentation" from all corners. The judgment and and horror that is unfolding pains everyone, even God.

This, I think is an important point that needs to be made. No one, not even God rejoices in judgment, as this text makes abundantly clear. I think sometimes when our lives are not going in the direction that we think they should that God is hovering over us rubbing his/her hands together saying, "This will show you!!!" This vindictive image of God that is in our minds does not pay attention to the reality that is shown here. God takes no joy in the suffering that has happened or that will happen. Rather it is another painful reminder of the shattered covenant relationship between God and the people of Israel.

We do not raise our own voices in lamentation very often. To give voice to our sorrow fundamentally scares most of us because it means that it is true. When we admit that we are in pain we become vulnerable to other people and to others. Think of it: to say, like the people of Judah did that God was not present with them in the holiest of places would have been terrifying to admit. To say, as the prophet does, that there is no balm to bring healing to his broken people is a honest, yet brokenhearted cry. And in the midst of this there is a burning question: Why does it matter if God is sorrowful in the midst of judgment and not happy or satisfied with it?

It matters because it should remind us that God will not leave those who raise up their voices in lamentation alone. As Old Testament scholar Terence Fretheim writes in his commentary on Jeremiah, "For God to so enter into the mournful situation means that mourning will not be the last word spoken." Rather than leaving the people and their pain, sorrow and suffering, God has not disengaged with the situation, but is still passionately involved.

In our own lives this is true as well. We are called to be honest in our relationship with God because honesty is what builds trust, and trust as John Calvin reminds us is the essence of faith. By trusting God with our sorrow we invite God's presence into the most painful aspects of our lives so that these painful moments will not be the last word spoken.