Lamentations 4 – April 3, 2019
Alas. What do we do with a text that has God’s favored suffering so deeply that no religious life remains, no power resides with authority and not even a mother’s love can be counted upon? How do we put into modern parlance, or at least modern context, a devastation so great that mothers – a word the Jewish texts translate as “tender-hearted women” – cook their children in order to survive? What lesson is there in such grave despair?
Unfortunately, we don’t have to look far to see similar tales of woe unfolding at this moment. We need only look at Syria or Yemen and the devastation that leaves babies so thirsty and hungry their “tongues cleave to their palates”; we need only look to the southern border of our own country to see those who have suffered, struggled and starved crying out for help yet spurned by those who want for nothing. We should note, though, that the text from Lamentations describes the scorn the Israelites faced at the hands of their enemies – those who did not share their faith in one God – YHWH. How much more damning, then, that our modern scenes include those who not only share our humanity, something that we Christians are quick to call upon as a source of compassion, but they also share our faith in YHWH – are not just children of Abraham, but are even Christians! It could be tempting to read this text as just deserves for those who don’t “do as they should.” We might even find our minds wandering toward asking what these folks have done to deserve divine punishment, trained as we are to believe in an eye for an eye. But a better use of our time might be listening to the prophetic voice in this lamentation, the one that warns those who scorn the suffering and ignore the starvation that the cup will come to them in time. This voice reminds those who struggle now – those fleeing violence in South America or the Syrian Civil War – that the struggle will end; the pain will not be infinite. But that same voice also reminds those who would leave their fellow humans bereft of care or hope that anyone can and will be the one who suffers next.
Like the Samaritan who crosses the road in order to see the injured man, we are called by our faith to see and to hear those who suffer and to act to restore their health and dignity. To not is to sin – to break the beloved community. The message of Lamentations 4 is an injunction to those of us with privilege; we are to see the tragedy unfolding at our borders, to wail about the injustices committed in our names, and to resist the demonization of the Other that allows for the dehumanization of those in pain. Alas.