As regular readers of this site may know, I teach a Sunday School class at our church, and the lessons that I prepare for them often get converted into articles for this site. While a 40-minute lesson and 500- to 1000-word articles aren’t exactly the same in style and format, there are often messages from the lessons that I like to share here, with varying amounts of re-writing and enrichment.
The Sunday School class that I teach (which has been together for about 50 years) has customarily used another publication (called “The Lookout”, cited below) to suggest the Bible text for each week’s lesson. I typically follow their plan (which goes through various parts of the Bible over a multi-year schedule), and sometimes include points from The Lookout’s commentaries in these articles (trying to cite them when I do so, rather than taking credit for their talented writers’ insights). Every book of the Bible is good to read and study, so there’s no problem in using someone else’s suggestions.
Having said that, I had gotten through a series from the minor prophets, which was challenging for me, even if I learned some things along the way. Then, there was a month of lessons from the book of Mark (when other teachers filled in on a couple of Sundays), followed by a new series on another book of the Bible… Lamentations! Compared to the minor prophets (who can be difficult to understand without context and a timeline), Lamentations seemed like it would be even more difficult to teach from. Perhaps God was trying to remind me, though, that all Scripture is valuable, and not just the parts that I like. (See 2 Timothy 3:14-17)
In any case, the next several articles are from the book of Lamentations. I encourage you to read through this book of the Bible on your own (it’s just 5 chapters, and only a little over 150 verses total).
The NIV introduction to Lamentations suggest a few things about this book. In my own words:
- It was written in the time when Jerusalem had been sacked by the Babylonians, and most of its people exiled.
- It is traditionally ascribed to Jeremiah the prophet as the author. That definitely seems like a reasonable fit, and some of what I read just accepted that authorship as fact. However, the book itself is not signed by him, so I am not dogmatic about this. In fact, one commentator [Willis] suggests that this book may have been a compilation of laments by multiple authors.
- It is a book of song or poetry, but not happy songs or love songs. Instead, these are writings of lament.
The idea of “lament” or “lamenting” isn’t a common one that we talk about. We might refer to lamenting the loss of something, whether a healthy cultural norm, an actor or public figure who passes away, or the inability to find a decent Philly Cheesesteak sandwich. But what is lament, specifically?
Here are a couple of explanations from online research:
“to express sorrow, mourning, or regret for often demonstratively”
Lament Definition & Meaning – Merriam-Webster
“a formal expression of sorrow or mourning, especially in verse or song; an elegy or dirge.”
Lament Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com
And, here is some insight from sources that are more specifically Biblical:
“Whoever is lamenting is expressing great sorrow or regret and even grief about something or someone as in the loss of a life. This lamenting could be verbally expressed in wailing, weeping, and crying. To lament means that something horrific has likely happened in their life and it moves the person deep within their soul and it is outwardly expressed in such a way that it is demonstrative and can’t be overseen by others. You can see examples of lamenting at funerals.”
What Does Lament Mean? A Biblical Definition of Lament Or Lamenting | Jack Wellman (patheos.com)
“There are times in the lives of individuals, groups, even nations when circumstances arise that fill us with sorrow, regret, and pain. Our thoughts and our emotions are complex and not easily captured with words. God provides for us in these times with the gift of lamentation. Most of us aren’t prone to wailing in most circumstances but there are losses and sorrows that lead us to mourn aloud or to grieve visibly or with sound.”
“Every culture has a different comfort level with open demonstrations of grief or sadness and personalities vary in what it looks like to lament. But, just as it’s vital for physical health for doctors to drain an infected wound, it’s also vital to our mental and spiritual health to release the pent-up stress that forms in times of loss. When the doctors open and release infection from a wound, the point isn’t to continuously release infection but to heal. The same is true of lamentation. The point isn’t to live in a continuous state of wailing, but to move toward deep healing.”
“Lamentations is a superb example of how the deepest despair, when expressed aloud to God, can lead to hope and a renewed vision.” (emphasis added)
Lament Meaning – Biblical Definition Explained (crosswalk.com)
In any case, let us remember that lament for the Christian leads to hope.
So, let us pause and sit in lament when the time is right. Let us look around and consider the evil in this world, along with the suffering and the pain. That’s not fun. It’s going to make us feel bad. We might cry or get angry. However, I’m not sure how much our hope means to followers of Jesus Christ if we don’t fully understand how much that eternal hope means in light of how little hope there is without Jesus in this world.
From Sunday School lesson prepared for May 7, 2023
References:
- The Lookout, May 7, 2023, © 2023 Christian Standard Media.
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – Jeremiah-Lamentations, by Timothy M. Willis. © 2002 College Press Publishing Co.
Those Who Sin Differently 