Not My Mess to Clean Up

Have you ever been in a kitchen or cafeteria where there was a spill and some guy at another table snickers: “I didn’t make that mess, so I’m certainly not going to help clean it up”?  There are other people (we might call them “jerks”) who intentionally make a mess and then laugh at the custodian who has to clean things up.

On the other end of the spectrum are those who will step up and help, despite not being the one who dropped a tray full of food (nor the one who bumped into the tray).  I also think of people (often moms, I think) who will clean everything up at their table in a restaurant and even offer to clean up a spill if the staff will just loan them some towels or a mop.

In Lamentations 5, after14 verses (Lamentations 5:2-15) describing the mess that the remnant in Jerusalem was experiencing after Nebuchadnezzar’s forces invaded, verse 16 pivots to some accountability.

The crown has fallen from our head.
Woe to us, for we have sinned!

Lamentations 5:16 NIV
https://lamentations.bible/lamentations-5-16

The author acknowledges that God’s people no longer hold a place of honor in the Promised Land, but also points out why bad things are happening.  Even if verse 7 seemed to implicate the previous generation, this verse makes it clear that “we” (i.e., a collective or corporate “we”) had sinned.

In our communities, there are times when we should lament sin.  When we do so, though, it’s so easy to say, “Well, I didn’t have anything to do with that” or “At least I wasn’t part of that”.

Have you heard people say this about ugly things in our culture like slavery, infidelity, or abortion?  I understand that many individuals didn’t specifically practice those sins, but there’s an old saying, “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”

Our role as members of a community – whether a nation, a city, a neighborhood, a church congregation, or an extended family – is not just to condemn sin, but to help address it.

• We may need to help people whose parents or grandparents were themselves disadvantaged, leaving them behind the curve of learning how to live both righteously and wisely.
• We may need to help people who are stuck in sin, showing them a better way and introducing them to a Savior who can help them overcome.
• We might also need to help those who have sinned, and are suffering as a result.  People who regret the evil that they have done don’t need more condemnation from us.  They need the same love and forgiveness that was extended to us by God, who not only saved us from the death penalty of our sin, but welcomed us into His family.

To be clear, I’m not advocating broad government programs to do these things.  I believe that people look to the government to be their “savior” because communities and churches have fallen down on the job by not getting to know their neighbors and being a neighbor to them (i.e., in the way that Jesus showed us – see also Luke 10:25-37).  Instead, I’m promoting individual followers of Jesus getting to know specific people and families who are hurting, and showing God’s love to them by teaching, helping, and walking alongside them towards a better life in God’s blessings.

It’s not my intent to accuse you of causing specific problems around you.  While each of us has sinned and made a fallen world worse through our selfish choices, there’s not always a straight line from our neighbor’s suffering to our own sins (just as there isn’t always a direct connection between our own hurts and our own sins).  However, I do wish to challenge all followers of Jesus to join me in looking for ways to make things better for others around us.  Condemnation of sin without trying to make things better for those who are hurt by it is like leaving a baby in a wet diaper: it’s just mean.

In summary, “I didn’t hurt that person, so I don’t need to help them” cannot be an excuse for those who strive to live like Jesus.  He didn’t sin, but yet reached out to help countless people who had been hurt by a fallen world where sin was taking a terrible toll.  May His followers admit it when we have been either part of the problem or not part of a loving solution, and show love to others like Jesus did.

From Sunday School lesson prepared for May 14, 2023

References:

• The Lookout, May 14, 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.