Lamentations 3,22-26.31-32. 16. Trinity

Lamentations 3,22-26.31-32           4921 

16. Trinitatis 061

Januarius, Bishop of Benevento, Italy. Martyr 305

19. September 2021

1. O Lord God, Heavenly Father, who did send Your Son to be made flesh, that by His death He might atone for our sins and deliver us from eternal death: We pray, confirm in our hearts the hope that our Lord Jesus Christ, who with but a word raised the widow’s son, in like manner will raise us on the last day, and grant us eternal life.  Amen. (Veit Dietrich) 

2. »The steadfast love of Yahweh never ceases; His mercies never end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. I say: „Yahweh is my portion, therefore I will hope in Him.“ Yahweh is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of Yahweh. For the Lord will not cast off forever, but, though He cause grief, He will have compassion according to the abundance of His steadfast love.« 

3. The Prophet Jeremiah wrote Lamentations; it is a poetic lament over the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 586 bc. Jeremiah witnessed Yahweh’s judgment upon faithless, idolatrous Judah. He had warned the people and exhorted them to repent, but they sowed the wind and now they reaped the whirlwind (Hosea 8,7).   

4. Solomon lamented that there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1,9). How often are people called to repent, seek Yahweh and live, but the gospel falls upon deaf ears and stony hearts. Bo Giertz has a chapter about it in his book The Hammer of God. He writes: „[Our heart] is stony ground through and through.… This is the rock foundation we know as the sinful corruption of our human nature, the sinful depravity that remains even after a man has separated himself from all his conscious sins. It is this stony ground that explains why a man is just as great a sinner before God after he has offered God the best he is able to give of obedience and commitment“ (Giertz 265-66). 

5. God’s Word brings us to the realization that we need not only repentance of our sinful conditions but salvation from it (Giertz 267). In the midst of Jeremiah’s lament over sinfulness, he exclaims: »Yahweh will not cast off forever, but, though He caused grief, He will have compassion according to the abundance of His steadfast love.« Our salvation is by grace, and it is a work of God. Outside of Jerusalem there is rocky, stony ground. There the Roman’s would crucify people, and 2000 years ago they crucified Jesus. „So wonderful is God that he let all the curse and penalty of sin fall upon [Jesus] and freely gave Himself in death for us. He was made a curse for our sakes. Thus He redeemed us from the condemnation of the law. He was made sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God. He bore our sins in His own body on the tree, and by His stripes we are healed“ (Giertz 267-68). 

6. The stony heart, the rock foundation of our corrupt human nature (Giertz 268) can only be broken by God. We read in Exodus how Yahweh told Moses to strike the rock with his staff so water would flow and the people could quench the thirst (Exodus 17,6). The death of Christ likewise strikes our stony heart, and redeems us from our hard-hearted sinfulness. The cross stands on the rock of atonement and buy His cross Jesus has redeemed us. Paul tells us that Israel drank from the spiritual Rock that follow them – that rock was Christ (1. Corinthians 10,4). Paul then connects this to the Lord’s Supper. »The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread« (1. Corinthians 10,16-17). 

7. Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the means of grace Jesus has given to break our stony hearts, for these Sacraments give us what Christ has purchased for us at the rock of atonement: forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. Holy Baptism indicates that the old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and died with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and rise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever (Small Catechism Holy Baptism part 4). What is the benefit of this eating and drinking the Lord’s Supper? These words, „Given in shed for you for the forgiveness of sins,“ show that in the Sacrament forgiveness of sins, life and salvation are given us through these words. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation (Small Catechism Lord’s Supper question 3).  

8. Jeremiah concludes Lamentations by writing: »Restore to us Yourself, O Yahweh, so that we may be restored!« (Lamentations 5,21). Jesus Christ, our Lord, has restored us through His death and resurrection. He blesses us through the gifts of the Sacraments. He is compassionate and steadfast in love toward us. All Christianity is bound to Jesus Christ (Giertz 271). The Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer and the Creed teach us the basics of Christianity, and Holy Baptism, Absolution and the Lord’s Supper exhort us where we find the forgiveness of sins, justification and sanctification that Jesus works in us and through us throughout our Christian lives, for the Psalmist tells us: »O satisfy us early with Thy mercy, O Yahweh: so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days« (Psalm 90,14). 

9. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7).  Amen. 

12. Let us pray. O Lord, the Redeemer of Your people; daily remind us that Your covenant of mercy endures forever, so that we acknowledge the awesomeness of Your Name.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2019 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2020 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. 

   Giertz, Bo. The Hammer of God. Copyright © 2005 Augsburg Fortress Publishing.