Today is the sixth Sunday after Pentecost. My “Pastoral Desk Calendar” makes note that this past week we had commemorations for the “Presentation of the Augsburg Confession” on Monday, and if you read your Portals of Prayer on Monday you were reminded of such. On Tuesday we commemorated the prophet Jeremiah; on Wednesday, Cyril of Alexandria, Pastor and Confessor, on Thursday; Irenaeus of Lyons, Pastor, and on Friday; St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles. That is a lot of people to remember for one week. And as we are reminded to remember these people of faith we are also reminded that we do not remember them as to worship them, but as a way of putting their lives, sinful as they were as well, before us as examples of lives of faith for us in our world today. Now, for more fun, let us get to our text for today.
But before we get into our actual text we need a little review of the background of the children of Israel. Simply stated, God chose the children of Israel out of all the other nations on the earth. God chose them to be His people and He would be their God. God chose them to be the nation through which the Savior of the world, of all people, the Savior promised back in the Garden of Eden to Adam and Eve, the Savior promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, would be born. They did not choose God, God chose them.
Even though God chose the children of Israel out of all the nations of the earth, they continually turned away from God. The history of the children of Israel is really a roller coaster history. They would be close to God. They would be fairly being obedient to God and His commands, at least mostly. Things would be going well. Then they would let their guard down, as it were, they would allow outside influences to tempt them and they would fall away from God. They would be disobedient and sin. Things would go bad. God would discipline them,. After life got so bad they would repent. God would forgive them. God would deliver them. God would restore and renew them. They would then once again get close to God. They would be fairly obedient to God and His commands, at least mostly. Things would go well. They would let their guard down, again, as it were, they would allow outside influences to tempt them and they would fall away from God. They would be disobedient and sin. Things would go bad. God would discipline them. After life go so bad they would repent. And on and on their history goes, up and down.
The book of Lamentations is a lament, that is, it is a book of crying and weeping. It is a lament over God’s prophecy of the destruction to come upon the children of Israel. The prophet laments as he is given these words to pass on to his own people, the children of Israel. Although the book of Lamentations is a lament over the destruction of the children of Israel, our text is a section of Lamentations in which God shows how He will be merciful. Thus, we see that Lamentations is a book of law and Gospel.
As we get into our text we see that God’s love is shown. We begin at verse twenty-two, “22The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” (v. 22-24).
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,” are words that tell us that the Lord will keep the children of Israel from total destruction, they will not be completely destroyed. Certainly the children of Israel are deserving of destruction, even eternal punishment. However, the Lord has steadfast love, He is a gracious and compassionate God. His usual work is always the work of the Gospel. His unusual work is the work of the Law. Here we are reminded that even though the children of Israel are deserving of and the prophecy is set for their destruction, their destruction will not be a total destruction.
God is faithful, He keeps His promises. Because He is faithful to His promises, He sent Jesus to die for the sins of all people of all places of all times, that includes us. Jesus died for us so that we might have forgiveness. Yet, we remember that the price for sin had to be paid and it was paid by Jesus death on the cross.
Our text continues as the prophet describes suffering. We pick up at verse twenty-five, “25The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. 26It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. 27It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. 28Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him; 29let him put his mouth in the dust— there may yet be hope; 30let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults.” (v. 25-30).
The Lord chastens or disciplines those whom He loves. As the Lord chastens us we learn the discipline of taking up our cross. Our reaction to His chastening and our having to take up our crosses is described in these verses. As we are strengthened in our faith we are even more humbled in our reaction. We see the differences in how we react to His chastening as we see the levels of humbling, beginning with the easiest and going to the hardest. First, in our chastisement we “sit alone in silence” and wait on the Lord and patiently bear our yoke. This is the easiest, although, to sit in silence and wait patiently as we struggle through pain, suffering, or sorrow, is not necessarily the way we would like to deal with our discipline.
Second, in our chastisement we put our mouth in the dust as we wait on the Lord and patiently bear our yoke. On this level of dealing with the Lord’s discipline, we are asked to humble ourselves to the point that we put our mouth in the dust that is we admit that it is our own fault which brings on the discipline we are suffering. We do not repent that we got caught, but we actually repent of our sins.
Third, in our chastisement we “give [our] cheek to one who strikes” us as we wait on the Lord and patiently bear our yoke. This is truly the hardest and most humbling of the ways in which we react to the Lord’s discipline. Not only do we sit silently and wait patiently during our discipline, not only do we shut our mouths in shame and admit that we are the cause of our need for discipline, but we also give our cheek, we open ourselves up to being disciplined. That is the Law.
But there is comfort, there is Gospel. We continue at verse thirty-one, “31For the Lord will not cast off forever, 32but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; 33for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men.” (v. 31-33).
The prophet reminds us that we will not be chastened or disciplined, we will not be cast off forever. The Lord disciplines us in order to affect a change in us. The Lord disciplines us in order to strengthen us in our faith. The Lord disciplines us for a short time. In Exodus we are reminded that the Lord’s justice if only to the third and fourth generation, but His loving kindness if for a thousand generations. The Lord’s Gospel always far out reaches His Law.
The Lord’s discipline is but for a short time. And even during our time of grief, the Lord will show us His unfailing love. His unfailing love is shown to us in Christ. Again, God’s Holy Word reminds us that it was while we were enemies of God, fighting against Him, while we were in the middle of our sinning, that is when Christ died for us.
Just as a parent disciplines a child out of love for that child, so too, the Lord does not chasten us for nothing, but He does so out of His great love for us. The Lord chastens us in order that we might see our sins and repent; not repent that we got caught, but actually repent of the sins we have committed, in order that we might be given forgiveness of our sins and in order that we might be strengthened in our faith in Him; and in order that we might be drawn closer in our relationship with Him.
What does this mean? This text reminds us that we need to be disciplined and chastened. As we were reminded last week, we want and need boundaries and because God loves us so much He has given us good boundaries, the Ten Commandments. We want and need boundaries so that we know we are safe, so that we can have law and order, peace and harmony. When we test those boundaries, when we trespass and transgress those boundaries then we need to be chastened and disciplined. We need discipline because there are so many ways to sin. Sin is doing wrong, missing the mark of God’s perfection, but sin is also when we refuse the gifts that God has to give. To know that we sin by refusing God’s gifts means we need to be careful to not refuse His good gifts and blessings. We refuse God’s gifts by staying away from them and by staying away from where the Lord gives His gifts. The Lord gives His gifts through the means of grace. When we stay away from the Word and from the Sacraments, when we absent ourselves from Divine Service and Bible class, from personal and family devotions, we refuse God’s gifts. When we do not take God’s Word seriously, concerning sin then we cannot take His Word seriously concerning grace, and we have refused God’s gifts.
This text reminds us that God chastens us in order to strengthen our faith; to bring us back to Him; or to draw us closer to Him. The Lord chastens us because He loves us. He shows His love for us in His chastisement and in His compassion.
As we reviewed all those saints that have gone on before us earlier. this text reminds us that those saints were not immune to being chastened by the Lord either. Our Gospel lesson for today remind us that even Peter was rebuked by Jesus. In other places we are reminded that Paul had his thorn in the flesh. The great apostles were human beings like you and me. They were chastened and disciplined by the Lord, like you and me. They also were given the Lord’s grace, like you and me. Jesus died for them, He gave His life for them, just as He gave His life for you and me.
We have God’s word given to us through the Prophets and Apostles of old. God’s Word through the Prophets of old have their fulfillment in Jesus and are attested by the Gospel writers and the Apostles of the New Testament reminding us that God has kept His promises; the promises He made to Adam and Eve; the promises He reiterated to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the twelve tribes of Israel. He has kept His promises that His Law remains steadfast even today, not because He is a mean demanding God, but because He is a God of love who desires good for us, law and order, peace and harmony. Most importantly, He has kept His promise to send a Savior, Christ the Lord, who gave His life for ours. Indeed, the Good News, the Greatest News, the Gospel is that Jesus was born, fulfilling all the promises of the Old Testament, living perfectly for us in our place, fulfilling all the demands of the law for us in our place. Jesus took our sins, trading His perfection for our imperfection. Jesus suffered the penalty for sin, eternal spiritual death, for us, in our place, on the cross so that we might have forgiveness of sins and live, even eternal life. Jesus rose from the dead, defeating sin, death and the devil and giving eternal salvation to all who believe. We rejoice and say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
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