Daily Bible Reading: Lamentations 4-5 and Romans 16

Lamentations 4 – This section of Lamentations is about what it was like to be in Jerusalem after its fall in 586 BC. As much misery as we may have experienced, it is not anywhere near the desolation that affected the inhabitants of this city. There are places in the world where life is as terrible, but I have not known anything like this.

“Happier were those killed by the sword, than those pierced by hunger, whose life drains away, deprived of the produce of the field. The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children; they became their food in the destruction of my people” (4:9-10). The prophet goes on to warn Edom that her destruction will also come.

Lamentations 5 – The people of Israel are terribly persecuted and bear the yoke of their “fathers’” crimes. They suffer all the terrible things people suffer today in Sudan and Congo and other conflict-ridden hotspots: famine, violence, rape of their women and abuse of the young.  “Make us come back to you, Yahweh, and we will come back.” (5:28)

Romans 16 – Good-byes and commendations.  He mentions Phoebe, a deacon from Cenchreae, and many other workers in the church, some of whom may be his relatives.  He also cautions them to be wary of “those who cause dissensions and offenses, in opposition to the teaching that [they] have learned . . .” (15:17).

Tertius, writer for Paul, greets them and sends along the greetings of others. Then some last words of benediction and an allusion to the “revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith . . .” (15:25-26).

There has been much recent discussion of whether and to what degree there are elements of Gnosticism in the early preaching of the gospel, and this is one of the passages used to prove that there was.  I don’t think Paul was opening the door to the Gnostic elements that might have been present in his day, but I do think there is in the Christian gospel an intellectual, imaginative dimension that is Gnostic-like.  By this I mean an intellectual and imaginative delight simply in seeing ‘the truth’ (or those degrees of truth we are given a vision of) set forth in the Christian gospel.  I experience it when I consider the way the scripture narrative finds its fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus.  The fact that we know today that the scriptures were actually not dictated by God but were the product of many writers and editors is to me cause for even greater amazed delight and faith in the Holy Spirit—for His one unifying intelligence is the fruit of a great coming together of circumstances, personalities, happen-stances and whatever.  Still it can be seen as a great unifying intelligence.  Anyway, I think this is what Paul is talking about here when he refers to the way the writings of the prophets shape our understanding of Christ.  The power of this gnosis to bind us to Christ, to shape a vision of how great God is, how He embeds Himself in His creation and in our distinctive human consciousness is very great.  I am not sure it is something you must see or appreciate to be a Christian, but it is certainly one of the beautiful things our faith offers.

Daily Bible Reading: Lamentations 3 and Romans 15

Lamentations 3 – If you are not torn apart by the words of this lament, I do not understand it. The comments I have in my notes on this reflect the many different “states of mind” I have brought to it over the years. It slays me every time.

Here are the first three verses:

“I am one who knows what it is to be punished by God. He drove me deeper and deeper into darkness and beat me again and again with merciless blows. He has left my flesh open and raw, and has broken my bones. He has shut me in a prison of misery and anguish. He has forced me to live in the stagnant darkness of death. He has bound me in chains; I am a prisoner with no hope of escape. I cry aloud for help, but God refuses to listen. I stagger as I walk; stone walls block me wherever I turn” (3:1-9).

But then at the deepest moment of despair, we sense an inward turning: “I have forgotten what health and peace and happiness are. I do not have much longer to live; my hope in the Lord is gone. The thought of my pain, my homelessness, is bitter poison. I think of it constant, and my spirit is depressed. Yet hope returns when I remember this one thing. The Lord’s unfailing love and mercy still continue, fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise. The Lord is ALL I HAVE, and so in him I put my hope” (3:17-24).

           

The idea that the Lord is our portion—almost our fate—is so important.  Here we have a Lord that is equally our worst enemy (enemy to all that would let Him down) and our best lover.  We can find our meaning nowhere but in Him, but it is not always fun—he is our portion, nevertheless. The underlying truth is “he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone” (3:33).

           

“The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.  It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (3:25-26) This is a good Quaker passage.

           

Another interesting passage – pre-Enlightenment: The Lord knows when our spirits are crushed in prison; he knows when we are denied the rights he gave us; when justice is perverted in court, he knows” (3:34-36).

           

“Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts as well as our hands to God in heaven.  We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven” (3:40-42)

           

“You came near when I called on you; you said, ‘Do not fear!” (3:57). This is always what Jesus said when he approached people to follow or relate to him.

What a different spirit this comes from than the one we bring the Lord today in our pride and refusal to bow before His role in the circumstances of our lives, even those that are dire. I try to imagine what it is like to have been a Jew after Hitler, reading these lines—what fury must they have kindled in the breasts of Jews toward God, but what confusion too. The wonderful movie called The Quarrel wrestles with this.

How so we reconcile ourselves to this experience of God’s mysterious presence in the sufferings we endure because of human unfaithfulness to His Love and because of the complexity of the reality God places us in?

Romans 15 – Paul encourages us to serve our neighbors, put up with their weaknesses to build up the church.  Then Paul quotes or alludes to psalm 69—“I am scorned by those who scorn you,” but this fits less well than verse 7 of the same psalm:  “Let those who seek you, God of Israel, not be disgraced through me (‘hindered’ might be more apropos).” The NRSV has “dishonored.” The JB says, “Let those who seek not be ashamed of me.” This last seems most conducive to the use Paul is making of the psalm.  It is interesting because it permits Paul too to make a generalization about the uses to which sacred writings may be put.  He says, “Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope” (15:4).

Paul goes into the role Christ plays as reconciler.  He came to “confirm the promises given to the patriarchs” (15:8), AND to evoke the praise of the gentiles [for as they—we—learn of the way his steadfastness to the Jews has been confirmed, so we too are led into relationship with Him. He cites several OT passages that allude to the fact that God’s name will be proclaimed among the nations or the gentiles [2 Sam.22: 50, Psalm 18:50, Is.11: 10 (JB)—the root of Jesse shall “be sought out by the nations”] ** The JB is uniformly better at translating OT passages in such a way as to make it appear Paul actually might have been using them appropriately.

Paul reviews his success in spreading the gospel among the gentiles.  He has not gone where other evangelists have been but only to those who have not heard (15:14-21). These missions have long kept him from coming to Rome, but now he plans to come on his way to Spain.  But first he tells them he must go to Jerusalem to bring the money he has collected to the saints there.  He anticipates trouble in Jerusalem: “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, . . . to join me in earnest prayer to God on my behalf, that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea . . .” (15:31).

Daily Bible Reading: Lamentations 2 and Romans 14

Lamentations 2 – “The Lord has become like an enemy; he has destroyed Israel 

. . . he has destroyed his tabernacle . . . and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest” (2:5-6).

“The Law is no longer taught, and the prophets have no visions from the Lord” (2:9). ” All the favors and blessings God’s people have enjoyed, all the marks of redemption, are destroyed or rejected.

“My eyes are worn out with weeping; my soul is in anguish. I am exhausted with grief at the destruction of my people. Children and babies are fainting in the streets of the city” (2:11).

           

“Your prophets had nothing to tell you [people] but lies; their preaching deceived you by never exposing your sin. They made you thing you did not need to repent” (2:14).  

This is the Israel I love, this self-searching, self-critical people of faith. Most people just blame others for the bad things that happen. But there is a deep internal contradiction in the logic or rationality of scripture when it comes to dealing with this punishing God. They do “blame” God in the sense that they see Him as the source of our suffering and loss, but at the same time, they see God as NECESSARILY just; that is just His identity – the Just One. It occurred to me today in struggling with this for the millionth time that perhaps we are dealing here with a contradiction that is similar to the koans that Zen Buddhist masters use to get human minds dislodged from the ordinary, habitual way of perceiving truth. The God of the Jews - this cosmic, omniscient Lord of all - is reduced in the narrative we ponder to something we can identify with; but inherent in that reduction is a loss of a proper sense of our own limits in being able to understand something so beyond our powers. The contradictions, the koans, help us to see that we cannot ever grasp it fully.  

           

“Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint for hunger. . .” (2:19). WHY? WHY? Because God IS WHO IS, there MUST be an answer to this question that lifts ALL blame away from Him. 

Romans 14 – The church is to welcome all people, even the weak in faith.  Those who are stronger must not look down on the weak or lord it over them.  Arguments over “days” or over things like foods, etc. should not divide us as long as the things we do are done out of love and dedication to the Lord. We are not to judge each other over these things (14:10).  In the end we will all be accountable to God. “Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another” (14:13). “For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (14:17).

Daily Bible Reading: Lamentations 1 and Romans 13

Lamentations is a poetic description of the desolation Jerusalem suffered in the wake of its destruction in 586 BC—attributed to Jeremiah. Each “chapter” of Lamentations consists of a 22-verse poem.

Lamentations 1- “How lonely lies Jerusalem, once so full of people! Once honored by the world, she is now like a widow; the noblest of cities has fallen into slavery” (1:1).

        

The “bride” of Yahweh cries and is without any allies or friends. Her people have been carried away and are “surrounded by enemies, with no way to escape” (1:3).  No one comes to the Temple any more. “The Lord has made her suffer for all her many sins” (1:5). It is amazing to me that Jeremiah had no issue ascribing all the things they suffered with God’s anger. He clearly sees ALL THINGS as coming from God: the beauty of the cosmos, the moral arc of all history and the terrible pain and suffering that come from “man’s” sin. God is the designer and creator of the universe. There is no other equal force to which the bad things can be ascribed.

“He took note of all my sins and tied them all together; He hung them around my neck, and I grew weak beneath the weight” (1:14).

        

“The Lord is in the right, for I have rebelled against his word“ (1:18)

        

“My enemies are glad that you brought disaster on me. Bring the day you promised; make my enemies suffer as I do. Condemn them for all their wickedness; Punish them as you punished me for my sins” (1:21-22). 

Romans 13 – Paul tells us that we as Christians are “subject to the governing authorities,” that they have in some sense been “instituted by God” (13:1). He is assuming, of course that they really are “not a terror to good conduct, but to bad” (13:3).

I think in light of some of the very evil governments we have seen, however, that we must use this measure first to see what they are a terror to first.  If we do what is good and find ourselves in trouble with state authorities, then we are dealing with a different situation – a government that cannot claim justification by God. But if the government is a “terror” to bad conduct and bad conduct alone, then Paul has no trouble seeing them as serving God (13:4).

“Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law” (13:8). George Fox loved this passage but reduced the message to six words: “Owe no man anything but love.” It was used by Friends as a reminder that we should never get ourselves into debt.

Paul reminds his readers that “salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near.  Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. . .” (13:11-12).