GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LAMENTATIONS 2:21
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21 The young and the old
are lying on the ground in the streets;
my virgins and my young men
have fallen by the sword.
In the day of your anger you have killed them,
you slaughtered and did not spare them.
The result of the slaughter is not spelled out directly, but when we consider the deaths of the young children, the virgin girls, and the young men, what do we see? A generation wiped out by the Babylonians. Not all of it, to be sure, but in ten or twenty years, there will not be any sizable army of Israelite men supported by their young wives to avenge what happened to Judah. The remnant will even be divided into two parts: those who were marched to Babylon, and those old and sickly ones who were left behind. The prophet does not condemn the Babylonians, who were God’s instruments, but acknowledges that they were being punished by God’s own hand: “You have killed them… you did not spare them.” This was one of the many burdens of their cross.
It’s not easy to jump from this verse into our own crosses, and so this is a good time to remember some things about what I have been calling the third cross in Lamentations– the cross of the Christian. Our cross has certain characteristics:
1, The cross of Jesus’ followers is a consequence of being his disciples. His cross is the cross that saves. Our crosses, the burdens we bear, do not contribute at all to our salvation.
2, The cross of Jesus’ followers also needs to be seen as a special kind of consequence. It is a necessary consequence. As Professor Deutschlander describes in his book, The Theology of the Cross, “No cross, no Christian! It is the cross that marks the Christian as a Christian. Those who are ashamed of the cross in this life, both his (Christ’s) and their own, will see the Son of God ashamed of them at the last judgment” (p. 3).
3, The cross of Jesus’ followers is also heavy and painful. This weight and pain may change over time. Year by year is might grow heavier and heavier. The Christian is wise who sees early troubles as a sort of spiritual training, like the physical training our children receive in school, but to strengthen our spirits and not just our muscles. “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8).
Luther said, “Where God’s word is preached, accepted, or believed, and bears fruit, there the blessed holy cross will not be far away. Let nobody think that he will have peace. He must sacrifice all he has on earth– possessions, honor, house and home, wife and children, body and life. Now, this grieves our flesh and the old Adam, for it means that we must remain steadfast, suffer patiently whatever befalls us, and let go of whatever is taken from us” (Large Catechism).
When we understand this, we can read our verse once again and notice first of all that the one praying– a Jew of Judah who was suffering under the first cross, the cross of the Babylonian exile– was not condemning or accusing God. As with so much we pray about, the prophet was simply stating what had happened, just as we do when we pray: “Lord God, my child is sick. My spouse is hurting. My job has been taken away from me. The local school teaches things that are contrary to the word of God. The people of our community get angry with us when we try to reach out with the gospel,” and so on and on.
We ask God for help, we ask God for mercy, and we ask God every day to forgive our sins. Our daily cross will remind us of our need for God’s forgiveness and help, and is therefore a magnificent blessing. “You who fear him, trust in the Lord. He is your help and your shield” (Psalm 115:11). He will not forget you.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Lamentations 2:21 The necessity of our crosses