GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LAMENTATIONS 3:61-63
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61 O LORD, you have heard their taunts,
all their plots against me.
62 Their lips rise up and plot against me
all day long.
63 They do this sitting, they do this standing–
Look! I am the subject of their mocking song.
In this book, as in any other in Scripture, we must remember the context first. Who wrote it? When? Why? Where were they? Who was it written for, or was it simply written for posterity? Here we remember that the prophet is praying on behalf of all of the exiles. Some, like the kings of Judah and prophets like Daniel and Ezekiel, were in exile in Babylon. Others, like Jeremiah and his scribe Baruch, had been forced into exile in Egypt. And there were a few people who remained in Judah, in Benjamin, in Simeon, and a few other communities that once were part of Israel in the north.
All of these Israelites were taunted and tormented by the Gentiles and the others who surrounded them. Babylonian, Egyptian, Moabite, Amalekite, or Samaritan, it did not matter. They hated and scorned the people of God.
The nouns in the first part of verse 63 are not easy to put into good English (a “sitting,” a “standing”), but I have tried to capture the idea: Sitting or standing or whatever they do, they were mocking the Jews and the Israelites with their taunting songs. Even the word “plot” in verse 62 usually means a song. Mockery can take many forms (remember the people mocking King Saul after David killed Goliath, 1 Samuel 18:7).
There was plenty of mockery at the cross of Jesus. The Lord knew this would happen. “The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes,” he said, “They will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him, and kill him” (Mark 10:33-34). Five different kinds of slanderers mocked Jesus:
1, The common folks who came by and slandered him. “Those who passed by made fun of him, shaking their heads and saying, ‘You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days! Save yourself if you are the Son of God! Come down from the cross’” (Matthew 27:39-40). These were people who were misled by the Devil into twisting Jesus’ words (John 2) into meaning the Temple in Jerusalem and not the temple of his body.
2, The chief priests or high priests. These men should have known better but were jealous of him. They said, “He saved others; he can’t save himself. He is the King of Israel. Let him come down now from the cross and we will believe in him” (Matthew 27:42).
3, The scribes and elders. They, too, derided him out of jealousy. They said, “He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he will have him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God’” (Matthew 27:43).
4, Fourth were the criminals who were crucified with him. Matthew says that they slandered him just like everyone else. “The robbers who were crucified with him also started to insult him in the same way” (Matthew 27:44).
5, Finally, the Roman soldiers also taunted him. They took up the complaint of the High Priest as if it were the real charge against Jesus: “If you really are the King of the Jews, then save yourself” (Luke 23:37).
He allowed this disgrace to come to him so that we would not have to be shamed under God’s judgment. In most places, even a condemned man is shown some consideration during his execution: a blindfold, a request, or other things. Jesus was stripped and robbed and beaten and made to die with even the taunts of those being killed next to him in his ears. There was no compassion, no peace at all. The Devil, seeing the boot of Christ coming crashing down on his head, screamed in rage through the throats of every unbeliever who was nearby, but it did no good. Christ suffered it all on our behalf.
One of the crosses that the Christian carries today is the world’s rejection of Christ, right alongside the groups mocking him during the crucifixion. Some are ordinary folks, mostly misled by leaders and influencers who have no interest at all in the welfare of human souls. Then there are some religious leaders who, like Caiaphas, hate Jesus simply because he is Jesus; a threat to their authority. There are academics who break the concentration of the faithful by bullying them with modern philosophy jargon that spits the same venom at Christ that the scribes did.
It does not stop there, but these kinds of objections to Christ come from every direction today. Philosophy, evolutionism, many of the academic sciences, sometimes even medicine, and, sadly, many Christian denominations have made it their goal to reduce Christ to a thing for debate instead our God to worship. I have seen Christians crumble under these burdens, and lose their faith. The day that my wife died, knowing she was dying, she prayed that her death might somehow bring one close relative who had lost his faith back to believe in Jesus. There are examples of this in so very many families; such heavy crosses! Such heartbreaking crosses!
Turn to the Lord to pray for those who have had their faith broken. “Lord, let them be like the thief on the cross. He mocked you, it is true, but he repented before he died. Lead them to repentance and faith, dear Jesus.”
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Archives at St Paul’s Lutheran Church https://splnewulm.org/daily-devotions/ and Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: www.wlchapel.org/connect-grow/ministries/adults/daily-devotions/gwfy-archive/2025
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Lamentations 3:61-63 their mocking song