GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LAMENTATIONS 4:13-14
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13 This happened because of the sins of her prophets
and the iniquities of her priests,
who shed the blood of the righteous within the city.
14 They groped through the streets like blind men.
They were defiled with blood
so that no one could touch their clothing.
Not long before the Babylonians came, Jeremiah wrote: “The priests, the prophets, and all the people listened… When Jeremiah finished saying everything the LORD had commanded him to say to all the people, then the priests, the prophets, and all the people seized him and said, ‘You must die!’” (Jeremiah 26:7-8). There are other examples of this in those terrible days in Judah (Jeremiah 26:20-23). Those who proclaimed the word of God were silenced with imprisonment, threats, and death.
Who is the “they” in verse 14, those who became defiled with blood? It must be the prophets and priests of verse 13 who treated the righteous so ruthlessly. Now they have been recognized for who they are, and they are treated like defiled men, either bleeding and bloody or leprous and unclean.
Christ was treated like one of those wicked prophets. First, this was by his own family, when the crowds gathering around Jesus were becoming incredibly huge, like the one that invaded a house where Jesus was and there were so many people that “he and his disciples were not even able to eat” (Mark 3:21). His mother and brothers came “to take charge of him,” thinking he was out of his mind.
Then, there were the priests and Pharisees of Judea, who accused him of breaking the Sabbath and of speaking blasphemy. They plotted with anyone they could to try to kill him, and in the end they succeeded.
But we mustn’t stop our comparison there. For the Father treated him like a wicked prophet, too– not because he was one. Not at all! Even the demons recognized him as the Holy One of the Most High God (Mark 5:6; Luke 8:28). The Father called him “my beloved Son,” but he condemned him for all of the sins and blasphemies of the false prophets and priests of all nations on his head. The Father condemned and punished his Son for all of the sins of the witch doctors, the Voodoo priests and priestesses, the shamans, the gurus, the Tibetan monks and the Mormon missionaries– every sin of every person who has ever lived. He died for the sins of the most respectable little old widow who prays to Jesus about her family every day, and the sins of the little girl who lives next door who goes to Sunday school and plays hopscotch on my sidewalk and calls me “Mister Pastor.” And he died for all of my sins, too. The blood of Jesus covers over our sins, and it doesn’t defile. It purifies.
His suffering on the cross transforms all of our suffering, all of our crosses, into a blessing. The crosses we carry do not harm our souls, even if they sometimes harm our bodies. But they are beneficial, turning our attention always to Jesus and his cross, and turning us away from our troubles here in the world so that we trust in him for all things, just as he invites us to. “Do not let your hearts be troubled,” he said. “Trust in God, trust also in me” (John 14:1). And our response is this: “To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame” (Psalm 25:1-3). And again, we are led to confess: “I will answer anyone who taunts me, for I trust in your word” (Psalm 119:42). For the fear of the Lord leads to life. Then one rests content, untouched by trouble (Proverbs 19:23).
If we are attacked like false priests or prophets by the ignorant or the arrogant or the unbelieving, we can stand toe to toe with our critics and accusers and say, “This is what the Lord says.” Even if my blood is shed because of it, this is for the good of God’s holy kingdom. For didn’t Jesus explain his authority, and the work of his servants, by comparing the kingdom of God to a man with a vineyard and tenant workers who rented the vineyard? One servant was sent to collect some of the fruit, but he was sent away with nothing but a beating. Another was sent, but he was also beaten and was treated shamefully. Another one was sent, but they killed him. And Jesus explains that there were many others, too. “Some of them they beat, others they killed” (Mark 12:5). And since the parable ends with the death of the Son and the Heir, we know that it is about Christ, and we are humbled to be some of those who were abused and bruised in his service. Our crosses, whatever they are, serve him, but his cross saved us. That’s the relationship of our troubles and his. And for this we thank and praise him forever.
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 4:13-14 Our troubles and his.