<< Go
back to the Menu
LESSONS FROM
LAMENTATIONS
(Part 6)
LAMENTING AND LEARNING
Today is Holy Saturday.
Jesus was crucified yesterday and died on the cross. Today all
creation mourns in silent grief. Today we are in lamentations.
Thoughts race through our minds, after the frenzy of yesterday’s
happenings. What does it all mean? What happens now? How will the
future be?
For us, we of course know that tomorrow Jesus will rise from the dead
(Mt 28:1-10) and be victorious. In the same way, though we know that
Jesus’ victory will become complete at the end of time, today we are
in some sort of state of suspension. We look to the life to come, but
we are often troubled by the life we live now. We suffer afflictions
in the world.
Holy Saturday represents a time of transition. It is that moment in
time between seeming defeat and glorious victory. It is right between
Good Friday and Easter Sunday. It is between darkness (Mt 27:45) and
light (Mt 28:3).
It is a time of preparation for what is to come. It is a time of
transition from grief to great joy. It is a time of learning the
lessons of lamentations.
Here again is the reflection offered two years ago (from the book
“Forty Days of Lamentations”). It still is, and always will be,
relevant to our life in Christ.
Day 40
Holy Saturday
Covenant and Lamentations – 3
“You are clothed with majesty and glory”
(Psalm 104:1c)
April 7
Genesis 1:1-2:2
Psalm 104:1-35
Genesis 22:1-18
Matthew 28:1-10
Jesus is dead and lies
buried in the tomb. Suddenly everything seems to stand still. The
frenzy of the crucifixion has dissipated. The cries of the crowd have
died down. The heckling of the passers-by, the chief priests, the
scribes and even the criminal crucified with him has been silenced.
The weeping of the women continues but now in private. The noise of
the earthquake, the splitting rocks and the opening of tombs is heard
no longer. It was the Sabbath, and everyone rested.
God too was quiet. It seemed as if He too were at rest. It might even
have seemed that He had abandoned His Son. It was a significant and
very meaningful pause in time. A great and awesome event had just
happened in the world, the death of God’s own Son. His subsequent
resurrection would change the world. The moment in between was the
moment of transition.
Something just as awesome had happened before. God created the whole
universe and the first human beings (Gn 1:1-2:2), and started His plan
for the world rolling. After all the work He had done, God rested (Gn
2:2).
Both momentous events were according to God’s plan. In both, God was
completely in control. With both, God intended to manifest His love
for the world. With creation, at the beginning of time, God created
paradise and lived with His people. But paradise was lost. With the
death and resurrection of Jesus, God would restore His people to
Himself, and prepare them once again for paradise, the new Jerusalem,
at the end of time, where they would live with Him forever.
Now God created everything not for Himself but for us. And God
sacrificed His own Son also for us. Whether life or death, we are at
the center of God’s designs. God’s love is all about us. And even
God’s continuing work is entrusted to us. God created the universe,
but entrusted it to Adam and Eve. “Have dominion over the fish of
the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on
the earth.” (Gn 1:28). Jesus won salvation for humankind on the
cross, but leaves it to his disciples to proclaim that good news. The
good that God intends, whether in creation or in salvation, has become
totally dependent upon His people.
This is the importance of covenant. It stresses our relationship with
God. It is a relationship where God blesses us, and we become a
blessing to the world. It is a relationship where we are stewards of
God’s gifts, whether the gift of a beautiful and bountiful world, or
the gift of eternal salvation.
So we are crucial to what God wants to do in the world. What is that?
“When you send forth your breath, they are created, and you renew
the face of the earth.” (Ps 104:30). God has created, now He intends
to renew His creation.
How do we allow ourselves to be used by God?
First, we recognize God’s great power. “If God glares at the
earth, it trembles, if God touches the mountains, they smoke!” (Ps
104:32). “Lord, my God, you are great indeed! You are clothed with
majesty and glory” (Ps 104:1). God is the awesome Creator. As
Creator, God put order in the universe (Ps 104:5-9,19-20), and
provides for the needs of His creatures (Ps 104:10-18,27-28). We are
totally dependent upon God. “When you open your hand, they are well
filled. When you hide your face, they are lost.” (Ps 104:28b-29a).
God’s power is what we rely on in being used as His instruments to
renew the face of the earth. Recognizing God’s power gives us faith,
and it is faith that unleashes the power of God.
Second, we recognize God as God. He is the Almighty, the Omnipotent.
He is worthy of our praise and worship. “I will sing to the Lord all
my life; I will sing praise to my God while I live.” (Ps 104:33). We
can only accomplish God’s will for our lives if we know who sends us
forth and sustains us, so that we will always look to His mind and His
ways. We must always be intimately connected with God.
Third, we recognize what our task is, and that is to be instruments to
establish the kingdom of God in our midst. This necessitates
liberating people from what is not of God, and fighting against the
dominion of the evil one. God intends to renew the face of the earth,
purifying it once again and redeeming humanity from its sins. “May
sinners vanish from the earth, and the wicked be no more.” (Ps
104:35a).
Fourth, we must be totally obedient. We must not adapt our human minds
to secular wisdom, but we must put on the mind of Christ. Abraham
obeyed God when told to sacrifice his own son (Gn 22:1-18). It must
have been extremely difficult, since Isaac was his “only one, whom
(he) love(d)” (Gn 22:2), and Isaac was the only hope of fulfilling
God’s promise that he would have many descendants. But Abraham
obeyed, and he was blessed. “I swear by myself, declares the Lord,
that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your
beloved son, I will bless you abundantly ….. and in your descendants
all the nations of the earth shall find blessingall this because you
obeyed my command.” (Gn 22:16-18).
But more amazingly, God sacrificed His own Son Jesus. Unlike Isaac,
whom God prevented Abraham from slaughtering, He allowed His Son to
die on the cross. It was extremely difficult for Jesus to go to his
passion and death, but he obeyed and allowed the Father’s will to be
done. And his obedience also has brought blessing to all the nations
of the earth.
If we obey and allow God to use us in any way He wants to, if we are
willing to serve Him to the point of even giving our lives, then we
too will become blessings for the life of the world.
Finally, in doing our task, full as it will be of pain, suffering and
crosses, we are to rejoice. We rejoice because of the privilege of
doing God’s work. We rejoice because of the victory that has already
been won on the cross. We rejoice because the insults, slander and
persecution we suffer for the sake of Christ assure us of our reward
in heaven (Mt 5:10-12). Thus, in whatever situation we are in, we can
rightly say, “I will rejoice in the Lord.” (Ps 104:34b).
Today is the moment of transition. It is that meaningful pause in
history, when time seems to stand still. It is the moment between
seeming defeat and actual victory. It is the transition from a world
disfigured by sin to a world whose face is renewed.
For us in CFC, this is the moment of Lamentations. It is the
transition between our first 25 years and our next 25 years. It is a
time for looking back at the infidelities of the past and even of the
present, and looking forward to restoration and greater empowerment.
It is the period of experiencing the pain and crosses in life, but
anticipating the fullness of hope and joy.
We are at the crossroads, at that significant moment in time and
history. This is our God-given time to learn the lessons of
Lamentations.
And know that tomorrow Jesus rises from the dead. And so Jesus himself
tells us, “Do not be afraid.” (Mt 28:10). Let not the seeming
silence of God, nor the seeming hopelessness of our human situation,
ever bring us down. The victory is at hand.
What was supposed to be
our response to what God was teaching us?
Covenant response: Learn the lessons of Lamentations.
Did we learn the lessons of Lamentations?
In 2007 we did not. God gave us a great opportunity to experience His
victory, in preparation for the next 25 years of CFC. What resulted
instead was an intensification of the crisis, and the eventual split.
It was still Good Friday, as the enemy was still victorious.
But God worked to fulfill His plan, in spite of our own shortcomings.
God raised CFC-FFL, the restored CFC, the authentic CFC.
Now it is two years later. We have learned a lot, but we still need to
learn more. We have been restored, but we still need to attain to the
fullness of God’s plan for us.
If another crisis is to be avoided, if we are to move forward in
God’s plan for us, if we are to experience the power of the
resurrection in our work, we need to continue to learn the lessons of
Lamentations.
There are very many lessons indeed. Here are some of them (from the
book “Forty Days of Lamentations”).
-
Lam 101-107. 7
Basic Elements of Lamentations
-
Lam 111-117. 7
Pastoral Principles of Lamentations
-
Lam 121-127. 7
Threats to Lamentations
-
Lam 131-137. 7
Fruits of Lamentations
-
Lam 141-147. 7
Persons who do not Understand Lamentations
Are you among those who
do not understand Lamentations? Are you among those who would claim
the victory of Easter Sunday without reflecting on and learning the
meaning of Good Friday, that that victory is rooted on the cross? Are
you among those who would miss out on the wonderful opportunity of
learning from God during the transition of Holy Saturday?
Because God has His plan from eternity, because of God’s love for us
so greatly shown on the cross, we face a glorious future, we will
experience His victory. But a response is needed from us. But if we do
not learn the lessons of Lamentations, then our response will be
inadequate, even erroneous.
As God, having restored us, calls us once again to our mission, can we
respond “Ready!” (Gn 22:1). Are we truly ready to be obedient, no
matter what is demanded of us? Are we ready to sacrifice our Isaacs,
everything that we hold dear?
Let us always trust in Jesus our Savior. But let us do our part, so
that we can experience the fullness of God’s plan for us.
Holy Saturday
April 11, 2009
