The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah is commonly called “the weeping prophet.” The reason for this is that in his writings, he often expresses a deep sorrow that he feels.
It
was Jeremiah who said, “Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of
tears, that I might weep day and night!” (Jeremiah 9:1)
Jeremiah by Rembrandt |
My
joy is gone; grief is upon me; my heart is sick within me.
Behold,
the cry of the daughter of my people from the length and breadth of the land:
“Is
the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not in her?”
“Why
have they provoked me to anger with their carved images and with their foreign
idols?”
“The
harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”
For
the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded; I mourn, and dismay
has taken hold on me. (Jeremiah 8:18-21, ESV)
Jeremiah
was not the only Old Testament prophet who mourned for his people. Daniel also
felt this ache of heart. In fact, it was largely because of the writings of
Jeremiah that Daniel experienced his own sorrow. Daniel wrote:
Then
I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy
with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and made
confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God…we have sinned and done
wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and
rules. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your
name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the
land. (Daniel 9:3-6, ESV)
I
am going to quote only one more prophet, although you can turn to almost any of
the Old Testament prophets and find in their writings words of mourning and
lamentation for their rebellious people. This time it is the words of Micah we
read.
After
summarizing the sins of his people Micah says, “For this I will lament and wail;
I will go stripped and naked; I will make lamentation like the jackals, and
mourning like the ostriches. For her wound is incurable, and it has come to Judah; it
has reached to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem” (Micah
1:8-9, ESV).
In
these cases and many others in the Old Testament, the true followers of God
were in mourning for their people. They were a people who once knew the Lord but had
strayed far away from him and held to other teachings - teachings of the world.
As
we return to the New Testament, we see that this type of mourning also
continued with these writers. The Apostle Paul was heart broken by the
activities that were taking place within some of the churches that he had
established.
The
church that was in the city of Corinth was the worst example to what depths some of the churches had
fallen so early after their establishment. Paul rebukes the people there,
saying “It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and
immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles.”
In
this case, the immorality did not come in exactly the same form as the people
for whom the Old Testament prophets mourned, but at the heart of the matter, it
was the same. It was rebellion against their God.
Paul’s
rebuke to the church was that they had just seemed to accept this new standard
of morality. Paul scolded them for not taking action against it, but even
before that, he reprimanded them because they did not mourn over the situation.
“And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn?” (1 Corinthians 5:2,
ESV).
Paul
later expressed a concern that he had for when he would eventually again visit
them. “I fear that when I come again… I may have to mourn over many of those
who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality,
and sensuality that they have practiced” (2 Corinthians 12:21,
ESV).
I earlier spoke of James instructing us to mourn. When when he does so, it is not because of the sin that still may exist
in our own lives. For these sins the proper response is that we repent and then are forgiven.
Rather, James instructs us to mourn for the lost communion with God among the people of the church. Before calling us to mourn and to weep, he gives the reason for doing so:
Rather, James instructs us to mourn for the lost communion with God among the people of the church. Before calling us to mourn and to weep, he gives the reason for doing so:
What
causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your
passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You
covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel…You adulterous people! Do you
not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever
wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:1-4,
ESV)
Today
in our own nation, many are acting politically and socially to fight against a standard of morality that they see
as going against the teachings of God. They are taking legal action, and acting in
the media and otherwise to awaken people to return our culture to Godly standards.
They may be correct in doing so. It may be needed. However, before all of this, we are first called to mourn over our situation.
They may be correct in doing so. It may be needed. However, before all of this, we are first called to mourn over our situation.
We
hear many calls for action. We are urged to write our government representatives, to sign petitions and to protest. Almost every day we are called to "repost" something on Facebook.
All of this may be fine, but where is the call to mourn? This, before anything else, is the pattern given to us in Scripture. “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”
All of this may be fine, but where is the call to mourn? This, before anything else, is the pattern given to us in Scripture. “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”
“Blessed
are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted”