My Christmas message this year is motivated by Lamentations. This is not a book that one associates with Christmas! It is arguably the most downbeat book in the Bible, possibly beaten only by Job. However, given the times we are in with the Covid pandemic and governments in various countries cancelling, or at least severely curtailing, Christmas perhaps it is extremely appropriate this year.
Lamentations was written, probably by Jeremiah, quite soon after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, and the carrying off of many of the survivors into exile. The opening verse of the opening chapter sets the tone for the book:
How deserted lies the city,
once so full of people!
How like a widow is she,
who once was great among the nations!
She who was queen among the provinces
has now become a slave.
In these days you will have heard many pious homilies from various preachers on the sufferings experienced by people because of the pandemic, and of course there has been much suffering, and sadly there is more to come. And in Lamentations there is much more of this deep sorrow. However, their is also something else in Lamentations that you will have heard very little of in most sermons. Take Lam 1:14 as an example:
“My sins have been bound into a yoke;
by his hands they were woven together.
They have been hung on my neck,
and the Lord has sapped my strength.
He has given me into the hands
of those I cannot withstand.
Together with crying out for her suffering is a deep recognition that all that had happened was a result of her sin. An essential part of Lamentations is that it is not just the tragedy and the suffering that it seeks to come to terms with, but is also not afraid to face up to the fact of Judah’s sin and her responsibility before God for what had happened. So often in modern preaching there will be a focus on the suffering and tragedy of an event, but a complete denial of the role of our sin in affairs.
So what has all this got to do with Christmas? Well a part of the Christmas story that does not receive the attention it deserves is found in Matt 1:21
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
“He will save his people from their sins”. So often we are afraid to face up to the reality of our own sin, or the sins of other people, for we associate sins with condemnation. We fear that if sin is faced up to then condemnation can be the only possible outcome, so we try to hide our own sin, or pussyfoot around the sin of others. But as John 3:17 says
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
And in Romans 8:1,2 it says:
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
If we do not face up to the reality of sin in our own lives, and in the life of our societies, there can be no true understanding, and no salvation. But when we do face up to the truth and turn to Christ we begin to discover the wonderful depths of the love of God in Christ Jesus, and transformation and healing begins to take place in our lives.
A truly merry Christmas to you all!
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