One of the first things that we do following any tragedy, regardless of how you or I define ‘tragedy,’ or its severity, is we try to make sense of why it happened.
First, we ask the general questions like: what was the cause?
For if we can label a cause, then perhaps we can root out that cause from happening again. It’s like pulling weeds up from a garden. Identify the root. Then remove the root of the weeds and they won’t come back. Remove the cause of the suffering, and we hope, we won’t suffer anymore. But that only works for a little while—and in truth, it is not effective in the church.
So, since that does not work in the long term, we try something else.
Before long we start looking deeper at where the pain comes from. Then at some point, we start getting serious and we wonder, where is God? While this question should have been where we started, it wasn’t.
Now it is often where we land. So, we get to the theological root of our lives, and we finally begin to ask the important questions about God’s location. And we might even wonder, as the song says, Was God in the room when it happened?
Of course, we know that God is here in this room, or in any room or space, as we suffer. But asking the question helps us attempt to make sense of what is happening. Yet this is an important question to wonder about, I think. In the moment of pain, can you feel God?
When writer Anne Lamott made her confession of faith, she said “I became aware of someone with me, hunkered down in the corner. . . whose presence I had felt over the years when I was frightened and alone. The feeling was so strong that I actually turned on the light for a moment to make sure no one was there—of course, there wasn’t. But after a while, in the dark again, I knew beyond any doubt that it was Jesus.”[1]
God just being there. For God is always there. Yet that affirmation, as obvious as it is, as truthful as it is, still brings us to Jeremiah 8 today. For it appears that God, and the prophet, and even the remnant of Isarel are attempting to make sense of the pain that they are all dealing with together.
This pain limits the joy the people feel. It stifles much of who we are called to be. Yet we must remember, God is in the room where it happened.
Move 1- no easy answers
As special as Jeremiah’s call was, he was a prophet that few, if anyone, wanted to listen to. And if they do not want to listen to him, then people certainly did not want to heed his message. His message was hard, and it was filled with passages such as the one that we are thinking about today. And a first conclusion that we draw from his words is that Jeremiah 8 does not have an easy answer in it—as much of Jeremiah takes time to consider.
For instance, verse 19: “Is the Lord not in Zion?”
And as we read the verse, we instinctively pause and says, “Of course, God is with His people.” And we shout, “Why wouldn’t God be with us! Jesus dies for us!”
The covenant that God made with Abraham states this clearly. You and I can confess, and we have often confessed it together in one voice. We know that God is with us. For we have prayed with each other. Held each other’s hands and whispered the affirmation that God is Emmanuel. And yet, is God there when you suffer? Have you seen God? Have you felt God in the moment… the actual moment?
Now you know that God is everywhere but stop and truly think about it. In the very moment of suffering. When the pain came, when it flooded down upon you and your loved one, and it was harsh, and unrelenting. When the tears poured, this text comes ringing in our ears:
“The harvest is past, and we are not saved.” “Is the Lord in Zion?” Lord, we put our faith in you, and the something tragic happened. Or maybe you prefer the words of the gospel to state how you felt in that moment.
“If you had been here Lord, our brother would not have died”—John 11:21.
A text like this reminds that there are not always easy answers out there. Certainly, I am not saying that God is not present with us in these moments of pain—no matter how we define or experience the pain. Please do not mistake what I am saying. Rather I think we can all agree that there are times when it feels like God has moved off from us.
And if it feels like God has moved off from us, if there are no easy answers to the suffering of each day, then the words of Jeremiah 8 are the exact words that we need to hear from God.
Move 2- honesty
One of the unique parts of this text is whose voice is speaking. I mentioned this earlier. Is it God’s voice in this passage? Is it the prophet? Is it the people? Who is speaking here?
The truth is that all three voices speak in this passage. And them seem to speak at once. Overlapping. Almost interrupting.
In our text all three voices join together in stating the same thing—and that is what makes this passage so profoundly helpful for us.
It is not just my joy that has ended. It is not just my hearts that is broken. It is the prophet’s heart and the prophet’s joy. As it is also God’s heart and God’s joy. All three of us come together and as chapter 9 begins all three of us seem to HONESTLY weep alongside of each other for what we are seeing. We wonder if God is here both personally and corporately. And our eyes, God’s eyes, and the people’s eyes pour tears from them. There is great honesty in this moment.
This is the second lesson from the text that we can take with us. For first there are no easy answer to the suffering of our day, and second, honesty as a people, before God, with God, is the authentic place to dwell.
For there are times that it appears that no balm can be found in Gilead—and as you might know Gilead was the place where the healing balm was made in Israel. It was the place where the healing was felt and experienced the deepest. If healing cannot come from there, where can it come from?
The answer that Jeremiah presents in his book is one of honesty. For God is there in a place, honestly in any place, where we struggle to understand what is happening. God is there in any place, every place when we wonder why it is happening to us and to those who we love and support.
Move 3- solidarity
You see as we are honest in this place of pain, and as we realize that there are few easy answers to find, we realize that God has chosen to stay when we are confused and feel lost.
While yes, the prophet, the people, and God’s voice all seem to be combining into a cacophony that can be hard to work through, to understand, and makes sense of, we need to remember that in midst of the mess, God is there still.
As Anne Lamott says, God is still hunkered down with us—his church.
Anne’s conversion story continues with Jesus staying in that corner for days waiting for her to respond—always hoping that she would respond. Until one night she rolls over and says, ‘alright, fine, you can stay.’
And as you know, when tell Jesus in the midst of all your pain, all of your struggles, all of you unmet expectations that He can stay and that you want and need him to stay, Christ the Lord makes a home with you. This home cuts through the malaise and the trauma and Jesus heals you and those you love—not by wipping everything away. But Jesus heals you by staying there.
He remains in solidarity with his people, even if those people are weeping and broken deeply. Even if they cannot find the healing from Gilead, God remains close by. Even as the joy of every service in Jesus’ name does not hold the meaning and purpose as it normally did, God stays close by.
Even when we cannot fully locate the passion and joy of our faith, God remains close by. And that, finally, is the good news for us today.
Conclusion
Whenever I read Jeremiah, I wish there were easy answers as I suspect Jeremiah himself wished for easy answers to his struggles. We all want passages this book to flow with simple lessons that we can take with us and share. But there are also times, and maybe in your day today this is one of those times, when sitting with a hard passage is helpful.
Because although we have been able to engage passionately in the ministry of the Lord this week, there are also times when we need to sit with the hard words of God and remember that God sits with us in these places also.
Take time today to honestly approach the Lord with any suffering that you have, and as you do, remember the solidarity that God brings into that encounter.
DM
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