Welcome to Week 3 of our Just Love series! Today, we are diving into an often overlooked yet profoundly important aspect of love: Lament.
In this series, we emphasize the importance of loving God, our neighbors, and ourselves with a just love—a love that reflects God’s righteousness and fairness. Today, we’ll explore how lament is a crucial expression of this just love. But first, let's talk about who is going to judge in the end. Many people who grew up in traditional Christian households might have been taught that Jesus came and died for our sins to save us from the wrath of the Father. God the Father would have punished us for our sins, but Jesus through His sacrifice saves us for life with Him. Right? Well, maybe not! Let's take a look at our Scripture for this week.
John 5:19-30 NIV
19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. 25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. 28 “
Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. 30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.”
In John 5:19-30, Jesus explains that He has been given the authority to judge by the Father. Here is revealed the unique relationship between the Father and the Son, highlighting the Son’s role in executing judgment. Jesus is the perfect judge who ensures that every wrong will be made right. So Jesus and God the Father are on the same page when it comes to judgment!
This passage underscores that Jesus' judgment is just because it aligns with the Father's will. At the same time, Jesus was also the one who became a man, who lived among us and experienced life as a human, which means He also understands our perspectives, doubts, struggles, and temptations. Jesus, who while nailed to the cross cried out, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!" (Luke 23:34). Jesus, who said that it is the sick who need a doctor (Mark 2:17), so I'm going to go be with the spiritually sick rather than the righteous. That is our judge.
Jesus never operates out of fear or anxiety or frustration or pride. He is the perfect judge. And Jesus was also very clear that, while it is by grace and through faith that we are saved, the expression of our salvation should be seen in how we show just love to one another. So it is important that as the people of God, we are people of justice.
The Role of Lament
We can all think of times when justice was left incomplete. Wrongs were done and accountability was missing.
Think about the choices that some of our family members make that damage their bodies, hearts, minds, and spirits. Whether it's through the things they put into their body, legal or illegal, or whether it’s the emotional wounds that they refuse to address and choose instead to suppress. We have loved ones who do not love themselves the way that they should, and we feel pain and grief on their behalf.
Do you ever have pain in your heart because of the actions of people you love?
Do you ever have pain in your heart because you witness brokenness in the lives of those around you?
Do you ever have pain because you know that the world is too often filled with fractured love and broken lives?
If you ever have that pain, how often do you bring that pain to God in prayer?
To bring your pain to God in prayer is called Lament. Lament is an essential part of just love.
Did you know when you get disturbed by evil, and when you get bothered by injustice, it is evidence of the goodness of God that is wired into you?
All human beings are made in the image of God, and one of the ways we know we are made in God’s image is when tragedy, catastrophe, or atrocity hits, something rises up inside us and says “HEY! THAT IS NOT RIGHT!”
Where do you think that sense of rightness comes from? It is godly to lament the wrongs in the world. It is godly that we get bothered by injustice, sin, and brokenness.
To lament is to recognize that things in this world are not as they should be. It is a vocal expression of our grief and sorrow over the brokenness and injustice we witness. By bringing our lament to God, we are acknowledging His sovereignty and expressing our trust in His justice and mercy.
Jesus said, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." Mourning and lamenting draw us closer to God, allowing us to experience His comfort and presence.
Many Psalms, such as Psalm 13 and Psalm 22, are laments that cry out to God in times of distress. The book of Lamentations mourns the destruction of Jerusalem, yet it also contains hope in God’s faithfulness and mercy. These examples in Scriptures teach us that lament is a natural and necessary part of our relationship with God.
God’s mission is to restore, redeem, and renew all creation.
This mission implies that there are things in our world that are broken and in need of God’s justice. As people called to just love, we must be open to God’s perspective and allow ourselves to be moved by the brokenness around us.
If we want to be a people of just love who just love, we have to be open to God’s perspective of things.
The Enemy would rather us be complacent, distracted, and apathetic towards the brokenness in our world. Either that, or overwhelm us with it all and cause us to burn out and not be able to do anything for the Lord or this world God loves.
Instead, we are invited to a narrow path that says, I will lament what is going on, because I know that things are not as they should be. But I will not lose hope. Why? Because God is too good for things to remain as they are.
Because Jesus is Lord, we have hope.
This hope fuels our lament, knowing that our prayers and cries for justice are not in vain. We lament because we believe in a God who is actively working to make all things right.
We get to walk the difficult journey of simultaneously having broken hearts over the brokenness around us, and yet because of who God is, we are prisoners of hope.
Jesus really is Lord, so we have hope!
And because of our hope, we lament. If we had no hope, we would not need to lament because it would all be for nothing. But because there is a Living Hope named Jesus, we lament that this world is not as it should be.
So how are you lamenting this week? What is not right in your life, in the lives of people you love, in your community, in the world that is heavy on your heart?
Give it to the Lord. Lament boldly. God is not afraid of your lament, and He will give you joy and hope even in your lament.
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