A Meditation for Tuesday in Holy Week
By Jacob Hootman
The Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah are a constant presence for Christians as we walk the long road to the Cross during Holy Week. Tomorrow night, churches across the catholic world will begin to sing the old office of Tenebrae (Matins of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday) – in which three lections from Lamentations are read in the first nocturn (or the first night watch). Our daily office cycle maintains the old tradition of reading through Lamentations throughout the course of this week. It is a fitting text for the solemnity that this week poses–Jerusalem cries out for help to the God they had previously rejected. Jerusalem, and all the world with her, cries out for help to the God whom we will crucify only three days from today. The city is destroyed, and God’s people are scattered to the wind. There is no hope, except in the God whom they had despised–the God who justly holds them to account.
All is lost, saith the prophet, in not so many words. We rebelled against his word, behold our suffering. We sinned, we were destroyed, and we deserved it. And yet, the psalmody appointed for today completes the story. Psalm 6, which begins on much the same note as our first lesson, concludes with these triumphant lines:
The LORD has heard my supplication;
the LORD accepts my prayer.
All my enemies shall be confounded and quake with fear;
they shall turn back and suddenly be put to shame. (Psalm 6:8-10)
There is a trust here that surpasses destruction, surpasses sin. A diminished David grasps the promises of his faithful God. On whom can we rely? The lovers who deceived us, as the prophet writes? Zion stretches out her hands, but there is none to comfort her. In our hour of need, our friends and familiars fail us. We cannot save ourselves of our own volition. On whom then ought we to rely? Our answer is found in the old versicle drawn out of Psalm 124:
Our help is in the name of the Lord:
Who hath made heaven and earth. (Psalm 124:8)
The road to the cross that we are called to walk demonstrates, in part, that reliance on anything or anyone but God is folly. The words of the old Gospel hymn come to mind: On Christ the solid rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand. We must rely on God, and God alone – anything else will only let us down and leave us like the people of Jerusalem, devastated and destroyed, confounded, quaking with fear, and put to shame. Saint Paul imitates this theme of the trustworthiness of God in his second letter to the Corinthians:
For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why we utter the Amen through him, to the glory of God. But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has commissioned us; he has put his seal upon us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. (2 Corinthians 2:10-24)
God will do as he has promised, and even in our trouble, we can call on him. The cries of Lamentations are meaningless without the faithfulness of the God to whom the people of Jerusalem are crying out. Our prayers are offered to the God of the universe because he is who he is: the God who makes a covenant and keeps it. The old lies we tell ourselves (and that are told to us) try to contradict this fundamental truth. Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? Who is the God who will deliver you?
The pleading of Lamentations seems, even to the author, to be misplaced and helpless. God exacted righteous judgment on the people of Israel for their sins, and yet, in spite of all their unfaithfulness, Israel chose once again to come before God. Our pleading too can seem misplaced and pointless. And yet, in the midst of death, we beg God to hear our groans, to behold our supplications, to hear our prayers and let our cries come unto him: miserable offenders praying for that mercy which we so dearly need. During this Holy Week, knowing and considering the sins we have committed, let us continually turn ourselves to God, ever mindful that he will be faithful to his promise and the word of eternal life.
Jacob Hootman is a seminarian in the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth (ACNA). He is a middler at Nashotah House, studying towards the completion of a Masters of Divinity. He currently serves as secretary of the Liturgy and Common Worship Task Force of the Anglican Church in North America, and previously served as Chaplain to the Assisting Bishop of Fort Worth. Jacob served as the primary editor for the Book of Common Prayer 2019, Traditional Language Edition. He and his wife, Emily, are from the North Texas area and have one son. After graduation, Jacob hopes to be set apart for holy orders in the Diocese of Fort Worth. The readings for the preceding devotional may be located here from Forward Movement.
