Vast As the Sea

Lamentations 2:10-18

Our Old Testament reading for today is filled with remorse and despair. “What can I say for you, to what compare you, O daughter Jerusalem? To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter Zion? For vast as the sea is your ruin; who can heal you?” (Lamentations 2:13). Indeed, who could possibly bring restoration to such a scene? And while this is essentially a rhetorical question, we know that the answer lies just over the horizon, just beyond view, but always dawning, always drawing nearer. For despite the sins of Jerusalem God remains faithful to the covenant in ways that cannot be fully grasped.

Today, Maundy Thursday, is a day of remembering. As we know, Jesus faced three days of pain and death and separation from God. Who could possibly have brought him restoration from such a scene? But here, too, the answer lies just over the horizon, just beyond view. With the light of Easter morning we will be encountered by the grace of God, the “love that wilt not let me go.” Meanwhile we face a world awash in its own corruption and sin, societies transfixed by power and wealth, cultures subsumed into the lowest common denominator of hate and anger. Even my friends on Facebook seem torn by the political climate of hate and intolerance. Who could possibly bring restoration to this scene? Where indeed is the horizon from which hope will arrive? Is there anything left to hope in?

This is the burden I carry this Maundy Thursday, the pain of separation—me from God’s will for my life, me from loved-ones who often seem like strangers to me, me from church factions charged with vitriol. But I know that come Sunday the light of Easter will dawn once again to reveal a dislodged stone and an empty tomb. And I know that in that moment at least we will all be offered something different for our lives, the love of God rising above anything we could do to harm one another or to despoil creation.

Who can heal? God can. And by God’s grace we will cross the vast sea of our ruin and stand on Jordan’s bank…someday. In the meantime may God bless us with the strength and courage we need for the facing of these days.

Prayer: Lord, you alone can lift us from the pain of this world into the joy of the world to come. Help us to wait with