The Role Of Hope

THE ROLE OF HOPE Lamentations 5:11-22 August 22, 2021 I want to start this morning by talking about someone who, at first glance, doesn't seem to have anything to do with today's Scripture. Let's talk about the 13th century saint, philosopher, and theologian - Thomas Aquinas.1 We usually use only his last name - Aquinas. He was born in 1225, and died in 1274 at the age of 48. That's not an unusual lifespan for that time in history. Aquinas was smart, really, really smart. At a very young age his family realized he's working on a level way above the rest of us. He was kind of the Einstein of philosophy. In those days, if you wanted a first-rate education, you became a Dominican monk. The Dominican's were a gathering place for the best and the brightest. Aquinas made plans to become a Dominican. His family was horrified. Be a lawyer, or a doctor, use your brain to make big money. Don't be a lowly, impoverished monk. But, Aquinas was committed. The night before he was to join the order, his brothers took him to a hotel - ostensibly for a going away dinner. Instead, they locked him in a hotel room with a prostitute. If they could get him to commit a sinful act, and defile himself, maybe he would give up on religion. By all accounts the young woman was quite beautiful, very voluptuous, and eager to accommodate. Aquinas was in a pickle. He grabbed a hot poker from the fireplace, and held the young woman at bay the entire night. He spent the night praying out loud, and fending off her advances. In the morning, his brothers let him out. He joined the Dominican's. And the rest is history. Figuring out exactly how God works is difficult. Can you come up with an explanation that makes sense, and is supported by every word in the Bible? You can't pick and choose Scriptures. Your theology must account for every word. We call that systematic theology. Aquinas wrote the very first systematic theology for Christianity. He called it the Summa Theologica - everything about God. Pretty big claim. But, it was a pretty big book. He covered just about any question you might have. What's the difference between God, and humans, and angels? Where does evil come from? How can God be in control of everything, and people still have free will? Aquinas' book was revolutionary. It was so thorough, the Pope made it the official answer book for the faith. If you have any questions about God, don't ask me, read Aquinas. One hundred years later, Pope John II put Aquinas up for sainthood. To be a saint you must have 2 verified miracles. They were struggling to find miracles for Aquinas. Then, the Pope heard about the hotel incident. And, he said - anytime a 17 year old boy holds off a beautiful, willing woman, for an entire night - it's a miracle. Thomas Aquinas became a saint. Why are we talking about this? Because part of Aquinas' systematic theology covered grace.2 The amazing love of God that reaches out to undeserving sinners, and enables our salvation. And, Aquinas wrote, until you completely understand Lamentations 5, you won't understand grace. Until you can identify with the hopeless, wretchedness of Lamentations 5 - you will always believe you 'kind of' deserve to be saved. You have to reach the rock bottom described in this poem, before grace can touch your heart and transform your faith. Poem 5 is narrated by a man who was left-behind when the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem, and took people away as slaves. He was a child when the city fell. He was too young to do hard labor, so the invaders left him behind as an orphan to starve, die, or make his way. Not their problem. Twenty years have passed since the city fell. He is now a man in the prime of his life. And, he has been elected by the other left-behinds to plead with God on their behalf.3 He has been working his way through the complaints of the community. God, why don't you hear us when we pray? Why don't you do anything to help us? Don't you remember us at all? We have an evil Governor who won't let us live in our homes. We have to pay for water. It's unsafe to leave the city, but we're used like slaves if we stay in the city. I was just a kid when the city fell. None of this is my fault. Where are you, and why don't you help us? Today, he launches into a new set of complaints. First, our young women are being violated by the Babylonian soldiers.4 Unfortunately, that has always been considered one of the spoils of war. If your side wins, you get to use the local women for any wanton pleasure. Mark my words, now that Afghanistan has fallen to the Taliban, violence against women will skyrocket to unfathomable heights. The spokesman is complaining because once a Hebrew woman has been violated she is not eligible for marriage. She is spoiled goods. Now, he just complained to God that the sins which caused the fall of Jerusalem were not his fault. And, he shouldn't have to suffer the consequences. Yet, 2 sentences later he holds the young women to account for something which is clearly not their fault. And, he doesn't see the hypocrisy of his words. Next, anyone who tries to step up and lead is executed. If you dare to try and help your neighbor, the guards arrest you. The young men who try to speak out are arrested and tortured. After they die, their bodies are hung by the thumbs in public for everyone to see.5 This is a warning. You have no voice. You have no value. Don't you dare try to organize yourselves. The spokesman who is complaining to God is in very real physical danger. He wants God to recognize the risk he's taking, and perhaps reward him. He deserves to be saved. Many of the young men are being kidnapped to work in grinding mills. Some kind of a grain - wheat, oats, barley, is placed in a large round bowl. Then, a heavy stone is pushed around the bowl by manpower. The wheel grinds the grain into a flour which can be used for baking. These mills were indoors so the wind wouldn't blow away your flour. Because of that, the air is filled with fine white powder. The young man breathes in the powder 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. The powder coats the lungs, and the young man usually dies in a year or two. This was considered a death sentence. The spokesman is giving God a visual for how hopeless and severe their situation is. And, he would complain to the government or the selected leaders, but there aren't any. In days past, the community leaders would go to the city gates each morning. These older, wiser men, would listen to complaints and legal disputes. They would render decisions. And, they had the authority of the legal system behind them - kind of like small claims court. Obviously, they are not allowed to meet anymore. Any man who is selected to complain is tortured and killed. The cruel Governor of Jerusalem won't hear their complaints. The local court is disbanded, and can't hear their complaints. And, the praying public hasn't heard from God in 20 years. He doesn't seem to care about their complaints. So, the spokesman begins working his way through his own systematic theology. God is immutable. You never change. You are 100% reliable to be who you are. I know you've been really good to Jerusalem in former years. So, you are not evil. But, you've been ignoring us for 20 years. You always have a good reason for what you do - but I just don't understand this. How can a good God turn his back on his favorite and most loved people? What do I have to do, to get you to love me again?6 That is the most important question asked in all of Lamentations. What do I have to do to get you to love me again? The first reason it is important, is for the hope it represents. In spite of the pain he's feeling, he absolutely believes reconciliation is possible. I cannot get so far away from God, that he cannot love me again. That is exactly the message Jesus brought to the widow, the orphan, the poor, the outsider, the outcast, and the unwanted. I know your life is hard. I know every day is suffering. I know you hurt deep in your soul. But, know this truth. You cannot get so far away from God, that he cannot love you anymore. Always have hope in God's love. What do I have to do to get you to love me again? The second reason this question is so important, is that it falsely assumes God's love is conditional. It assumes what we do determines whether, or not, God loves us. It assumes God embraces, or rejects, us because of our worthiness. It assumes we are responsible for our own salvation. Whether or not we are saved, and spend eternity in Heaven with God, is based on what we do. Aquinas writes - if you think that way, you do not understand grace. Grace is meritless. There is absolutely nothing you can do, which will ever allow you to deserve salvation. Salvation comes because God is so, so good. He reaches down when we are at our absolute worst, and least deserving, and that's when he bathes us in mercy and grace. When we translate Hebrew or Geek into English, there is frequently disagreement about exactly how a translation should read. The last verse of Lamentations 5 ends with a question. That question can be translated several different ways.7 The big difference between translations focuses on 'is the question hopeful or not'? Those who translate verse 22 with hope, do it from emotion rather than language accuracy. They cannot accept a book of the Bible ending with hopelessness. It cannot be, so I will render a translation which holds out the hope of God's love returning. Here's what's wrong with that. For God's love to return, it must have gone away. And, the God I know - never, ever, ever stops loving us. That violates my systematic theology. There is absolutely nothing we can do to turn away the love of God. God loves us whether we ever love him, or not. So, I am okay with the last question being hopeless, about what we have to do, to get God's love to return.8 Aquinas says, as long as you think there is a way to get God to love you, you are trying to save yourself. You're doing everything you can to deserve salvation. He says grace doesn't poor in, until you finally give up. Until you reach rock bottom, you cannot accept the mercy of God. The narrator of the fifth poem has hit rock bottom. He has explained his troubles to God. He has disavowed any responsibility for his situation. He has tried to be more worthy of salvation. And, he hasn't heard a word from God in 20 years. And, with his last sentence he gives up hope of saving himself. That's when God can finally do something with him. Any salvation he sees now, will be 100% from God. He won't be able to claim any role in the good love that comes next. He will be forced to admit, God (and only God) saved me. We all have to reach that point in our private faith journey. As long as the tiniest part of you thinks - I kind of deserve to be loved by God - you are not ready to embrace salvation. You are not ready to fully understand just what Jesus did for you. Jesus did what you could never, ever do. And, he did it out of the most selfless love ever displayed. That's grace. The offering of unmerited, undeserved love, which costs the giver everything, and the receiver nothing - is grace. And, personal hopelessness of saving ourselves, is necessary if we are going to value grace the way we should. 1 Timothy M. Renick, Aquinas for Armchair Theologians (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002), 1-49. 2 Michael Anthony Abril, "Lamentations 5:21Within the Development of Thomas Aquinas' Theology of the Grace Conversion," International Journal of Systematic Theology, 16 no. 3 (July 2014), 251-272. 3 Raymond B. Dillard & Tremper Longman III. An Introduction to the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 310. 4 R. C. Sproul, general editor. New Geneva Study Bible (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 1254. 5 NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016), 1330. 6 Shinman Kang & Pieter m. Venter, "A Canonical-Literary Reading of Lamentations 5," Hervormde Teologiese Studies, 65 no. 1 (2009), 257-264. 7 Tod Linafelt, "The Refusal of a Conclusion in the Book of Lamentations," The Journal of Biblical Literature, 120 no. 2 (January 1, 2001), 36-40. 8 Norman Gottwald, New Interpreter's Study Bible (Nashville: Abingdon, 2003), 1152. --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ 2