Musings on the Daily Lectionary - Contrition

Zion stretches out her hands,
but there is no one to comfort her;
the LORD has commanded against Jacob
that his neighbors should become his foes;
Jerusalem has become a filthy thing among them.
The LORD is in the right,
for I have rebelled against his word;

So go today's opening verses from Lamentations. Lament is a fairly common form in the Bible. People cry out to God in distress. Sometimes they even rail against God. But not here. Here the writer looks at suffering and says, "This is my doing. I brought this on myself."

I want to tread carefully here because some will hear me say that it is fine to blame the victim. I do not want to say that at all, but I do think that our culture finds it increasingly difficult to say, "Look at the terrible mess I've made. I am getting just what I deserve."

We have little trouble pointing out others' failings and assigning blame, but we are disinclined to take much upon ourselves. All the world's troubles are their fault.

I think I've mentioned before something Martin Luther is supposed to have said. It goes something along the lines of, "When you find yourself before the judgment seat of Christ, plead your faults, not your merits." Luther is speaking of opening ourselves to God's limitless grace and mercy. But if we follow Luther's advice, some of us won't have anything to say.

I like to think myself deserving of all the good I experience and horrible undeserving of and wronged by the setbacks and tragedies of life. I wonder how often I close myself off from God's grace in the process.

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