Lamentations 2:1-22

"My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babies faint in the streets of the city. They cry to their mothers, 'Where is bread and wine?'" (Lamentations 2:11-12a)

Jeremiah is lamenting the destruction of Jerusalem. The sight of suffering children takes him over the edge. I am reminded of Ivan's painful consideration of the suffering of children in Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov: "They must be atoned for...How are you going to atone for them?" (II.V.4)

The gospel provides no naive, flippant answers to the hardest questions of life (and is not the problem of evil the hardest question in life?). In the fullness of time, God sent His only Son; One who would embody Israel and suffer every form of evil produced by the children of men. The rejected One became the cornerstone. The falsely accused One was vindicated. The despised One poured Himself out in love. The tortured and crucified One was resurrected. The dead One now lives and reigns. And in so doing and being, Jesus Christ atoned for all the evil in the world. Evil is still evil, but in and through Christ love and grace have the last word. Every tear and cry of every child is heard and acted on by God in Christ. Justice will be served. And as Christ's ambassadors, we are charged with pushing back against the tyranny of the devil.

Where is the bread? "This is my body which is for you."

Where is the wine? "This cup is the new covenant in my blood."

Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.