I suggest that the observation that Jesus Christ entered this world and left this world, with strong words of lament is important.
2.16-18 – the prophetic words of Rachel, shockingly fulfilled in Herod’s slaughter of the young children. Matthew here quotes Jeremiah 31.15:
Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”
27.46 – Jesus’ own words from the cross, quoting Psalm 22.1:
Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land7 until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Here is Jesus the Messiah, entering the world in a context of suffering and lament; and his life drawing to a close also in a context of suffering and lament. Gloriously, His resurrection gives us hope and a future. The suffering and lament is nevertheless very real. We must not be surprised, therefore, since our Saviour became the ‘Man of Sorrows, acquainted with suffering,’ that our own lives will include seasons of suffering and lament.
In our modern western world, we tend to filter out suffering; we ‘pop pills’ to stop pain. As one writer put it, we try to abort affliction. We forget Jesus’ promise that in this world we will have trouble (John 16.33); suffering precedes glory.
More than 50 Psalms are psalms of lament, more than any other theme. Yet we skip these so often! No wonder we miss this aspect of God’s heart!
Jesus came into a context of suffering; a nation under foreign occupation; the common people under the harsh legalism of religious leaders; and wealth spread unevenly. Matthew records, in fulfilment of another scripture; ‘He took our illness and bore our diseases.’ (8.17, quoting Isaiah 53.4). This was costly for Him, as Luke records that power went out from Him (Luke 8.46); truly He shared in our ‘flesh and blood.’ (Hebrews 2.14, 17).
In our seasons of suffering and lament, let’s invite Christ to minister to us.