Lamentation in life and mission
Jesus wept over Jerusalem, Jesus cleared the temple of the money changers and animal-sellers, He showed great emotion and anger (Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-18; John 2:13-22). Jesus’ emotion was described as “zeal” for God’s house. he wept for Lazarus. Matthew 9:36, “When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus fed the four thousand because they hadn’t eaten for three days and He had “compassion on these people” (Matthew 15:32). The emotions played a huge part in the life of Jesus. He wept, cried and lamented as he went about mission. His missional journey did not always result in a healing, or an understanding crowd. His journey often left him shaking his head in amazement at the lack of faith. Lamentation is a vital component of mission, because we will not always succeed, but through lamentation we can cry out to God and have hope that God will work things out in the end. We live in a society of repressed emotions, choose the Christ like alternative of lamentation and you can find God and therefore hope in your situation. Invite someone today to take a closer look at Christ and his church.
