I Am The Man

Lamentations 3:1-24
September 27, 2020
Abraham Hong

Sermon Script

On the day of Jesus’ resurrection, two of his disciples were walking on a road and talking about everything that had happened: how the tomb of Jesus was found to be empty, how angels said that Jesus rose from the dead, and how it all seemed like an idle tale. As the two disciples went on the road, Jesus drew near to them and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And Jesus asked them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” The two disciples stopped and stood still. And they were sad.

They told Jesus about all the things that happened in the last few days. About how Jesus was mighty in deed and in word and how Jesus was condemned to death and crucified by the chief priests and rulers. They told Jesus about how three days later Jesus’ tomb was empty and that angels said that Jesus was alive. They said that they went to the tomb but they did not see him.

Jesus listened to them. And then he said these amazing words: “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And so on that resurrection day, the two disciples walked and talked with Jesus on the road. And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, Jesus interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself - things about his suffering unto glory.

Dear Highland, the book of Lamentations is ultimately about Jesus. And here in chapter 3, the narrator who says “I am the man” is ultimately quoting Jesus who is the Son of Man who suffered and died for your sins. This poetry serves to clarify and magnify all the suffering that Jesus endured for us. And I hope that this poetry will help you to grow in thanksgiving and love for Jesus.

As you wait for the return of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, may you never forget about his suffering. Jesus suffered for you. He suffered for your salvation. And he suffered for you because he loves you. I hope that you will always remember what Jesus went through for your sake. And I hope that Lamentations 3 will help you to grow in thanksgiving and love for Jesus.

Dear Highland, remember that Jesus is the man who has seen affliction under the rod of wrath. He endured real physical pain on the cross as his hands and feet were pierced with large nails. And he received the real holy wrath of the Father as judgment and punishment for sin. He was besieged and enveloped with bitterness and tribulation. A divine bow was set against him. An arrow of justice was targeted upon him. Jesus took this affliction and this wrath for your sake.

Dear Highland, remember that Jesus is the man who was driven and brought into darkness without any light. When Jesus hung on the cross, there was darkness in the whole land from the sixth hour to the ninth hour - from 12:00 noon to 3:00 pm. This darkness symbolizes exile and death. He was made to dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago. His soul was bereft of peace and all happiness was forgotten. Jesus took this sad and terrible darkness for your sake.

Dear Highland, remember that Jesus is the man whose Father turned his hand against him. Before his final breath, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus was walled in. He could not escape. His chains were made heavy. And though the Son called and cried out to the Father, there was no help. Jesus’ legal status was made into one whose paths were crooked. Jesus took this forsakenness and alienation for your sake.

Dear Highland, remember that Jesus is the man whose flesh and skin were made to waste away. Jesus was beaten and flogged and scourged with cruel instruments that were designed to tear through skin and tissue. His flesh and skin were torn up and bloodied as when a bear or a lion tears up and bloodies their prey. And Jesus was pierced in his side by a spear like arrows of a quiver driven into one’s kidneys. Jesus took this wasting away of flesh and skin for your sake.

Dear Highland, remember that Jesus is the man who became the laughingstock of people and the object of their taunts. People spat at him and struck him and mocked him and ridiculed him. Soldiers put a crown of thorns on his head and pretended that he was a king. And he was blindfolded and beaten and asked, “Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?” In humiliation, Jesus was brought low so that his teeth was made to grind on gravel. Jesus took this dishonor and blasphemy for your sake.

Highland, this is why we love Jesus. We love him because he took our sins and made them his own. We love him because he took the judgment and the exile and the pain and the hell that we deserved. We love him because he endured the most grievous torments in his soul and the most painful sufferings in his body for us. We love him because he ultimately says to us, “I am the man who has seen affliction.” This is why we love Jesus.

But the love doesn’t end with just that. Remember what Jesus said to the two disciples on the road on the day of his resurrection. He said, “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things… and enter into his glory?” Jesus didn’t just suffer and then that was it. Jesus suffered and then entered into his glory. Suffering unto glory. We also love Jesus because of his suffering… unto glory. Unto resurrection glory.

There are many good stories about cities that were rebuilt and reborn after disaster and destruction. There’s the city of Chicago, which was devastated by the great fire in 1871. There’s New York City, which was devastated by the terrorist attacks of 9/11. And the list goes on and on. In these stories, cities were rebuilt and reborn with a sense of lasting newness. And through great suffering and lamentation, the people of these cities revitalized and reinvented themselves with a sense of lasting restoration.

But there is no story like the city of Jerusalem here in Lamentations.

Many years after the fall and exile of the city of Jerusalem, God brought his people back to their homeland. And according to the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, there was a kind of rebuilding and rebirth. There was some sense of newness and restoration. But at the end of the day, it wasn’t new enough. And it wasn’t the restoration that they ultimately needed. There was still sin and suffering. There was still emptiness and lamentation.

But many years after the times of Ezra and Nehemiah, there came the man of Lamentations 3. He entered into the city of Jerusalem, which was still devastated by great sin and the attacks of the enemy. He walked in the very streets of the city that were once upon a time filled with infants and babies who fainted and cried to their mothers. And what did this man of Lamentations 3 do? He came to suffer unto glory. He came to suffer and die for his people, his church, the New Jerusalem, so that they too would die in him, having been united with him. But his work was not just a rebirth or a rebuilding for his kingdom. His work was new creation. His work was resurrection life for himself and resurrection life for his people. In him, we have been made into a new creation. And there is nothing more new than that. There is nothing more glorious than that. Suffering unto glory. Suffering unto glory in Christ Jesus.

You have died in Christ. In Christ you have passed through judgment. Just as Israel of old was baptized in the Red Sea to escape the death and destruction of Pharaoh’s army, you have been baptized into Christ and into his death. And just as Israel of old emerged from the waters as a new nation, you have been born again as a new creation in Christ. Listen to God’s word from Romans 6:4-5. “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

And that brings us to back to the story that we began with today. The story of Jesus and the two disciples walking and talking on the road. After Jesus interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself, things about his suffering unto glory, he joined them for an evening meal. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the other disciples and they said that Jesus has risen indeed. They told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. They told them about Jesus’ suffering unto glory, and how Jesus was the hope of Lamentations 3.

Dear Highland, I hope and pray that your hearts will burn more within you too. As you walk down the roads of this old and fading earth, may you walk with Jesus with greater thanksgiving and love for him. May you grow in the grace and knowledge of his suffering unto glory. And may you continue to say: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;  his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Soli Deo Gloria