A Time for Sorrow by Scott Harrower

Author:Scott Harrower
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Scott harrower;sean mcdonough;sean m. mcdonough;lamentation;biblical lamentation;pastoral book;church community;fostering church community;gordon-conwell;gordon-conwell theological seminary;christian ministry;christian life;rhys s. bezzant;donna petter;emmet price;emmett g. price;lindsay wilson;book of ezekiel;
ISBN: 9781683072898
Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers
Published: 2019-06-12T20:17:55+00:00

John’s Gospel

The theme of lament forms an important component of John’s Gospel as well. Already in 2:17, after the action in the temple, John refers to a lament from the Psalms: “Zeal for your house will consume me” (Ps. 69:9). This is clearly pointing toward the suffering that Jesus will endure at the end of the Gospel. The point is reinforced by further references to the psalm in the Upper Room discourse (John 15:25, “They hated me without reason,” from Ps. 69:4) and the narrative of the crucifixion (John 19:28, where the wine vinegar given to Jesus resonates with Ps. 69:21).

One of the most poignant examples of lament in the entirety of the Scriptures comes in the brief description of Jesus’ action before the tomb of Lazarus (11:35): “Jesus wept.” Precisely why he is weeping has occasioned much discussion. Those who take the verb ἐνεβριμήσατο in its sense of “to be angry” or “to censure” can see his tears as evincing distress at the unbelief of the villagers in Bethany. While this cannot be dismissed out of hand, one should also note that the companion verb in verse 34, “troubled,” is a leitmotif in John’s passion and refers more generally to Jesus’ distress at his coming death. It is safest to say that the whole situation has moved him to tears: death has ravaged the lives of his good friends; the people around are unable to grasp the magnitude of his power to deliver; and in Lazarus’ tomb, he sees what awaits him in a few short days. For our purposes, the fact of Jesus’ weeping is more important than its source. A Christian refusing to practice lament would appear to be renouncing the example of Jesus himself.

As Jesus draws near to “the hour” of his death in John, he gives voice to his troubles in the moving soliloquy in 12:27–8: “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” The word for “troubled” here is the same verb as in 11:34, and the expression “my soul [or sometimes ‘heart’] is troubled” is a regular feature of the lament psalms (e.g., Ps. 6:4; 37:11; 41:7; 54:5; 108:22; 142:4).

Jesus’ final words on the cross in John, “It is finished” (19:30), are likely a note of triumph as he completes the re-creative work he has been about since the Gospel started.[19] Just prior to that, however, his human vulnerability surfaces in his statement, “I thirst” (19:28). In a Gospel drenched with water imagery, these words bring out a characteristically Johannine irony: The one who provides the very water of life (4:10; 7:37–39) lacks the water to sustain his own existence. More pointedly, this very lack embodies the sacrifice that will enable his people to drink the water of eternal life. What is most noteworthy for us is the fact that Jesus here draws upon the lament tradition of the Old Testament.

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