“This is why I weep and my eyes overflow with tears. No one is near to comfort me, no one to restore my spirit. My children are destitute because the enemy has prevailed.” – Lamentations 1:16

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 1, 2014): Lamentations 1

Victoria Soto was a teacher who died in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012. As we pieced together the events of that day in the aftermath of the tragedy, Victoria quickly emerged as one of the heroes of that tragic day. As the shooter entered the school, the 27 year-old first tried to hide the children under her care, but when that didn’t work, she died doing her best to protect them. For her actions on that day she was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal. President Obama, speaking at a memorial service a few days after the tragedy, spoke of the emotional loss that the nation had suffered at Sandy Hook. He said that “mere words cannot match the depths of your sorrow, nor can they heal your wounded hearts ... These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change.”

There is probably no better thermometer of the human condition than watching how we treat our children. The events at Sandy Hook and other school shootings are tragic – they should never have happen. And yet there is another tragedy that is much more wide spread and it seems to be going unnoticed. It is a crime against the children of the world. They are being neglected, and they are slowly dying in numbers greater than we can imagine. And those that survive are damaged for life, all because of the neglect that we have willingly inflicted on them. Because we are willing partners in the destruction of the children, the judgment stands against us. These treasures that which must be protected, are being discarded. And it seems that no one is there to stand up and protect them. And something must change if we as a race are going to survive.

It is no accident that it is this imagery that Jeremiah chooses to use as he looks at the destruction of Jerusalem. Speaking of the death of his nation he likens it to the death of children. Helpless, the people have died, the city has died and the nation has died. And the very people who should have been there to protect the children, the Victoria Soto’s of Jeremiah’s society, were absent. They failed at their responsibility. And it wasn’t that they were unable, they were simply unwilling.

And this is the reason that Jeremiah says that he weeps. It should not have ended this way. It did not have to end this this way. A change had been necessary, but no one was willing to make that change. And as a result, that lack of change that bought with it an unspeakable tragedy. A tragedy against which Jeremiah is sure that his people was being judged. And Jeremiah was also sure that for a while God’s judgment would continue. It was a judgment that they deserved, because they had failed to protect the children.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Lamentations 2