How long must the land mourn?

James Cathcart October 01, 2023 1 2

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Jeremiah 12: 1-4 (NRSVA)

1

You will be in the right, O Lord,
    when I lay charges against you;
    but let me put my case to you.
Why does the way of the guilty prosper?
    Why do all who are treacherous thrive?

2 

You plant them, and they take root;
    they grow and bring forth fruit;
you are near in their mouths
    yet far from their hearts.

3 

But you, O Lord, know me;
    You see me and test me—my heart is with you.
Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
    and set them apart for the day of slaughter.

4 

How long will the land mourn,
    and the grass of every field wither?
For the wickedness of those who live in it
    the animals and the birds are swept away,
    and because people said, ‘He is blind to our ways.’

We begin our new theme Stormy Weather, Peaceful Shore listening to the cry of nature as the pressure mounts and its resources are exploited cruelly. In words thousands of years old — but so fresh they could have been written yesterday — we read in size 48 type in block capitals splashed over the front page: HOW LONG MUST THE LAND MOURN?

The prophet is calling out the unfair and unjust practices of the wicked, but he’s not complaining to them directly. This editorial is directed at God. “How Lord? How but! How are they getting away with it. We’re all suffering here, even the land itself is crying out!”

This mourning of the land is a haunting image. Today, through wildfires and droughts, coastal erosion and heatwaves we get a contemporary picture of the land mourning — as the consequences of unjust and unequal societies are wrought in the natural world around us.

Jeremiah rages against the storm — the literal and metaphorical storms of calamity and iniquity — we can imagine his voice weary, hoarse. As the chapter goes on The Lord replies and says the storm is going to rage on — the web of unjust behaviour runs through the whole system and their consequences will be disaster.

But disaster doesn’t get the last word. Humanity is not left to its own devices. God has compassion. There is hope of renewed relationship, not least with the land.

If we want to affect change, to comfort mourning land and mourning people; if we want to build a more compassionate world where bad actors don’t benefit at the expense of others, where we can reap wheat instead of thorns, and shepherds care for their flocks rather than lording it over them; then we must learn to embrace sorrow, hope and rejoicing.

Sorrow at what has happened, hope at what can happen and the defiant ability to rejoice throughout it all.

PRAYER:

Loving God,

Help us to comfort mourning land

and mourning people.

Help us to counter oppression

with compassion

Help us learn from sorrow,

learn with hope

and learn to rejoice.

Amen.