Clothed in Sackcloth – Finding a Place for Lament in the King’s House

A Series of Musings on the Book of Esther - Part Five

“When Mordecai learned all that had happened, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city. He cried out with a loud and bitter cry. He went as far as the front of the king’s gate, for no one might enter the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth.” (Esther iv. 1-2)

As the fourth chapter of the book of Esther begins, we find Mordecai mourning - clothed in sackcloth, covered in ashes, and crying bitterly. I will leave you to discover why from the book of Esther itself. For right now, I want to draw your attention to just one fact: Mordecai could not enter the king’s gate because he was mourning.

It is easy to read this verse and think of it as merely a statement of fact, a rule of King Ahasuarus’ house. A description of the setting - meant to tell us what the time and the culture were like. But have you ever wondered about that law? Wondered if the same rule applies to the house of our King? If it affects the way we live?

Without realising it, many of us apply this rule to entering the church. It has come to dictate the way we interact within God’s house and with His people.

There seems to be an unspoken understanding that mourning, our sufferings, and even the uncomfortable, burning conviction of unconfessed sin should be left at the door. We have trained ourselves to be masters at entering God’s house with smiles on our faces and songs of triumph on our lips. While hiding what is truly taking place in our hearts. When we can’t, we may not come at all. Some have come to avoid the church altogether; telling ourselves that we should wait till easier times - after the difficulties, the guilt, or the sorrow have faded away. 

But is this a rule that God has made for His house, or one that we have inflicted upon ourselves?

God’s Word on the Subject

God blessed the poor in spirit, promising them the kingdom of heaven (Matthew v.3). He caused the Psalmist's pen to write, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart - these, O God, You will not despise" (Psalm li.17). He said, “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.” (James v.13) and “Come to Me all you who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” (Matthew xi.28)

Jesus was deeply troubled. He suffered, He wept, He sweat drops of blood. He sympathizes with us in our weakness (Hebrews iv.15) and, to Paul, He said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians xii.9)

If these are God’s feelings towards sorrow, struggle, and need, then this tendency to hide those things - to keep them out of His house - clearly isn’t God instilled. So, if the rule hasn’t come from Him, where has it come from and why is it here?

It is a human propensity to amplify strengths and gloss over areas of  weakness. Few want their feebleness or shortcomings to be seen. Few also are willing to see them - to risk being disillusioned, burdened, or hurt by the struggles and the sins of others. So, the unspoken understanding is this: You take care of your problems, I’ll take care of mine, and we’ll just meet to fellowship together. But is this true fellowship? Was this God’s intent?

We find a pattern for the church in God’s Word. He instructs His people to mourn with those who mourn (Romans xii.15), to bear one another’s burdens (Galatians vi.2), to care for the orphan and the widow in their distress (James i.27), to remember the mistreated and imprisoned (Hebrews xiii.3), to strengthen feeble arms and weak knees (Hebrews xii.12).

We see in Esther that Mordecai wasn’t afraid to mourn. To cry out with a loud and bitter cry. In fact, when Esther sent him clothes to exchange for his sackcloth, he refused them. He mourned unashamedly and he mourned in company - all of the Jews were weeping together.

The Importance of the Missing Lament

When brokenness, suffering, and repentance are so often disguised in the context of the church, it is easy for the individual to be deceived into believing that they alone face such trials. It is easy to count such things strange when those around you don’t appear to suffer at all.  And it is hard to know how to walk through trials when the examples of others are hidden away.

We have believed that sin and struggle, if revealed, will drive us apart, separate us from the rest of the body, or bring their disapproval and disdain. But what if dealing with these things would knit us together instead? What if, when one member of the body suffers, we all suffer together?

In truth, we are all people with problems and the solution to every one of those problems is the same. C.S. Lewis said, “Friendship ... is born at the moment when one man says to another "What! You too? I thought that no one but myself . . .” Nowhere can greater similarity be found than in our need for the Savior. It is when we kneel at the foot of the cross that we become tied to one another. For we find that those we do life with are kneeling on either side of us.

We are not meant to commiserate in weakness - to bemoan ourselves; to parade our struggles; to focus upon them - but that doesn’t mean they need to be hidden. God makes it quite clear that our weakness is an opportunity to gain His strength. 

Our attempts to show our own strength cause us to neglect and even shy away from perfect strength - the strength He desires to give us. So, instead of masking sufferings and need, we should say, with Paul, “most gladly, I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians xii.9)

Lamenting and Joy

Joy, triumph, and encouragement are precious and needed in the church but they need not exist only in the exclusion of sorrow, conviction, and suffering. Rather, their contrast strengthens and authenticates one another.

Joy, for example, needs the context of suffering. It is gained through difficulty. The joy of our salvation is tasted through the Savior's suffering and through the suffering of sin that convinces the sinner of their need for Him.

When suffering then is hidden from sight, the onlooker will struggle to understand where our joy comes from. Some see the people in the church as the ones ‘who have it together’, whose lives work - they see victory but they do not know why. If these aren’t allowed to see that we too have shared in the sufferings they taste, that we share in sufferings still, then our joy looks to be out of their reach. It brings them discouragement rather than hope.

The majority of our worship music speaks of victory, joy, and peace - all of which are good and true of our life with the King. But while our focus is committed to those, little place is made for conviction, sorrow, and suffering. Do we realize that more than a third of the Psalms - from which our songs descend - are songs of lament? That, in addition to numerous other passages that share the same theme. Lamenting, mourning, weeping, and grieving are all very real parts of life; they all play an important role in working out one’s salvation.

We note in the Psalms, however, that the lamentations end in triumph. The triumph of a soul beholding a victorious God. Our Lord was despised and rejected - He was a Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief (Isaiah liii.3) and yet in His presence is the fullness of joy (Psalm xvi.11). He should be the reminder to us that sorrow leads to joy when it is committed into God’s hands.

A Future Parallel

There is a time coming when there will be no more place for lamenting among God’s people – there will be no tears within the gates of heaven. But among those who are locked out there is going to be weeping and gnashing of teeth. One day there will no longer be strength for those who find themselves in weakness; nor joy to follow the mourner’s sorrow. Like Esau, the condemned will find no place for repentance though they seek it diligently with tears.

But that time has not yet come. God is mercifully waiting - giving place for repentance. He is causing difficulty to bring strength. Conviction to lead us to Him for forgiveness. Sorrow and suffering to meet the triumph of joy. So, let’s not jump ahead and ban remorse while it is still of use. Let’s not forsake the lament nor keep the mourners - be that ourselves or others - from entering the King’s house, until He Himself deems it to be time.

Therefore, let us come boldly now to His throne, that we might find grace to help in time of need!

  

In Christ

quiana