COMMENTARY

Old Testament: Lamentations 1:1-6
Lament for Jerusalem that lies in ruins. The series of seven lections is interrupted by a passage from Lamentations. In 586 B.C. Jerusalem was conquered and burned to the ground. The people were carried away to Babylon. Jerusalem now lies in ruins and is deserted. Along with the city, the holy temple is now a heap of ashes. The book of Lamentations is a collection of five poems moaning Jerusalem's end. It is appropriate that Lamentations is in this series from Jeremiah, because tradition says that it was written by Jeremiah.

Epistle: 2 Timothy 1:1-14
As Paul declares that he is not ashamed of the Gospel, he urges Timothy not to be ashamed to testify to Christ. Most Biblical scholars are agreed that the pastoral letters were written by a frien…