The Message of the Psalms. by Fr. Bill Dolman. Ps: 139. O Lord, Thou hast searched me, and known me. In this Lent series of sermons I want to advertise. I want to advertise the psalms, and encourage you to go back and re-read them, to love them, and keep them as the valuable treasure that they are in the Bible, which we should all use as a powerful resource in prayer and meditation to help prepare for Easter. This is by way of introduction. It’s been said that the book of Psalms provides us with the most reliable, theological, pastoral and liturgical resource in the biblical tradition. For generations people have turned to the psalms to illustrate their conversation with God about what is worrying them most. The psalms cover the whole range of emotions: praise, for example in the later psalms, 144 to 150, Blessed be the Lord my Strength, 144, I will extol thee, my God, O King, 145, and onwards, and then despair and anger: I cried unto the lord with my voice, Ps 143, for example. The psalms show us that we can be honest when we are talking to God, praying, being angry, sad, disappointed or bursting over with happiness and thanks. Not only are the psalms prayers and songs sung by the Children of Israel approaching the temple hill, they are true Hebrew poetry in their own right. The rhythms of the poetry even come through in the translation. Let me explain with an example of one of the key elements of Hebrew poetry of fourth and fifth century BC. This is historical literary criticism. You don’t often get that in a Lent sermon. In the psalms you often find that the second half of a verse mirrors the first, a form of parallelism, either reinforcing the first part: for example: He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. (Ps 103:10) The second half of the verse strengthens the first part. I have chosen the authorised version of the Bible as it reflects the poetry more than the modern, earth-bound translations. Sometimes the two halves of the verse say the opposite, contrasting the two parts. Here’s an example: For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth: and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off (Ps 37:22). There you are, you wil have recognised that as an example of antithetical parallelism. Theologians use more jargon than doctors. You’ve just embarked on structural analysis of the psalms, and once you are aware of the technique in the writing, you don’t have to work to recognise it, it comes out and hits you in the face. So now we are all Old Testament scholars in psalm and Hebrew poetry structure. It occurs widely, it’s a mark of genuine Hebrew poetry. And here’s a thought: when you read the gospels you will find the same technique. Take for example, the Beatitudes, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of God. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted (Matt 5:2-11), more parallelism. But the fact that Jesus is reported to have spoken with these parallel phrases tends to suggest that this is accurate reporting, that Jesus, as a teacher, a rabbi, would have used this poetic technique. It gives his words a ring of truth. I have wandered down a by-way there but one I hope that brings the Bible to life. We will be using the psalms to help our Lenten observance of self-examination and get reassurance and strength from their words. The psalms are a series of songs or hymns. The song the Psalms sing for us can be considered in several ways. Firstly we can each look at our own lives as soloists, in the choir of the living church. In Lent we need to take time to reflect on our lives, our directions, our future. Secondly psalms can speak for all of us as a choir, singing and working together, one with another in one body in the church. In other words we ought to look at ourselves as the Christian body of the church, each one of us knowing, loving, respecting our fellow Christians, supporting them by what we do for them and our prayers for them, and thirdly, the psalms remind us to let the church’s triumphant song ring out into the outside world. That means the demand to proclaim the good news, mission. So, although the descriptions may sound rather portentous, those are the three directions I propose that we take. Why do we need to do all this? We should look at the season of Lent itself, and its meaning and purpose. In early Christian days the Lent season grew and extended backwards from the short pre-Easter fast, the preparation and purification before Easter, for those catechumens, converts preparing for baptism at Easter. The one or two days’ preparation lengthened to a week, Holy week in the western church, Great week in the Eastern church, and then stretched to 40 days, mirroring the 40 days in the wilderness The whole season was established by the fifth century in the time of Pope Leo I. Lent is a season of preparation and self-examination as we prepare our hearts and minds for the festival of Easter. Like the early Christians we must be in a proper state of grace to witness the miracle of Easter. You need to prepare before any great activity. The need for preparation is reflected in the words of the gospel as Jesus prepared himself for his great activity, to embark on his ministry. It was a time of testing, self-examination. Jesus was led into the wilderness, in Matthew’s strange words, to be tempted of the devil. The Devil tried to bribe him into succumbing to his power. And we’re given examples. As a hungry man, he is tempted with food. He was tempted with a promise of political power, over all the kingdoms of the world, if, in turn, he worshipped the devil, and he was threatened with physical danger, the Devil setting him precariously on a pinnacle of the temple, and what’s more, misusing the words of Psalm 91, as a promise. He will give his angels charge of you to guard you. That’s not what the psalm says: it actually says: For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways, which has a subtly different meaning. You can see how devious the devil was in trying to get his way. Jesus answered directly: You shall not tempt the Lord your God. The same temptations are reflected in our world today: offers of bribes so people can have their way, backhanders, slush funds, payment for honours. It’s so familiar. The world hasn’t changed much in two thousand years. The Devil is still there. |