Read by the Psalms
February 22 , 2015 | Patrick Preheim
For over two thousand years the book of Psalms has been a “primary vehicle” shaping “the public and private worship of Jews and Christians” (William Holladay, The Psalms through Three Thousand Year, p. 1). Public and private reading of the Psalms has allowed them to be grafted into many of our souls. When I say “The Lord is my shepherd” many of you will know the next phase as “I shall not want” (Ps 23). When I say the “My, God, My God” many know the next words as “why have you forsaken me” (Ps 22). When I say “I to the hills” many of us reflexively speak the next four words as “will lift my eyes” (Ps 136). Psalms have been imprinted upon us through repetition, through musical settings, through a powerful word in an intense time. And this is a gift for those raised in a setting where the Psalms were valued enough to be read. Why, though, ought we today trust the Psalms enough to dwell in them regularly? Let me give my top three reasons.
First, and foremost, it is good to know the Psalms because Jesus and the early church knew the Psalms. Numerous times in the last week of his life Jesus expressed his emotions using phrases and imagery from the Psalms. Jesus spoke of gathering Jerusalem under his wing in Matthew 23 using the imagery of God gathering his people under his wing, which we hear about in Psalm 91(eg. Mt 23.37 // Ps 91.4) and other places. On the cross Jesus cries out “My God, My God why have you forsaken me” (Matt 27.46), which is none other than Psalm 22.1. And Jesus isn’t the only one in the Gospels who quotes the Psalms. Jesus enters Jerusalem to shouts from the crowds of “blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord” (Matt 21.9), which is the precise phrasing out of Psalm 118.26. When Jesus and the Devil conversed in the desert the Adversary cited Psalms (37.18-19;2.7; 91.11-12; ) to tempt Jesus.
These last two cases highlight a very interesting situation. The Psalms have been and will be misused. Even though Jesus never advocated violence some will argue for violence on the basis of the Psalms. Even though Jesus never claimed entitlement in his status as “son of God” and “Messiah” some hold to a prosperity Gospel. Even though Jesus ate with hypocrites / sinners / betrayers some people of God opt for the pure church which has roots in the strict dichotomy of righteous and unrighteous found in the O.T. more broadly and the Psalms in particular. Jesus valued the his Hebrew Scriptures and particularly the Psalms, and the early church accepted his interpretation of them. These show us the method and power of reading scripture through Jesus the Christ.
Once Jesus Christ helps us learn to read scripture, we are in a good place to be read by the Psalms. Our emotions and experiences are there. These hymns and laments give us a model and vocabulary for conversation with God. The Psalms give us language to argue with God, to petition God, to thank God, to celebrate God’s presence—to place ourselves in God’s salvation history. As a way to learn prayer, in fact, I might even suggest reading the Psalter alongside the Gospels. Some biblical scholars divide the Psalms into six or seven different camps. I am more taken with the Trinitarian formulation of Bellinger, Pleins, and Seybold which categorize a Psalm as praise, lament, or wisdom / wonder (from the appendix “categories” of Perry Yoder’s lecture on the Psalms at Swan Lake Christian Camp (Aug, 25, 2000)). We were sure to include Psalms from each of these class-ification in today’s liturgy. Psalm 46, 91, 95,100, 121 all give voice to thanksgiving and trust. Psalm 86 is a lament, and half the Palms are laments. Psalm 1 is a wisdom Psalm.
Popular author Anne Lamott echoed this three-fold division when she wrote, “I do not know much about God and prayer, but I have come to believe...there’s something important about keeping prayer simple: help, thanks, wow (Taken from interviews of her book Help, Thanks, Wow posted on the www). Help, thanks, wow are the building blocks of the Psalms. The Psalms beg us to transpose their shouts of help, thanks, and wow into personalized prayers. Let us allow the Psalms to read us in the light of Jesus Christ. Applying the Psalms to our personal and congregational life may not be easy, but it a discipline which gives us a voice. And when words fail that can be important.
Finally, I think the Psalms pose some interesting questions when we consider mission in a pluralistic world. Take your Psalm books, for example, and compare Psalm 14 and 53. As you can see for yourselves, these two are a virtual duplication. The most obvious variance comes in the way in which our Divine Creator is named: Psalm 14 calls this entity “the Lord” (Yahweh in Hebrew) while Psalm 53 calls this being “God” (Elohim). Is this significant? Possibly. One of my Hebrew professors suggested Psalms that come out of the north part of Palestine often use “Elohim” in reference to God (Ron Guengerich, Psalms, taken at the Great Plains Seminary). For me, at least, it raises the intriguing possibility that the one we call God may be known by many names. The inclusion of both Psalms 14 & 53 very likely points to a case of compromise in our religious tradition. This is interesting stuff with potential application!
And then we have whole Psalms which break all piracy and copy right laws. Turn to Psalm 29. Starting in verse 3 we hear about thunder, lightning and storm. Well, these “are precisely the manifestations of the Canaanite god Baal in the Ugaritic texts”. The imagery in the Psalm, the alliteration in the Psalm which has a lot of “b” and “l” to fit with Baal, the geographic mention of Lebanon in vv. 5-6--- all these make some “suspect that the original form of the psalm was a hymn to the god Baal and that it was later adapted for the worship of Yahweh (The Lord) by the simp[ly]...substituting the name “Yahweh” for “Baal” (William L. Holladay, The Psalms Through Three Thousand Years, p.21-22). And Psalm 29 is not alone in doing this! What does this mean that our spiritual ancestors were able to locate their Lord in the theological poetry of the pagans? Does this shape how we approach the people and imagery of other faith traditions? It might. At the very least it raises some provocative questions for discussion.
One last thought about the Psalms and mission which links back around to my first point. Last spring while on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne I attended a lecture by Reverend Canon Kate Tristram who is a leading authority on monks, monasteries, and all things saintly in north England (offered as part of the Fuller School of Theology Seminary course for a Doctor of Ministry program in session during our sojourn on the island). The religious curriculum for the monks of Lindisfarne year one were the Psalms—all of the Psalms. That is right by the end of their first year university training they would have memorized the complete Psalter. To graduate 2nd year?—all four Gospels. Equipped in this way the monks went out two by two from Holy Isle and instigated a spiritual revival. They carried no weapons. They carried no purse. They had the Psalms and the Gospels, and Britain was re-Christianized. Perhaps such a thing could happen again some day and in some way in these parts as well. Maybe we are seeing it come to pass already. Let the words of our mouths and meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and redeemer. Amen.
