Difference between revisions of "Sermon for July 31st, 2022"

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Psalm 129:1-8

A Song of Ascents.
1 Often have they attacked me from my youth
    —let Israel now say—
2 often have they attacked me from my youth,
    yet they have not prevailed against me.
3 The plowers plowed on my back;
    they made their furrows long.
4 The Lord is righteous;
    he has cut the cords of the wicked.
5 May all who hate Zion
    be put to shame and turned backward.
6 Let them be like the grass on the housetops
    that withers before it grows up,
7 with which reapers do not fill their hands
    or binders of sheaves their arms,
8 while those who pass by do not say,
    “The blessing of the Lord be upon you!
    We bless you in the name of the Lord!”

Psummer of Psalms V: Psalm 129 (Don't Let the Door Hit You on the Way Out)

One day a man discovers a magical lamp, and upon rubbing the lamp, a genie appears offering him three wishes. But there's a catch. Whatever the genie does for the man, he must do twice as much for the man's worst enemy. The man thinks about it for awhile, and (quickly forgetting the catch) wishes for a billion dollars. The genie grants his wish, and the man is now a billionaire. This makes him tremendously happy...until he discovers that his most hated enemy is now a multi-billionaire. Furious and green with envy, the man goes back to the genie, and this time he wishes for great fame. His wish is granted, and the man is happy...until his fame is eclipsed by his greatest enemy, who becomes twice as famous. Finally, he returns to the genie, who informs him that this is his final wish. The man looks the genie in the eye and says, "Genie, I wish to be beaten half to death."

In the gospels, Jesus famously said that we should love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. But what does that look like? What exactly should we pray? Do we pray for our enemies' health and happiness and wellbeing? Do we pray for their success...in persecuting us? Or that they might somehow come to see the error of their ways and stop persecuting us?

Psalm 129--the last in our series this summer on the Psalms--is a case study in how to pray for your enemies, and those who persecute you. The NRSV subheading calls this a "Prayer for the Downfall of Israel's Enemies" and that's a pretty fitting title. The Psalm begins with a complaint: "Often have they attacked me from my youth" and then invites the whole nation of Israel into the story: "Let Israel now say, Often have they attacked me from my youth."

We don't really know who the "they" is, but if you read the Old Testament, there are plenty of candidates: The Egyptians, the Philistines, the Amalekites, Amorites, Hittites, Jebusites, Canaanites, the Assyrians, the Babylonians...take your pick. Israel had no shortage of enemies who (in the words of verse 3) plowed right through them and right over them.

Verse 4 is the turning point of the Psalm. Having laid out the problem, the Psalmist now reminds himself (and his audience) of the solution: "The Lord is righteous; he has cut the cords of the wicked."

He could have just ended things there: God is good, he'll take care of us. Amen, the end, roll the credits, and we live happily ever after. But then he keeps going. Then comes the prayer for his enemies. At a casual read-through, it sounds a little mean spirited--a prayer for revenge; God smite my enemies! which certainly doesn't meet the Jesus criteria for "loving" your enemies.

But if you look more closely, there's a method to this prayer, a steady de-escalation of the conflict and a reversal of the process of oppression. We could learn from this psalm not only how to pray for our enemies, but also what to do if we find ourselves on the other side of that equation--if we discover that we are the ones who have been in the wrong, who have been in opposition to God's plans or to God's people.

There are five parts to this prayer, five steps to take in order for healing and reconciliation to begin:

The first two have to do with shame and repentance. Verse 5: May all who hate Zion (and mount Zion is the metaphorical representation for God and God's people) be put to shame.

Shame is what you feel when you know you've done something wrong, and everyone else knows you did something wrong, and you know that they know (and they know that you know) that you did something wrong. In other words, everyone (including the wrongdoer) is on the same page about the fact that a wrong was done, and everyone is on the same page about who did it.

Step two (still in verse 5): May all who hate Zion be put to shame AND turned backward. To turn around (180 degrees), backwards, is the biblical concept of repentance. It's re-orienting yourself in a new direction, which both physically prevents you from doing what you were doing before, and also sets the stage for getting back on the right path. If you have been wronged, you can pray for these two things:

That the wrongdoer

6 Let them be like the grass on the housetops
    that withers before it grows up,
7 with which reapers do not fill their hands
    or binders of sheaves their arms,
8 while those who pass by do not say,
    “The blessing of the Lord be upon you!
    We bless you in the name of the Lord!”

1. Shame (internal and external recognition of wrongdoing)
2. Turn backward (same as repent)
3. wither before its time (dry up, become powerless)
4. no one wants
5. no one blesses

May those who love us, love us. 
And those that don't love us, 
May God turn their hearts.
And if He doesn't turn their hearts, 
May he turn their ankles, 
So we'll know them by their limping.