by David Young
There is such a richness of language and imagery in this text. The initial image of a bounding gazelle that seeks its beloved is indeed a powerful image of God’s boundless seeking of his own beloved, you and me. In a culture that hears so often “Have you found God?” it is instructive to remind ourselves that it is God who finds us. It is instructive to remind ourselves that God comes to us and encounters our lives with his presence. Our openness to the ways of God is our faithful response to God’s eternally quest for relationship with us.
Likewise, the blossoming and fragrant renewal of life as imaged in verses 11-13 comes to us as a welcome image of how ours is the God who brings new life from death, who shapes new realities of hope from the stormy experiences of our past, current, and future living. I greatly appreciate how the image of a new and ever renewing creation guides us into the welcome embrace of the love of God.
This psalm is, as you know, one of the “royal pslams” in scripture. I find the language used to be a bit foreign to my ears and suspect most hearers are the same way. Particularly disconcerting is the emphasis on physical appearance and opulence as signs of God’s favor. In our consumer driven society, this may signal yet again to some that one’s physical attributes and financial strength are signs of a more blessed state of life. Countering this falsehood is central to our Gospel witness.
How might one preach from this psalm? Jennifer L. Lord, in Feasting on the Word, does a nice job of equating the anointing of the King with our own anointing at baptism (Year B, Volume 4, pgs. 12-13). Jesus makes a claim on us in our baptism and our anointing becomes a sign of the sealing of this covenant between God and us. Our baptismal purpose is infused with the “gladness” of knowing and being known by Christ. One may choose to use this aspect of the psalm as a way to remind the hearers of the powerful meaning of baptism and our own “royal priesthood” in Christ.
Martin Luther understood and taught that there was a “canon within the canon”, chiefly a canon which spoke clearly that we are justified by grace apart from works of the law. The letter of James would not have made the “canon within” according to Luther. However, he did say in Luther Works 35: 397 that while he could not “include him among the chief books … I would not thereby prevent anyone from including or extolling him as he pleases, for there are others many good sayings in him.” I find that there are indeed “many good sayings” in this text.
The heart of the text, from my estimation, is the emphasis on God’s goodness and that “every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift is from above” (vs. 17). In a recent book study of The Shack, we had a meaningful conversation about our understanding of God’s intention of relationship. As a group we came to a greater sense that faithfulness understands that God’s intention is always for good in our lives. This speaks then to a gracious recognition that the tragedies and sufferings of our lives are used by God, in God’s goodness, to bring new life and new creation. God is not the cause of our suffering, but the Supreme actor who takes our choices and still brings about God’s own purpose for life and creation.
Additionally, there is a sense in the text that the act of living out of response to God’s goodness leads us toward living into the love of God and neighbor. While my Lutheran theology would not place our salvation on such “doings” it is true that our faith is not fully experienced in our lives without being “doers of the word” (vs. 22). Through service, sharing, and living in regard to others before ourselves, we are welcomed into the eternal truth of God’s kingdom right now, today. The image of one who hears but does not do as one who looks upon themselves in the mirror is an apt call to active faith. One could preach from the perspective of God’s goodness in all things and offer the hearers the opportunity to respond to who God is as a central understanding of faithfulness.
Many will welcome this text after five weeks on John 6, although if you are like me you touched on the Bread of Life discourse several times, but went in other directions as well. Still, moving back into our Year B companion Mark will serve us well this week.
In particular, I appreciate Jesus’ reminder that overt and rigid religiosity can get in the way of living our faith. I remember an unfortunate experience in a former congregation where a child was brought for baptism by his unwed teenage mother. There were some who scoffed at this and made it vocally apparent that they believed the young woman’s “sin” of having sex outside of marriage negated her ability to bring her child to the waters of baptism. Of course, we did the baptism. Still, this situation reminds me to this day that we can often become so caught up in the “law” to the exclusion of grace and mercy.
It seems to me that Jesus is again, as he so often does, challenging us to see with new eyes. His words that “there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile but the things that come out are what defile” (vs. 15) remind us that our words and actions are important and vital to right understanding and living with God. The harsh and unforgiving words expressed by those in the above mentioned story were defiling. While the young woman’s situation was not without fracture to be sure, it is within a state of grace and forgiveness that we sought to bring newness and wholeness to her life and the life of her family and child. I am sure that each of you can recall your own similar experiences.
I feel that it is important for us as preachers to speak not so much about the “sins” we perceive as it is for us to preach about how our God can claim and reshape our “sin” (our human state of brokenness). It has been a practice of mine for many years now to speak not of “sins” but only “sin”. I speak of how “sin” is manifested in our lives (and Jesus shares a litany of these in vss. 21-22). I feel that it is ultimately our “sin” that keeps us from our most holy God, and our “sins” are the expressions of our brokenness. And so undue emphasis on “sins”, I believe, misses the mark and can negate the wholeness and hope that comes from God’s activity in Jesus. God has indeed done something powerful and life-giving in Jesus. The work of “sin” to sway our actions and thoughts remains, yet the power of “sin” has been defeated through the love and work of Christ. Therefore, as we remain in a broken state of faithfulness, sin, we can dare to live into the promise, hope, mercy, and grace of the new life, the new identity we have in Christ made manifest in baptism. The reformers used the Latin phrase “simul Justus et peccator” (at the same time, Saint and sinner) to express this understanding.
I believe that this reading from Mark can be used by the preacher to remind hearers that while religious tenets and doctrines instruct and can give meaning to our faith, it is when the indwelling of Christ shapes our actions and words toward love, grace, and mercy that we are most fully living into the faith God gives and desires. By reminding the heares of this, the preacher will offer the hearers a new way of seeing God, the world, and each other.
(from www.goodpreacher.com/blog/)