everyone is royal
January 6, 2019
Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14
Even though we have turned our calendars to a New year, I want to start today by returning to something I read at the end of 2018. I was so struck when reading the headline that I brought it up with my Lectionary Group and I brought it up at our family’s Christmas Day dinner, which means a few of you here today already know what I’m talking about.
Evidently at the end of each calendar year organizations like Merriam-Webster compile data about the most searched word on their particular platform and in 2018 that word for Merriam-Webster was Justice. The thing is, I would have suspected Injustice to be at the top of the list, not Justice which may explain why I was so shocked. Now I don’t know about you, but for me it seems everywhere I turned in 2018 I was confronted by another act of Injustice, not Justice. While I prayed for and longed for Justice to prevail, I can’t say that I read much about, or encountered much of it. I found myself crying out for Justice when reading stories about children being ripped from their parents and placed into cages. I cried out for Justice when yet again our school children and school workers were experiencing gun violence inside the place they call school. A place that for so long we believed to be safe from such acts. Even when I couldn’t find the words to say or didn’t think I could find the words to say in response to the massacre in that Pittsburgh Synagogue, what I felt so strongly inside was a cry for Justice. That cry, that prayer was in response to my need to experience a just world because I had all of the Injustice I felt I could handle.
So, what to make of the fact that the most searched word, the topic of most interest to the people searching Merriam-Webster.com in 2018, was Justice? I confess I wasn’t sure what to make of it, which is why I believe I brought it up in so many different settings. At our Christmas evening dinner table some saw this as a sign of hope. “At least it shows that the topic is on people’s minds,” one said. Well on that night I felt more interested in pondering than offering my thoughts on the topic, so I resisted as hard as I could making any statements about what I thought it meant.
The thing is, I’m prone to the act of pondering and while I see that inclination as a gift, it also has its drawbacks. For me, topics like Justice feel huge, even overwhelming at times, so I want to sit with it, let it marinate for a while. Truth be told, I am still pondering what it might mean for our country and our world going forward that for an entire year, Justice, more than anything else dominated peoples’ thoughts. I also can’t help but wonder if Justice would have been the most searched word the year before this Psalm was written. It’s an interesting thought isn’t it? The thought that thousands of years before us, topics that dominate our minds today, dominated those of our ancestors.
A large part of me, though, has begun to wonder what the next steps are. Sure, it is great to know that Justice is on the minds of the collective majority, but if it stays there, stays on their mind, then what is the point.
***********************************
So, even before reading today’s scripture, Justice was on my mind and maybe that is why Justice jumped off the page when I first began preparing to write this sermon. This Psalm though addresses Justice in a specific way, which is why I believe the Psalmist’s words are what really grabbed my attention. You see, in today’s text the Psalmist from pleading to action. Initially we hear pleading for leaders who seek Justice and righteousness, but if we listen closely, we realize that those initial pleas are followed by plainly setting forth what that looks like. What begins with a number of “May he…” statements turn to statements of action. I know Kevin so beautifully read for us earlier, but I want you to hear at least part of it again.
2 May he judge … with righteousness, and … with justice.
4 May he defend the cause of the poor…, give deliverance to the needy….
6 May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth.
7 … may righteousness flourish and peace abound …
12 For he delivers the needy when they call, the poor and those who have no helper.
13 He has pity on the weak and the needy and saves the lives of the needy.
14 From oppression and violence he redeems their life; and precious is their blood in his sight.
As one scholar writes, “In poetic fashion the psalmist enumerates the qualities of a good king, asserting righteousness and Justice as the watchwords of a royal administration. These qualities provide the bedrock on which the reign is built. Most specifically, the king is to be concerned about the needs of those who are marginalized in society and have no other advocate. As this good king governs, the society will be one in which peace abounds and the needy experience the saving Justice that God desires for them.”[1]
This text raises questions about the whole idea of leadership. Questions that might make some quite uncomfortable, which is not such a bad thing. These questions, though, are really a call to action, and I believe that is what makes us the most uncomfortable. As is so often the case, resistance begins to mount when called to move from the idea stage to the action stage. You see, “those in authority tend to view mercy, righteousness, and justice as very good ideas… without ever asking whether they are actually implementing them.” This text is asking for so much more than just ideas. It is asking, in plain concrete words, for action. Stop talking about justice, and actually do something to pursue justice. Stop talking about helping the needy, the poor and those who have no one to help and actually help them. Better yet, stop looking at all of the people you have determined are poor and needy as outsiders, and start looking at them as members of your own family.
It’s like I can hear the psalmist saying, “It’s wonderful that you have reached such a level of success in your life that you are part of the royal establishment, I don’t begrudge that, but if all you do is talk about the rest of us as though we shouldn’t exist, then you’ve missed the entire point… we are all part of the royal family. Every single one of us.”
This psalm is a call to action. And we will only reach our best when we work together to help each other whenever and wherever we can. Stop telling the poor and the needy to just pick themselves up by their bootstraps, and actually get in the ditch with them and see how you might be the one who can help. They are your brother. They are your sister. And they don’t need you talking about them behind their backs. They need you in the ditch. Yes, this Psalm is a call to action.
Once you realize that then you will also be able to see that Justice refuses to let us hold the pain of the poor and needy at arm’s length. Justice embraces their pain because their pain is really our pain too. If we can’t, or if we refuse to share their pain then we too have missed the point.
*********************************
Jesus’ own life demonstrated what it might look like to take action toward Justice. Even more than that, Jesus called all who followed to take that action. That is why this Psalm isn’t just a call to action for leaders, it’s a call to us too. Just like the king is to value, protect, and provide for the most vulnerable members of society, treating them as members of his own family, Jesus called those who follow to do the same.
Reading this psalm on Epiphany Sunday is perfect when you consider the Greek meaning of Epiphany is to reveal or uncover. There are so many things needing to be revealed and uncovered, but one of them is not Injustice. It is a bit more difficult to see what action is being taken to remedy those injustices. Maybe what actually needs to be revealed is that we continue to live in a world that is more comfortable with the idea stage than it is the action stage. Or maybe we need to adjust our eyes so that we can clearly see that separating children from their parents and then caging those children is unjust, and then we need to take action steps to deliver them. That children and all who work inside school buildings should feel safe.
Yes, this psalm is a call to action and if we are ever going to become what this church is meant to be, we need to take action to help the needy… to help the poor… to deliver them. The time for talking is over. In fact, it ended a long time ago. The time for action is now. The time to uncover what action we are going to take is now. Can we do more to ensure that justice rolls down like water? Absolutely. Will we? I hope so.
Amen!
[1] Murchison, D. Cameron, Feasting on the Word, Year C, Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14, Theological Perspective
Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14
Even though we have turned our calendars to a New year, I want to start today by returning to something I read at the end of 2018. I was so struck when reading the headline that I brought it up with my Lectionary Group and I brought it up at our family’s Christmas Day dinner, which means a few of you here today already know what I’m talking about.
Evidently at the end of each calendar year organizations like Merriam-Webster compile data about the most searched word on their particular platform and in 2018 that word for Merriam-Webster was Justice. The thing is, I would have suspected Injustice to be at the top of the list, not Justice which may explain why I was so shocked. Now I don’t know about you, but for me it seems everywhere I turned in 2018 I was confronted by another act of Injustice, not Justice. While I prayed for and longed for Justice to prevail, I can’t say that I read much about, or encountered much of it. I found myself crying out for Justice when reading stories about children being ripped from their parents and placed into cages. I cried out for Justice when yet again our school children and school workers were experiencing gun violence inside the place they call school. A place that for so long we believed to be safe from such acts. Even when I couldn’t find the words to say or didn’t think I could find the words to say in response to the massacre in that Pittsburgh Synagogue, what I felt so strongly inside was a cry for Justice. That cry, that prayer was in response to my need to experience a just world because I had all of the Injustice I felt I could handle.
So, what to make of the fact that the most searched word, the topic of most interest to the people searching Merriam-Webster.com in 2018, was Justice? I confess I wasn’t sure what to make of it, which is why I believe I brought it up in so many different settings. At our Christmas evening dinner table some saw this as a sign of hope. “At least it shows that the topic is on people’s minds,” one said. Well on that night I felt more interested in pondering than offering my thoughts on the topic, so I resisted as hard as I could making any statements about what I thought it meant.
The thing is, I’m prone to the act of pondering and while I see that inclination as a gift, it also has its drawbacks. For me, topics like Justice feel huge, even overwhelming at times, so I want to sit with it, let it marinate for a while. Truth be told, I am still pondering what it might mean for our country and our world going forward that for an entire year, Justice, more than anything else dominated peoples’ thoughts. I also can’t help but wonder if Justice would have been the most searched word the year before this Psalm was written. It’s an interesting thought isn’t it? The thought that thousands of years before us, topics that dominate our minds today, dominated those of our ancestors.
A large part of me, though, has begun to wonder what the next steps are. Sure, it is great to know that Justice is on the minds of the collective majority, but if it stays there, stays on their mind, then what is the point.
***********************************
So, even before reading today’s scripture, Justice was on my mind and maybe that is why Justice jumped off the page when I first began preparing to write this sermon. This Psalm though addresses Justice in a specific way, which is why I believe the Psalmist’s words are what really grabbed my attention. You see, in today’s text the Psalmist from pleading to action. Initially we hear pleading for leaders who seek Justice and righteousness, but if we listen closely, we realize that those initial pleas are followed by plainly setting forth what that looks like. What begins with a number of “May he…” statements turn to statements of action. I know Kevin so beautifully read for us earlier, but I want you to hear at least part of it again.
2 May he judge … with righteousness, and … with justice.
4 May he defend the cause of the poor…, give deliverance to the needy….
6 May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth.
7 … may righteousness flourish and peace abound …
12 For he delivers the needy when they call, the poor and those who have no helper.
13 He has pity on the weak and the needy and saves the lives of the needy.
14 From oppression and violence he redeems their life; and precious is their blood in his sight.
As one scholar writes, “In poetic fashion the psalmist enumerates the qualities of a good king, asserting righteousness and Justice as the watchwords of a royal administration. These qualities provide the bedrock on which the reign is built. Most specifically, the king is to be concerned about the needs of those who are marginalized in society and have no other advocate. As this good king governs, the society will be one in which peace abounds and the needy experience the saving Justice that God desires for them.”[1]
This text raises questions about the whole idea of leadership. Questions that might make some quite uncomfortable, which is not such a bad thing. These questions, though, are really a call to action, and I believe that is what makes us the most uncomfortable. As is so often the case, resistance begins to mount when called to move from the idea stage to the action stage. You see, “those in authority tend to view mercy, righteousness, and justice as very good ideas… without ever asking whether they are actually implementing them.” This text is asking for so much more than just ideas. It is asking, in plain concrete words, for action. Stop talking about justice, and actually do something to pursue justice. Stop talking about helping the needy, the poor and those who have no one to help and actually help them. Better yet, stop looking at all of the people you have determined are poor and needy as outsiders, and start looking at them as members of your own family.
It’s like I can hear the psalmist saying, “It’s wonderful that you have reached such a level of success in your life that you are part of the royal establishment, I don’t begrudge that, but if all you do is talk about the rest of us as though we shouldn’t exist, then you’ve missed the entire point… we are all part of the royal family. Every single one of us.”
This psalm is a call to action. And we will only reach our best when we work together to help each other whenever and wherever we can. Stop telling the poor and the needy to just pick themselves up by their bootstraps, and actually get in the ditch with them and see how you might be the one who can help. They are your brother. They are your sister. And they don’t need you talking about them behind their backs. They need you in the ditch. Yes, this Psalm is a call to action.
Once you realize that then you will also be able to see that Justice refuses to let us hold the pain of the poor and needy at arm’s length. Justice embraces their pain because their pain is really our pain too. If we can’t, or if we refuse to share their pain then we too have missed the point.
*********************************
Jesus’ own life demonstrated what it might look like to take action toward Justice. Even more than that, Jesus called all who followed to take that action. That is why this Psalm isn’t just a call to action for leaders, it’s a call to us too. Just like the king is to value, protect, and provide for the most vulnerable members of society, treating them as members of his own family, Jesus called those who follow to do the same.
Reading this psalm on Epiphany Sunday is perfect when you consider the Greek meaning of Epiphany is to reveal or uncover. There are so many things needing to be revealed and uncovered, but one of them is not Injustice. It is a bit more difficult to see what action is being taken to remedy those injustices. Maybe what actually needs to be revealed is that we continue to live in a world that is more comfortable with the idea stage than it is the action stage. Or maybe we need to adjust our eyes so that we can clearly see that separating children from their parents and then caging those children is unjust, and then we need to take action steps to deliver them. That children and all who work inside school buildings should feel safe.
Yes, this psalm is a call to action and if we are ever going to become what this church is meant to be, we need to take action to help the needy… to help the poor… to deliver them. The time for talking is over. In fact, it ended a long time ago. The time for action is now. The time to uncover what action we are going to take is now. Can we do more to ensure that justice rolls down like water? Absolutely. Will we? I hope so.
Amen!
[1] Murchison, D. Cameron, Feasting on the Word, Year C, Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14, Theological Perspective
