Commenteer1/6/2024 ![]() But instead I think this means that they don’t have to worry about being haunted by past misdeeds, sins, or crimes. I think the sense here is not that bad things will never happen to the righteous. Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear in the end they will look in triumph on their foes.” There is something about that idea of not having to fear “bad news” that strikes a chord. In particular I like verses 7-8: “They will have no fear of bad news their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord. Still, in addition to that truth that this will be our ultimate reality-albeit in the sweet by and by perhaps-there are some other truths in Psalm 112 worth savoring and worth lifting up. I mean, even in Jesus’s own Beatitudes in Matthew 5 he ends up blessing the persecuted (and oh by the way: as followers of Jesus you should come to expect persecution and hardship too). well, there you go again painting a stark black-and-white picture that too often falls painfully short of reality. ![]() Psalm 112 may express our fondest wishes for how life should go and it is no doubt accurate in the longest possible run in God’s kingdom. Truth is, in my experience it is very often the righteous who gnash their teeth over the successes and advancements of the wicked, of the crooked, of tax cheats and white collar crooks, of devious CEOs who are given hugely lucrative golden parachutes even after being forced to resign for malfeasance of one kind of another. What’s more, we are told the wicked will see the prosperity of the righteous and gnash their teeth over it all. And so to this Hebrew poet I want to say “There you go again” making sunny predictions on the righteous that, frankly, so very often do not line up with everyday realities in this world. They will have so much money they will be able to give generously to the poor. Their children will be the best and the brightest. But no sooner is that principle stated and we get treated to some over-the-moon, grandiose claims that these very righteous people are going to be on easy street. ” Sure, it is true that in the long run the righteous are better off. Somehow, it makes me minded to quote that famous Ronald Reagan line from one of his debates with President Carter in 1980: well, the psalmist moves from this beatitude over the righteous to some pretty grand statements that are typical of many psalms, including several we have covered recently in the Year C Lectionary. We will get back to that in a bit but first. The meek, the brokenhearted, the pious: these folks just won’t get ahead in life.īut Jesus and many of the psalmists pronounce a blessing over those very people because they are in touch with deeper, more lasting, indeed downright eternal truths. Similarly in the Psalms: in a grab-the-brass-ring world where only the gutsy and courageous succeed, those who lead quiet lives of piety and obedience to God seem to be grabbing for the bottom rung of the ladder. Certainly that was Jesus’ theme in Matthew 5: he pronounces beatitude blessings over all the people whom the rest of the world regards as losers. ![]() Psalm 1 sets the tone: “Blessed is the one who does not walk with the wicked.” Beatitudes-including the most famous ones of them all from Matthew 5-are very often blessings spoken over people whose lives the rest of the world may not deem to be all that special or blessed at all. Very often the Psalms are actually a form of beatitude.
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