Monday, April 27, 2015

Monday, April 27, 2015

Psalm 44

     This morning I read about refugees trying to reach Italy. Twelve Christians were thrown into the sea before the others physically locked arms together to save their lives. Those who hated them for their faith could not overcome this grip on each other and throw the entire group into the sea. Now; those responsible for tossing the others overboard are charged with murder. The surviving Christians are witness to their martyrdom. Their grip on each other saved their lives in the face of raw terror at sea.

     We tend to think of the oppression of the faithful as events from long ago. But the newspapers are full of recent stories. The Sunni and Shiite factions of Islam are in the grips of a worldwide civil war at the moment. Various western countries seek to interject themselves into this epic war, naming one side or the other as ‘terrorists’ as the political expediency of the moment demands. The only constant in this struggle seems to be access to oil, who controls it and who makes profit from it. Apparently, western countries are willing to put our own soldiers in harm’s way to safeguard this commodity. 

     Extreme right-wing factions in many countries, including the United States seek to break down the separation of church and state and establish powerful theocracies. Parts of Nigeria, Syria and Iraq have been overrun by more militant forms of these groups, dictating by sword and gun who shall live and die according to a strict interpretation of religion. I examine text released from these war zones. The armies that commit such genocidal atrocities claim that God has given them the victory each time they kill children, rape all the women and burn all the houses. In time of war, and most recently in time of political debate, all sides claim that God is on their side and has abandoned the other side. From the time of David to our own time, powerful armies struggle with one another to dominate territory. Palestine has been in such a tug of war almost forever. And everyone claims God is their right hand.

     In the light of these recent religion-driven attacks on humanity, the first eight verses of Psalm seem very frightening. The singer credits God for all the victories over the enemies of Israel. God “crushed” the enemy. The singer does not claim that their “swords” or “arms” defeated the enemy but the “light of God’s face”, for he “loved them”. The singer says the people “pushed back enemies” and “trampled their foes” through the name of their god. He says he does not trust his “bow” and his “sword” but instead trusts his God. I find similar and even identical expressions in the press releases of the terrorist groups in the world today.

     Does this mean I do not believe a word of Psalm 44? Far from it! I’m just reflecting on it in a more historical than a religious context. I think it could have been written by any of the warring groups active in the middle-east today. 

     From verse 9 on, the singer bemoans how God has abandoned the people and their enemies have triumphed. His words are poetic, but the content is defeatist:

You gave us up to be devoured like sheep and have scattered us among the nations.

You sold your people for a pittance, gaining nothing from their sale.

You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, the scorn and derision of those around us.

You have made us a byword among the nations; the peoples shake their heads at us.

      Then, in classical form, the singer debates with God. He makes the case for the innocence of Israel.  

All this came upon us, though we had not forgotten you; we had not been false to your covenant.

Our hearts had not turned back; our feet had not strayed from your path.

But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals; you covered us over with deep darkness.

If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,

Would not God have discovered it, since he knows the secrets of the heart?

Yet for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

     Finally, the singer calls God to AWAKE. The assumption is that if Israel is innocent, then God must be asleep and unable to see the suffering of his people.

Awake, Lord! Why do you sleep? 

… Rise up and help us; rescue us because of your unfailing love.

     There are a number of assumptions made by the singer of this psalm. One is that God is always right. And beside that, the singer assumes that God is always on the side of his chosen people. A false assumption, rising from these two, is that whatever the chosen people do will also always be right, because God is always on their side. This false assumption leads the people of Israel to veer from the path of goodness and righteousness so many times that it takes the entire Old Testament of stories to record them. In all the stories, when the people veer away from God’s will, they are ‘abandoned’ by God, their enemies attack them, famine strikes them or some other disaster gives them a clue that they are not following a righteous path. THEY wake up, not God. Their prophets plead with them to come back to the Lord, and sometimes they do. Sometimes they kill the prophets and carry on to deeper darker disaster. Still, the thread of the story is that God never abandons his people.

     I see so many religious groups at home and abroad acting from the assumption that because they love God, God loves them and approves of anything they do and say. Big mistake! I see so many tangled up in politics and war, all in the name of God. And I see them all headed for disaster. As the singer in Psalm says: “We are brought down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground.” 

     The other night, I was fortunate to be part of a presentation to a group of people who are part of Stephen Ministries, some Lutherans, some Presbyterians, some others. What guides them are the straightforward teachings of Jesus: “Love your neighbours – Love one another – Take care of widows and orphans”. They are trained lay ministers and one of the stories that shapes their work is the Good Samaritan. I do not imagine them thinking in terms of calling on God to battle their enemies or wipe out vast territories to claim them for the Lord. I imagine them peacefully offering the love of Jesus to neighbours around them, as they see folks in need of help.  

     As I re-read Psalm 44 I realize God is not asleep, WE are.

Peter Mansell Easter, 2015