GIVE sentence for me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people; / O deliver me from the deceitful and wicked man.
+
The Psalm used for Introit today, Psalm 43, was composed at a very difficult time in King David’s life. Even though God had anointed David and blessed him with victory over his enemies, David’s own failures concerning Bethsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah are amplified within the lives of his own children. The cycle of sin and violence continues and David does not confront his sons who are really following his own example. The horrid actions of Amnon against his sister Tamar go unpunished and Absolom, Tamar’s brother, silently plans revenge both against Amnon and his father David. Eventually, Absolom kills Amnon and after a time, slowly builds a loyal following in order to claim kingship over his father. David, then, has to flee to some caves to hastily plan some sort of military response to his own son. Simply put, things are a mess. While David flees and finds refuge in these caves, he and the appointed court musicians (who are called the sons of Korah) compose Psalm 43 among others.
The Psalm is a cry to God and one can see why David composed this Psalm at the time:
GIVE sentence with me, O God, and defend my cause against the ungodly people; * O deliver me from the deceitful and wicked man.
2 For thou art the God of my strength; why hast thou put me from thee? * and why go I so heavily, while the enemy oppresseth me?
3 O send out thy light and thy truth, that they may lead me, * and bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy dwelling;
4 And that I may go unto the altar of God, even unto the God of my joy and gladness; * and upon the harp will I give thanks unto thee, O God, my God.
5 Why art thou so heavy, O my soul? * and why art thou so disquieted within me?
6 O put thy trust in God; * for I will yet give him thanks, which is the help of my countenance, and my God.
The people of Israel have turned against him as their king, and now his own son is his enemy. He knows at this point that his life is truly in the hands of God and even tells his comrades so as they retreat in 2 Samuel 17. David’s only hope is that God will lead him back to Jeruslaem, the holy hill. It is only God’s light and truth that will lead him, not the rebellious sons or backstabbing generals. But the Psalm can be read beyond the literal, historical meaning.
It can also be seen as David’s general supplication to God on behalf of his whole life. Psalm 43 is David’s general prayer that God brings him towards Himself. David’s sins time and time again ruin his relationship with God and wreak havoc on his life. His own soul is heavy within him. On top of that, David always dwelt with external enemies that not only threatened his Kingdom, they threatened his own life. Finally, as David faced death, he turns towards His creator, the only true help of his own countenance.
But we can expand our reading of this Psalm even farther. What we see in David, we see in ourselves, and Psalm 43 becomes our own prayer in troubling situations and generally as our prayer as humans. All of Lent we have been looking at the analogy of veils. Veils which, at the one and the same time, shroud the reality of an object and yet also build our desire towards that which is shrouded. We have used this as an analogy of our own lives which must pierce three layers of veils to understand God. (Veils of sins, wounds of fall, and finite nature) It seems a hopeless task.
Psalm 43 summarizes the struggles of humanity that is burdened with sin, wounded by the fall, and faced with death. But the Psalm also shows a way through these veils. When reading the Psalm in this way, the Church has read these words as Christ’s own prayer on behalf of humanity. This reading helps deepen our understanding not only of the Psalm but also of the last two weeks of Lent.
GIVE sentence with me, O God, and defend my cause against the ungodly people; * O deliver me from the deceitful and wicked man.
As we into Passiontide, Christ’s suffering and humility now come in view, and this Psalm shows the depth of suffering Jesus experienced as He, God’s own son, has to plead for deliverance.
For thou art the God of my strength; why hast thou put me from thee? * and why go I so heavily, while the enemy oppresseth me?
Now Jesus is oppressed, but not by his own sin, but by taking on the sin of the whole world. Even more, those whom Jesus came to save are now the one’s denying his identity. So just as David was oppressed by his own son, now God is oppressed by his own children, Israel. “Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil: Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?” The leading group of Jews in Jerusalem deny Christs kingship, even declaring Jesus as a devil. And once Jesus declares his identity, the leaders of God’s chosen people take up stones to kill their Messiah. “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple.”
O send out thy light and thy truth, that they may lead me
Now we see Christ’s work at hand, for he is the light and the truth, and his passion becomes our salvation. Yesterday we celebrated one of the greatest feast days of the entire year: the Annunciation. It is the feast of the Incarnation as the angel Gabriel visit the Blessed Virgin Mary and tells her that she will be overshadowed by the Holy Ghost and conceive a son, which she does, 9 months before Christmas. It is the day, as in the words of the Apostle John, that the light cometh into the world. This is the light that drives away darkness, the light that shines through those veils that shroud us from reality, from God. As the light shines and the veils are removed, then can we approach God, or as the Psalm says, to bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy dwelling.
When David spoke these words, he hoped that he would return to Jerusalem, the holy hill, as king. Read as a Jesus’ prayer, we still understand the holy hill as Jerusalem, but not just as the literal city that stands there today, but to the heavenly Jerusalem that Paul mentioned last week–the heavenly Jerusalem, the Church, in which God dwells with his people.
Even more, when Jesus turns himself towards Jerusalem, he knows that he is turning towards his suffering. And so that Holy Hill is also Mt. Calvary, which is one of the hills of Jerusalem. Mt. Calvary was known as the place of the skull, and in Jewish tradition it was considered the place where the skull of Adam, the first man, was buried. It was the same place where Cain and Abel offered their sacrifices to God. The same place Noah built an altar to God in thanksgiving. The same place Abraham brought Isaac his son to be sacrificed. The same place where David himself built an altar at the end of 2 Samuel and offered a sacrifice that stopped a plague infecting Israel. And it is the same place where the new Adam, the true King David offered himself for the whole world.
And that I may go unto the altar of God, even unto the God of my joy and gladness; * and upon the harp will I give thanks unto thee, O God, my God.
Through the Cross, Jesus takes on death for all humanity and through his Resurrection he brings humanity back to the altar of God, which is his own body. Listen to how the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews puts it:
For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh; how much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Jesus’ blood – his blood which was fully human, blood that came from his own mother – now becomes our life, and the veils which have obscured and shrouded reality fall away.
We enter into his life through the great gift of baptism. There the veil of our own sins, the veil of the fall, and the veil of our own finite nature are washed away in the waters of baptism as God forgives, heals, and joins our human nature to his divine nature. We become sons and daughters of the Divine.
When faced with the veils, we ask Why art thou so heavy, O my soul? * and why art thou so disquieted within me? This is the question that stands before us as merely humans. But through the waters of baptism we may respond: O put thy trust in God.
And then finally, the Psalmist ends with for I will yet give him thanks, which is the help of my countenance, and my God. Now that we read this as Christ’s words, we see with clarity that this is Jesus’ own offering of thanks that we get to join. And, of course, as you all well know, the word for giving thanks is Eucharizo, it is the Eucharist in which Jesus brings all humanity to His Father through the offering of his own Body and Blood in thanksgiving.
As each of you has been joined to God through your baptisms, now come and give thanks for that great gift. Come and receive God himself in the Eucharist. Let your vision be healed so that you may see reality as God sees it. Through God’s mercy we can truly come to know Him through His Son, and the veils which have obscured our vision/understanding are taken away. We know that what may look like a mere sign of putting water on the forehead is really the rebirth of a new creation, a new son or daughter of God. We know that what may look like just bread and wine is truly the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We now see through the veil. What looks just as physical matter is teeming with meaning, significance, and the true grace of God. And as we train our sight here at this Altar, may we then see God’s work in all the world, in our day to day lives.
GIVE sentence for me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people; / O deliver me from the deceitful and wicked man.
+
