Psalm Meditation 570
Fifth Sunday of Easter
May 22, 2011

Psalm 98
1 O sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm have gotten him victory.
2 The LORD has made known his victory; he has revealed his vindication in the sight of the nations.
3 He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.
4 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
5 Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody.
6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD.
7 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who live in it.
8 Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills sing together for joy
9 at the presence of the LORD, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.
(NRSV)

Other places in scripture it says the day of judgment is going to be a rough day. The psalmist sees it as a party. The psalm itself appears to be celebrating a military victory of some kind and the psalmist may well be looking to God’s final victory as a very similar day of jubilation. Is the day of judgment going to be a good people on one side and the bad people on the other or is God more subtle than that? It is entirely possible that each one of us will be found with good and bad stirred up together in our motives and actions in every aspect of our lives.

So who wins? Does God base our salvation on a balance sheet of good and bad actions with a small tip of the scale based on whether our motives were good or bad over and against what actually came of those motives? Good action that sprung from bad motives will be slightly weighted to the bad side of the balance. Bad action that came out well will be weighted to the good side. At the end we see where the balance needle ends up and that is our final judgment. That would be fine if we believe that our actions determine whether we win or lose. Can we do enough to earn salvation?

I am pretty sure that it will be intimidating to stand before God, knowing it is judgment day. It will likely go hardest for those of us who believe we have to prove ourselves worthy of the saving love of God. I believe that the love of God will tip the balance toward the side of celebration. Does God’s love give us each a free pass? Either way is possible. It does seem that the more readily we place ourselves within the bounds of God’s love right now that more likely it is that we will receive and appreciate the love of God each time we are in a position to accept it.

May 16, 2011