Psalm Meditation 803
Twenty-fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time
November 8, 2015

Psalm 80
1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock! You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
2 before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh. Stir up your might, and come to save us!
3 Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
4 O LORD God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in full measure.
6 You make us the scorn of our neighbors; our enemies laugh among themselves.
7 Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
8 You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.
9 You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches;
11 it sent out its branches to the sea, and its shoots to the River.
12 Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
13 The boar from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it.
14 Turn again, O God of hosts; look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine,
15 the stock that your right hand planted.
16 They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance.
17 But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand, the one whom you made strong for yourself.
18 Then we will never turn back from you; give us life, and we will call on your name.
19 Restore us, O LORD God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
(NRSV)

Many of us know what it is like to be picked on; to be the go to person for venting when the actual target of ire is too scary to approach. In pack animals, dogs for instance, we know about the alpha male and female, there is also a position called the omega dog. This animal interjects itself into fierce fights in order to give the strong animals a different target for their aggression thus saving the stronger animals from each other. The upper level dogs take a few nips and swipes at the omega animal and then go away recognizing it is not worth the effort to pick on this poorer specimen. The omega animal is also vulnerable to attack without having interrupted a fight. Any animal who needs to vent can do so on the omega animal. It is not rough enough to do permanent damage to the omega, only enough to get that little bit of aggression out of the attacking animal’s system.

Because humans are communal creatures we also have an omega person or group among us. Within a group there is a person who gets all the abuse from almost everyone else. As a group we will pick another group to receive our undifferentiated aggression. A racial or ethnic group or groups usually fits the bill. One or more of those groups may change from time to time.

The psalmist voices the concern that Israel has become one of those groups for the peoples who surround them. They feel as if they are a vineyard with no wall that can be harvested at will by any and all who come their way. The cry goes up to God to restore to the people a sense of security as well as the wherewithal to stand up against the folks who bully us. And those who are bullied and picked on join the psalmist in asking that, at the very least, God be present with us and give us a sense of wholeness in the face of the trials we face. Knowing we are not alone makes a tremendous difference.

November 2, 2015
LCM