Psalm Meditation 738
Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time
August 10, 2014

Psalm 41
1 Happy are those who consider the poor; the LORD delivers them in the day of trouble.
2 The LORD protects them and keeps them alive; they are called happy in the land. You do not give them up to the will of their enemies.
3 The LORD sustains them on their sickbed; in their illness you heal all their infirmities.
4 As for me, I said, “O LORD, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you.”
5 My enemies wonder in malice when I will die, and my name perish.
6 And when they come to see me, they utter empty words, while their hearts gather mischief; when they go out, they tell it abroad.
7 All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me.
8 They think that a deadly thing has fastened on me, that I will not rise again from where I lie.
9 Even my bosom friend in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted the heel against me.
10 But you, O LORD, be gracious to me, and raise me up, that I may repay them.
11 By this I know that you are pleased with me; because my enemy has not triumphed over me.
12 But you have upheld me because of my integrity, and set me in your presence forever.
13 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.
(NRSV)

Much of the gossip we share these days is somewhere between harmless and helpful, it is a way to share information about the folks around whom we live and work. There is another kind, the kind by which the psalmist has been victimized. This gossip has as its intent the destruction of the reputation of the one about whom the gossip is being spread. In this type of gossip folks gain the trust of their victim, get all sorts of dangerous and damaging information and then spread that information as widely as possible. The more damage that can be done to the person, the more successful the gossip campaign is seen.

The psalmist turns to the one who already knows all the same information about us and continues to love us and to want the very best and most abundant life possible for us. Yes, there is some vindictiveness in the psalmist’s desire to be raised up in order to repay the damage done by this gossip campaign. It is a great fantasy of those whose lives and reputations have been damaged to be able to inflict the same kind of hurt on those responsible. The deeper intent is to rise above the damage done by these folks and to live in the presence of God as a person of integrity.

God is gracious, lifts us up beyond our revenge fantasies and invites us to live in such a way that any gossip, even the most malicious, is ignored by those who know and love us. We find ourselves aiming toward God in the various parts of our lives, being more concerned about how God thinks of us than how others do and treating others more as God treats us than as any malicious bullies might treat us and those around us.

August 4, 2014
LCM