Psalm Meditation 852
Proper 24
October 16, 2016

Psalm 58
1 Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? Do you judge people fairly?
2 No, in your hearts you devise wrongs; your hands deal out violence on earth.
3 The wicked go astray from the womb; they err from their birth, speaking lies.
4 They have venom like the venom of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
5 so that it does not hear the voice of charmers or of the cunning enchanter.
6 O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!
7 Let them vanish like water that runs away; like grass let them be trodden down and wither.
8 Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime; like the untimely birth that never sees the sun.
9 Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns, whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!
10 The righteous will rejoice when they see vengeance done; they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 People will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth.”
(NRSV)

Anyone who has been bullied or shamed in defeat is aware of what the psalmist is going through here. We rail against the unfairness of it all and call down the same abuse and insults we have suffered on those who caused our suffering. And since they are partly responsible for the behavior we rail against the gods of our tormentors, especially if they are not our own. We know that if God were to heap these abuses on our enemies we would rejoice, sing, and dance in the face of their suffering.

The reality is that suffering is ugly even if it is one of our enemies who suffers. There is something cathartic about asking God to step in and exact our revenge on those who have proved themselves willing to make us suffer. If they can do that to us, wouldn’t it be grand if God would punish them in our name. While we may have violent fantasies of revenge and bathing in the blood of those who torment us, fantasy is not as gory and gruesome as the real thing. On top of that vengeance is not really as satisfying as we imagine.

Wanting to experience the suffering of others at the hands of God may give us a momentary rush of fiendish pleasure, however it is finally more fiendish than pleasurable. God is not one to seek revenge on those who do evil to others. Disappointing as that may be we can also be grateful that God has not given us what we deserve for each of our actions. Fantasizing revenge gives a great adrenaline rush, it does not, however, bring us closer to God. Getting closer to God involves us behaving more like God rather than asking God to live out our fantasies of vengeance.

October 10, 2016
LCM