Psalm Meditation 976
Transfiguration
March 3, 2019

Psalm 50
1 The mighty one, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.
3 Our God comes and does not keep silence, before him is a devouring fire, and a mighty tempest all around him.
4 He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
5 “Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
6 The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Selah
7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God.
8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.
9 I will not accept a bull from your house, or goats from your folds.
10 For every wild animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field is mine.
12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and all that is in it is mine.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.
15 Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
16 But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes, or take my covenant on your lips?
17 For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.
18 You make friends with a thief when you see one, and you keep company with adulterers.
19 “You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your kin; you slander your own mother’s child.
21 These things you have done and I have been silent; you thought that I was one just like yourself. But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.
22 “Mark this, then, you who forget God, or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver.
23 Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me; to those who go the right way I will show the salvation of God.”
(NRSV)

The psalmist is as willing as the rest of us to brand others as outside the way of God. It is entirely possible that this is accurate about ‘those’ people being addressed. There are people who go through the motions, who make a big show of being faithful, who follow the rules in order to get the promised reward, or to avoid the anticipated promise. These folks are more deeply in need of being scolded than those who stand away from God out of ignorance or misunderstanding.

So what happens when we stand in judgement of others and we are the ones who are wrong. I hear myself and many others pointing our fingers at ‘those’ people who are judging by different standards. However that is my point; we are quick to judge othes before we look as critically at ourselves. In any time and place of whiich I am aware, there are disagreements brewing and boiling over in which those on every side are pointing fingers of blame at others while ignoring their own mistakes, misjudgments, and misinterpretations of the source of the conflict as well as those with whom they disagree. No matter what may be wrong with others, if we have not looked as critically at our own viewpoint and argument we are contributors to the problem more than to any solution.

We want to be right, especially in our relationship with God. We work under the assumption that our way is right or we wouldn’t follow and defend it. When we discover where we are wrong we will take steps to change our ideas and practices. Unless… unless we have become so entrenched in our ideas and practices that we can no longer see our own errors and only see what is different and wrong coming out of ‘those’ peoples’ ideas and practices. Are ‘they’ wrong? Probably. Are we wrong? Probably. Is there a kernel or truth in every side? That is just as probable. We do better to look critically at ourselves before we stand in harsh judgment of ‘them.’

February 25, 2019
LCM