Lent 4
Preaching
Hear My Voice
Preaching The Lectionary Psalms for Cycles A, B, C
(For an alternative approach to vv. 1-7 and 33-37, see Proper 26/Pentecost 24/Ordinary Time 31, Cycle A.)
Psalm 107 provides vocabulary for four different groups of people to give thanks to God for deliverance: those rescued from the desert (vv. 4-9), those delivered from prison (vv. 10-16), those healed from sickness (vv. 17-22), and those who survived storms at sea (vv. 23-32). All these have been redeemed from their trouble, so the psalm opens by advising, "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so."
The portion of this psalm designated for today refers to the deliverance of the sick, and though it speaks from the old view that sickness is the result of sin (v. 17), its description of the misery of the ill is right on: they "endured affliction" (v. 17) and "loathed any kind of food" (v. 18). The point of this part of the psalm, of course, is that God should be thanked for their healing.
The connection between this text and the First Lesson is strong. In the Numbers reading, the people of Israel were healed from the venomous bites of the fiery serpents by looking at the brass serpent on the pole. While it is strange that God permitted such an object among people who had been given the second commandment, the point of the story is that it is God who provides the cure.
A physician who cared for our family in a previous town had a sign in his waiting room that increased my confidence in the doctor himself. The sign read, "We dress the wound, but God heals." This psalm is a reminder that no matter what the procedure or medicine or therapy that saves or extends life, healing is God's realm.
Talking about divine healing always leads to questions about the many who are not healed. Those questions are generally unanswerable, and it's not a lot of comfort to conclude that God chooses not to heal, or accepts self-imposed limits. Nonetheless, the reality is that when we call on the name of the Lord, God's help generally does not mean an immediate fix of the problem or a once-for-all disposal of the pain. But it does mean something real that enables us either to change the outcome in some way or to view it differently if we can't change it -- and to know, through all that happens, that we are loved by God and never beyond God's care.
And for those many times when healing does occur -- even circumstances as simple as the healing of a minor wound -- we know whom to thank.
-- S. P.
Psalm 107 provides vocabulary for four different groups of people to give thanks to God for deliverance: those rescued from the desert (vv. 4-9), those delivered from prison (vv. 10-16), those healed from sickness (vv. 17-22), and those who survived storms at sea (vv. 23-32). All these have been redeemed from their trouble, so the psalm opens by advising, "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so."
The portion of this psalm designated for today refers to the deliverance of the sick, and though it speaks from the old view that sickness is the result of sin (v. 17), its description of the misery of the ill is right on: they "endured affliction" (v. 17) and "loathed any kind of food" (v. 18). The point of this part of the psalm, of course, is that God should be thanked for their healing.
The connection between this text and the First Lesson is strong. In the Numbers reading, the people of Israel were healed from the venomous bites of the fiery serpents by looking at the brass serpent on the pole. While it is strange that God permitted such an object among people who had been given the second commandment, the point of the story is that it is God who provides the cure.
A physician who cared for our family in a previous town had a sign in his waiting room that increased my confidence in the doctor himself. The sign read, "We dress the wound, but God heals." This psalm is a reminder that no matter what the procedure or medicine or therapy that saves or extends life, healing is God's realm.
Talking about divine healing always leads to questions about the many who are not healed. Those questions are generally unanswerable, and it's not a lot of comfort to conclude that God chooses not to heal, or accepts self-imposed limits. Nonetheless, the reality is that when we call on the name of the Lord, God's help generally does not mean an immediate fix of the problem or a once-for-all disposal of the pain. But it does mean something real that enables us either to change the outcome in some way or to view it differently if we can't change it -- and to know, through all that happens, that we are loved by God and never beyond God's care.
And for those many times when healing does occur -- even circumstances as simple as the healing of a minor wound -- we know whom to thank.
-- S. P.
