Reconciliation Lectionary: Psalm 50:7-8, 14-23

If you like passages that speak of justice, or right behavior, of orthopraxis, if you will, bookmark the 50th Psalm.

The full psalm has a useful context: verses 1-6 recount God’s appearance on Mount Zion, a renewal of the Covenant is described as the people endure divine glory and power.

The skipped verses 9-13 remind me of the famous passage of Micah 6 and the question: what really honors and edifies the Lord? Is it ritual? Is it blood of sacrifices? The refrain of the Reconciliation Psalm gives us a clue: it is those who strive to live an upright life:

To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

To the just, God will come and reveal his salvation. We are reminded that sacrifice and liturgy are not wasted:

“Hear, my people, I will speak;
Israel, I will testify against you;
God, your God, am I.
Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you,
your burnt offerings are before me always.”

But people who come freely to God shall not go wanting in their time of need:

“Offer to God praise as your sacrifice
and fulfill your vows to the Most High.
Then call upon me in times of distress;
I will rescue you, and you shall honor me.”

The next three stanzas describe those who have broken covenant. But though God condemns, the Divine embrace is ready for those who repent:

But to the wicked God says:
“Why do you recite my statutes,
and profess my covenant with your mouth,
Though you hate discipline;
and cast my words behind you?”

“When you see a thief, you keep pace with him;
with adulterers you throw in your lot.
To your mouth you give free rein for evil;
you harness your tongue to deceit.”

“You sit speaking against your brother,
against your mother’s son you spread rumors.
When you do these things, shall I be deaf to it?
Or do you think that I am like yourself?
I will correct you by drawing them up before your eyes.”

The Psalm itself concludes with these verses, and again we are reminded to remember who God is and who we are, and that if we honor God, we will know the saving power of the Lord.

“Consider this, you who forget God,
lest I rend you and there be no one to rescue you.
Those who offer praise as a sacrifice glorify me;
and to the one that goes the right way I will show the salvation of God.”

Six stanzas are a lot, and any setting of the psalm is difficult to come by, let alone a good one that can sustain interest and inspiration for several minutes.

As a support to a Old Testament reading, I could see this passage a nice fit for Micah 6, or one of the prophetic passages from Isaiah. As I reread this psalm, it seemed akin to many of the warnings from the Hebrew Scriptures that urged the people to reform and be renewed.

A secondary theme is trust. The Psalmist presumes praise, faith, and trust all move together in our relationship with God. It’s a good message to preach to a parish in a communal setting. Careful with the brief listing of sinners, though. Jesus did not abide by this advice totally. Some of the sinners who approached him were quite repentant. And others, it seemed, were willing to engage that initial dialogue. And besides, who among us has not harbored some doubt in that admixture between our wrongdoing and God’s mercy?