UNBLOCKING THE WELL OF THE LIVING WORD

READ PSALM 146-150

SUGGESTED PATTERN :READ PSALM 150 AGAIN with spouse or household.

SPEND A FEW MINUTES GOING THROUGH 4 STEPS OF LECTIO DIVINA (1), ON  PSALM 150:2b

PSALM 150:2b “ PRAISE HIM FOR HIS SURPASSING GREATNESS.”   

HEARING THE WORD   Slowly reading..

RECEIVING THE WORD, Let its meaning sink in.

PRAYING WITH THE WORD Open up a conversation with God with the phrase

WONDERING AT THE WORD Attend to the Word of God

Share together with your spouse or household what the Lord has been saying. Finally one person reads out loud the devotional below and then pray for one another.  

As we have already begun Holy Week, the week that leads up to Good Friday and Easter Sunday when we celebrate the triumph of Jesus on the cross, I want to close this journey of looking for Jesus in the psalms, by focussing on the surpassing greatness of Jesus Christ our Lord, as we get ready to celebrate His resurrection on Easter Sunday.

I am mindful of Brueggeman’s concern that I mentioned yesterday(1). He said that treating the Psalms as claims about Jesus Christ, in the tradition of Augustine may avoid the abrasive and offensive elements of the psalms, and be less helpful. In his book ‘Praying the psalms’ however, he does encourage us to see the Jewishness of the prayers of Jesus as he prayed the psalms … ( and therefore the rawness of Jewish faith out of which the Psalms speak) “and therefore a warrant for christological interpretation.” For instance Jesus quoted Psalm 22 on the cross “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” As I said on Day 5 of this blog, if we see Jesus, prophetically revealed in Psalm 22, many years before He walked on this earth,  we can be encouraged  today that Jesus, at the very lowest point of his life – crucified and God forsaken – trusted in God to deliver him. The apparent defeat of the cross turned out to be the greatest victory of all time. God can turn the low points in our lives  around too. Good Friday is an appropriate day to be reading Psalm 22

Although psalm 110 might be more appropriate for Ascension day.. I think Easter Sunday could  also be a good day as well, to remind ourselves  of where  Jesus  is now, because of His victory, his resurrection from the dead. Psalm 110 is the most quoted psalm in the New Testament, (that is  also the most quoted part of the Old Testament  in the New Testament),and it speaks of the surpassing greatness of Jesus Christ who is now lifted to the right hand of the Father and all his enemies must bow at his feet. Psalm 110:1 The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” is quoted in 3 of the Gospels. Matthew 22:41-46, Mark 12:35-37, Luke 20:40-44.

(1)“At the end of the movie The Return of the King, there is an added dialog between Aragorn and the four hobbits. It’s a dialog that isn’t in the book but is a welcome addition. Aragon, the newly crowned king of Gondor approaches the hobbits. And they bow in his presence. Aragorn lovingly corrects them and says, “My friends, you bow to no one.” When the high king says, “you bow to no one,” it is a superlative honor, the highest honor. If the greatest king bestows the greatest honor, then there is no higher honor, no higher position of authority to which you can obtain. When God the Father gives to the Son the position on his right hand, there is no higher honor, Christ can receive. Jesus isn’t just better; he is the best. He isn’t just greater than; he is the greatest. But the right hand is also the position of power and strength. When we call someone a leader’s “right-hand man,” we mean the man who is best at executing the will and purpose of the leader. And given the majority right-handedness of the world populace, most weapons are held in the right hand. When you face a man in battle, you better pay attention to your enemy’s right hand. And the deadliest, most dread warriors will typically unleash their power from their right hand. And so, when God the Father describes his almighty power, his power for war and for battle, he says it is Jesus, his Son. Jesus is the embodiment of the all-mighty strength of God.” We know from the book of Hebrews which also quotes Psalm 110:1 that Jesus is superior to angels, he is the superior high priest, he is greater than Old Testament prophets, his sacrifice is superior to any and every sacrifice in the Old Testament. It is fitting that we conclude our journey looking for Jesus in the Psalms, being challenged to praise the Lord Jesus Christ for his surpassing greatness, as we approach Easter Sunday, resurrection Day!

 Andrew Walker says (3) “To many evangelical Christians the divine calendar with its fasts and feasts celebrated by Catholic and Orthodox Christians all over the world  seems mere “religion” with little life…He says “on the contrary, the Christian Year, offers a real Christ-centred alternative to the secularized view of time ” He goes on to say, “when 21^st century Christians celebrate Easter they are in one very real sense closer, in time to Christians in the sixth century celebrating Easter, than they are to people in ordinary time, the previous year. The Christian year compels the very shape of time itself to bow the knee to Christ. It teaches us to submit the rhythms of our own lives, to the story of Jesus, that our time is not our own to determine. It also takes us through seasons of hope and penitence, of feasting and fasting, of joy and sorrow.”

In the introduction to this blog I said that when Augustine read the psalms in the light of Paul’s insights about Christ crucified human humility scripture opened up to him. One way that this happened was that he saw Christ using the Psalms to explain himself. Thank you for joining me on this journey, to find Jesus in the psalms, to see Jesus the Living Word.

Prayer

I praise you Lord, for your surpassing greatness. You are that river of life Lord Jesus, you have the words of life, you are the Living Word.. May the eyes of our hearts be enlightened to know you better as we live in the psalms. Unblock the well of the living word!    

Reference

(1) Brueggemann, W. Praying the Psalms, 43-46

(2) Holland, J. Footstool theology December 11, 2023

(3) Walker, A.G and Parry, R.A, Deep church rising : rediscovering the roots of Christian orthodoxy, 142.