Joy

Third Week of Advent
Saturday December 21, 2013

 Read: Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19

But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand, the one whom you made strong for yourself.
Then we will never turn back from you; give us life, and we will call on your name.
Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.—Psalm 80:17-19

Psalm 80 is one of the post-exilic laments. The people of God had been taken into captivity and tasted the bitter herb of oppression. They longed for a king, a leader, to remove them from bondage and restore them to life. From the Hebrew perspective, if ever there was a time, it was the time for the promised Messiah. It was the time for a new David; one that would fulfill the promise that he would rule for ever.

 Christians, of course, look back on this Psalm and see the foreshadowing of Jesus. The lamenter is bargaining with God. Give us the divine leader and we will turn back to you. One assumes they were aware that it was they who turned away.

 We too want a Savior to get us out of the mess in which we are mired. I fear that the leaders we have elected are giving us exactly what we want and in so doing are giving us nothing at all. It is time that we repent of the greed that drives us to want our cake but be able to eat it too—cut our taxes but not our services, repent of the need for instant gratification, and search for ways to do what is right in providing for the common good.

 For you see the Savior has come, is with us now, and will always be with us. It is time for us to call on his name and answer his call.

 Prayer: Savior, forgive us of our sins both of omission and commission, remind us of what you have taught us, how to love God and love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Make us whole, make us one. Amen.

All scripture passages are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version.