Easter 7
Devotional
Water From the Rock
Lectionary Devotional for Cycle C
Object:
The heavens proclaim his righteousness; and all the peoples behold his glory.
-- Psalm 97:6
Our normal use of the word righteousness often carries the sense of a cold, unbending perfection that is not particularly sensitive to human feelings or frailties. We speak of a self-righteous person as someone who is self-assured of his or her own rightness. We speak of righteous anger as an anger that is not open to being questioned or reasoned with. When the Bible speaks of righteousness, however, it carries the sense of right relationships rather than the imposition of a cold, impersonal set of laws.
When the heavens proclaimed God's righteousness, they were speaking of God's right relationships. When Jesus summed up all of life in terms of love of God and love of neighbor, he was subsuming all of the law and the prophets under the framework of right relationships. When God has placed all of creation in right relationship with God and each other, "all the peoples behold his glory." Once again, the psalmist holds up a vision of universalism. It is not just the chosen people but the whole earth that will rejoice. The foundation of God's throne is righteousness or right relationships and its close companion, justice. Our own experience makes clear that not everyone in the world wishes for a universal establishment of right relationships. If we were in right relationship with all of our neighbors, we could not rationalize the disparity between the rich and the poor.
In the psalm, the coming of God was pictured like a terrible thunderstorm that swept across the land. "Fire goes before him, and consumes his adversaries on every side. His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth." The struggle between good and evil is not a struggle of laws but a struggle of right relationships. Those who are willing to continue through the storm will experience the dawn. "Light dawns for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart." The struggle for the church is to resist the temptation of self-righteousness and continue to seek right relationships with all our neighbors and with God.
-- Psalm 97:6
Our normal use of the word righteousness often carries the sense of a cold, unbending perfection that is not particularly sensitive to human feelings or frailties. We speak of a self-righteous person as someone who is self-assured of his or her own rightness. We speak of righteous anger as an anger that is not open to being questioned or reasoned with. When the Bible speaks of righteousness, however, it carries the sense of right relationships rather than the imposition of a cold, impersonal set of laws.
When the heavens proclaimed God's righteousness, they were speaking of God's right relationships. When Jesus summed up all of life in terms of love of God and love of neighbor, he was subsuming all of the law and the prophets under the framework of right relationships. When God has placed all of creation in right relationship with God and each other, "all the peoples behold his glory." Once again, the psalmist holds up a vision of universalism. It is not just the chosen people but the whole earth that will rejoice. The foundation of God's throne is righteousness or right relationships and its close companion, justice. Our own experience makes clear that not everyone in the world wishes for a universal establishment of right relationships. If we were in right relationship with all of our neighbors, we could not rationalize the disparity between the rich and the poor.
In the psalm, the coming of God was pictured like a terrible thunderstorm that swept across the land. "Fire goes before him, and consumes his adversaries on every side. His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth." The struggle between good and evil is not a struggle of laws but a struggle of right relationships. Those who are willing to continue through the storm will experience the dawn. "Light dawns for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart." The struggle for the church is to resist the temptation of self-righteousness and continue to seek right relationships with all our neighbors and with God.
