Epiphany 9/Ordinary Time 9
Preaching
Hear My Voice
Preaching The Lectionary Psalms for Cycles A, B, C
Object:
(See Easter 5, Cycle A, for an alternative approach to vv. 1-5. See also Sunday Of The Passion, Cycles A, B, and C, for vv. 9-16.)
The dominant theme in the verses selected for this week's reading is that of refuge. Various other psalms make use of this word, which serves as a metaphor for the believer's ultimate trust in the Lord. The ordinary sense of the Hebrew was a shelter such as a rock or cave, in which a traveler could hide in the face of a fierce storm, or escape the onslaught of bandits or other enemies.
The lectionary's cut of this psalm is a bit awkward, because it interrupts verses 1-8, which are usually considered a distinct unit. Verse 5, of course, is well-known to Christians as Jesus' final statement from the cross ("into your hand I commit my spirit"); yet the theme of refuge continues for three more verses beyond this one, ending with the confident statement of deliverance in verse 8, "you have set my feet in a broad place." The once-frightened sojourner who ducked into a cave is now able to emerge into full sunlight, confident that his foes have been vanquished and that he enjoys the protection of the Lord.
The missing middle section, verses 9-18, provides some detail about the psalmist's particular situation. The author evidently has some dread disease, that makes his life a misery and that brings on the scorn and revulsion of his neighbors.
The concluding section (vv. 19-24) is a confident ascription of praise to the Lord who does provide refuge. When the psalmist was "beset as a city under siege," the Lord held off the invading hordes.
Although we cannot be sure that this was the psalmist's particular complaint, a story that could be told in connection with this psalm is the well-known tale of Father Damien and the lepers of Molokai, in the Hawaiian Islands. Nineteenth-century Hawaiians who contracted leprosy (Hansen's Disease) were treated unusually harshly by that taboo-based society. They were banished to the Makanalua Peninsula on the island of Molokai: a rocky, inhospitable spit of ground that offered only a hardscrabble existence. Woefully short of supplies, these poor unfortunates had to make do with driftwood huts and whatever food they could fish out of the sea.
Joseph de Veuster, a Belgian seminarian, arrived in the Hawaiian Islands in 1873. Upon his ordination as a priest, he took the name of Father Damien and began a ministry among the lepers of Molokai. He cajoled the government into providing decent supplies for the colony, and ran a pipeline to supply the lepers with clean water. Eventually, Father Damien contracted leprosy himself, continuing his ministry among the people whom he now addressed in his homilies as "We lepers...." He died of the disease in 1889, at the age of 49.
Father Damien transformed the Makanalua Peninsula from a place of exile into a place of refuge.
-- C. W.
The dominant theme in the verses selected for this week's reading is that of refuge. Various other psalms make use of this word, which serves as a metaphor for the believer's ultimate trust in the Lord. The ordinary sense of the Hebrew was a shelter such as a rock or cave, in which a traveler could hide in the face of a fierce storm, or escape the onslaught of bandits or other enemies.
The lectionary's cut of this psalm is a bit awkward, because it interrupts verses 1-8, which are usually considered a distinct unit. Verse 5, of course, is well-known to Christians as Jesus' final statement from the cross ("into your hand I commit my spirit"); yet the theme of refuge continues for three more verses beyond this one, ending with the confident statement of deliverance in verse 8, "you have set my feet in a broad place." The once-frightened sojourner who ducked into a cave is now able to emerge into full sunlight, confident that his foes have been vanquished and that he enjoys the protection of the Lord.
The missing middle section, verses 9-18, provides some detail about the psalmist's particular situation. The author evidently has some dread disease, that makes his life a misery and that brings on the scorn and revulsion of his neighbors.
The concluding section (vv. 19-24) is a confident ascription of praise to the Lord who does provide refuge. When the psalmist was "beset as a city under siege," the Lord held off the invading hordes.
Although we cannot be sure that this was the psalmist's particular complaint, a story that could be told in connection with this psalm is the well-known tale of Father Damien and the lepers of Molokai, in the Hawaiian Islands. Nineteenth-century Hawaiians who contracted leprosy (Hansen's Disease) were treated unusually harshly by that taboo-based society. They were banished to the Makanalua Peninsula on the island of Molokai: a rocky, inhospitable spit of ground that offered only a hardscrabble existence. Woefully short of supplies, these poor unfortunates had to make do with driftwood huts and whatever food they could fish out of the sea.
Joseph de Veuster, a Belgian seminarian, arrived in the Hawaiian Islands in 1873. Upon his ordination as a priest, he took the name of Father Damien and began a ministry among the lepers of Molokai. He cajoled the government into providing decent supplies for the colony, and ran a pipeline to supply the lepers with clean water. Eventually, Father Damien contracted leprosy himself, continuing his ministry among the people whom he now addressed in his homilies as "We lepers...." He died of the disease in 1889, at the age of 49.
Father Damien transformed the Makanalua Peninsula from a place of exile into a place of refuge.
-- C. W.
