Psalm 41
Epiphany 7 - Year B
From our insides (torn apart by sin), from our outsides (betrayed by best friends) - we need to be put back together, rescued.
"You know me inside and out, you hold me together...."
Now it is time for a response to this wonder of still being of worth in G*D's eye, no matter what.
That response is to mimic G*D. "Dignify those who are down on their luck; you'll feel good - that's what G*D does."
This is a wonderful way to honor G*D - honor others with seeing them as dignified and worthy of same. This incredibly difficult simple act of seeing dignity, no matter what, ends up to be the best part of our pursuit of happiness.
Why does it takes us so long to catch on and then to learn this behavior so well that it moves from second nature to us to first nature for us?
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2003/february2003.html
Even though verses 6-7 may refer to the construction of worthless idols, there is still a word of encouragement here. Whether the friends of the paralyzed one had built Jesus into a healing idol in their minds or not, they caught the Markan sense of faith - persevere through challenging times - in the phrases they probably used back and forth between one another, "Take courage!" and "It is good."
The dynamic is true for us whether we use it in regard to our-one-true-faith or something we are only hoping-against-hope for. We work to support one another even if we have a vision of G*D supporting us, all and each. We don't just sit back and wait in silence, but we charge against barriers to wholeness. If "The Lord" acts first, wonderful, but we won't wait to find that out.
Charge! (That's just another way to spell "faith".)
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2006/february2006.html
Psalm 41 and Psalm 50:1-6
Zion, perfection of beauty, is filled with those who consider the poor from the perspective of G*D. G*D does not keep silence about such injustice and neither do citizens of Zion.
This is a workable image, but there is still work to be done regarding sacrifice and recompense. I suppose there is an understandable amount of knee-jerk response to having been injured that desires to injure back. It is hard to imagine how poor those who cause poverty are – while having plenty of resources they are poor stewards and participants in a larger creation oriented toward the common good. It is probably also understandable how we would want to see ourselves, poor in so many ways, still part of a favored, separate but faithful group. When looked at with perspective, though, this attempt at forcing our way into an in-group, betrays the image in which we have been made – that was willing to live with such as ourselves as an image. This may be the place for the old line about not belonging to any club that would have me as a member.
Perhaps it is enough to simply end at the beginning: Zion, perfection of beauty, is filled with those who consider the poor from the perspective of G*D and do not keep silence about injustice. Welcome citizen.