My brothers and sisters.
The Psalm appointed for today – Psalm 114, begins by recalling the moments “when Israel came out of Egypt.” After a long and terrible journey, they find a country. The psalmist looks back on events that have achieved mythical expression in the traditions of his people.
“The sea beheld it and fled,” recalls an early moment in their escape from Egypt when, caught between potential death by a pursuing army and death in the sea, they commit themselves in faith to the water. And they cross safely.
“Jordan turned and went back,” tells how, in their advance on the city of Jericho, they again enter and commit themselves to water, this time the river Jordan. And again they cross safely. “The mountains … skipped like rams,” may suggest tremors in the earthquake-prone area beneath the land they occupied. Or it may present a vivid image of their excitement and joy at a hard-won victory.
The psalmist now asks a series of questions and replies to them. In doing so, he highlights a gulf in thinking between his world and ours. “What ailed you, O sea, that you fled? O Jordan, that you turned back? You mountains that you skipped like rams?” these are his questions. Here is his reply. “Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord.” The psalmist regards all these natural events as the direct result of God’s acting in time and history.
We are in a mysterious realm. The contemporary mind has great difficulty linking God directly with human history. Yet it is impossible to deny that, when an event occurs involving our deepest loyalties and relationships – when a loved one recovers from some dreadful illness, or our country emerges from some awful peril – we cannot help but search for a source to which, or to whom, we can offer our thanks.
The psalmist offered thanks in gratitude for a homeland achieved against many odds. In our personal lives, when the “hard rock” of suffering or misfortune is turned into a “flowing spring” of recovery and new life here too we seek a source for our gratitude.
Recall a time in history when people were saved from disaster. Recall a time when you were saved from disaster. Give thanks to God. Pray that all people may seek God in their suffering, may receive support and relief, and may discover a spirit of gratitude.
Patrick +
