Saturday 29 February 2020

Psalm: Psalm 150

Background

Christian commentary understands Jesus as the Messiah who fulfils prophecies such as Ezekiel’s which speaks of the shepherd king David. Of course, Ezekiel is understood differently by Jewish readers.

The great Israeli novelist, the late Amos Oz once wrote in The Guardian: ‘When I was a small child, my wise grandmother explained to me in simple terms the difference between Jew and Christian (but her words of wisdom could well apply to any religious differences). "You see," she said, "the Christians believe that the Messiah has been here once and will one day return; the Jews maintain that the Messiah has yet to come. Over this, there has been endless hatred and bloodshed. Why? Why can't everybody simply wait and see? If the Messiah comes saying, 'Hello, it's nice to see you again,' then the Jews will have to concede. If, on the other hand, he comes saying, 'How do you do?' then the entire Christian world will have to apologise to the Jews. Until that time, why not just live and let live?"’

Ezekiel is clear that when it comes to the presence of the Divine, God’s presence is with us. ‘My dwelling-place shall be with them,’ says God. Amos Oz’s grandmother’s scenarios are one thing, of course, but in Ezekiel we are reminded that God has in fact never left us, that God has an ‘everlasting covenant’ with us which means that our relationship with him is one which stands forever.

When and where is God present? As it is written in Psalm 95: ‘O that today you would listen to his voice!’ Today and every day, during Lent and forever, God is present with us. If we would only listen, today we will hear his voice.

To Ponder:

• Where have you heard God speaking?
• What can it mean to ‘dwell’ with God?