Thursday 07 April 2022

Psalm 2:1-8

 Background

In today's passage, Isaiah calls on the people who came back from exile not to forget their ancient roots and their existential links to those who came before them. Their ancestors were also formed on the move: Abraham and Sarah knew how to survive and thrive through migration; and Moses led the oppressed out of slavery. They were able to form a community of many, out of a few who began the journey.

If the returning exiles lived by the justice and light that their fathers and mothers did, they would be able to live in peace and be delivered from danger. The promise of salvation was not only for the past. It is for now, and for the future. Salvation will be the inheritance of the next generations too. To remember and honour those who came before is key in order to move forward and not lose a sense of direction and of identity.

In continuation from Isaiah and the Old Testament, the remembering expands. The 'rock from which you were hewn' (v.  1) is Jesus Christ, who was born of Mary. He lived and died for love, and was raised from the dead to bring new life to all. Jesus showed the way of love. To remember Christ is to live out his love and to create a community to love as he loved. This was the case in the past, it is for now and it will be in the future.

As in Holy Communion, to remember is to re-live the sacrifice, to recall the resolute journey towards it, and to invoke the spirit that descends into those who actively remember and re-enact the sacrifice of love today.

May all who live by Jesus – our rock – be a doxology (hymn of praise) to God, and to the new creation. They seek the promised redemption of humanity and of the planet.

To Ponder:

• Our culture cultivates a deep religious amnesia. What might be the consequences of forgetting our religious roots?
• How can remembering be an impulse to safeguard the future?

Prayer

Eternal God, may I never forget, lest I perish in the mire of emptiness. Amen.