Wednesday 28 June 2017

Psalm: Psalm 26

Background

In today's passage, the writer picks up on the contrast betweenJesus and John the Baptist to explore some of the key themes of thewhole Gospel: that Jesus is from above and speaks for God in a newway, fuller than any prophet (including John the Baptist) who hasgone before, that God has placed everything in his hands, that heand his testimony of the things of God are rejected, but those whodo so are lost.

Some features of John's Gospel can be disturbing. The languageof "above" and "below", for example, could suggest a sort ofdualism which is contrary to Christian tradition that the physicalcreation (the world) is good and as much part of God's providenceas heaven. The famous verses John3:16-17 make it plain that John was no dualist. He stronglyasserts that it is God's purpose to save the world through Christ,not to condemn it or confirm its inferiority.

Likewise, the Gospel of John's presentation sometimes sounds asif Jesus wasn't quite fully in the world, and went round, a fewinches off the ground, handing down majestic discourses andengaging in conversation of a rather mystical style. John certainlygives us Jesus in a broad, theological context set by the prologueto the Gospel (John 1:1-18), that Jesus is THE revelation ofGod (John 1:18), the active agency of God ("theWord") is alive in him, and, at the end of the Gospel, Thomas (ofall people) concludes matters with his ringing declaration thatJesus is "my Lord and my God" (John20:28). The Gospel is true to the astonishing Christian claimthat Jesus is a proper human being in whom the fullness of Goddwells.

Psalm 26 is another individual psalm, albeit much more confidentthan many of them. Its confidence borders on arrogance as thewriter calls for God's vindication of his evident integrity andfaith. He is not only innocent, but has a good singing voice (verse7)! His anxiety is that, for all his deservedness, things may notwork out for him. Perhaps we hear the voice of a Job here: why dobad things happen to good people?

The hymn O bitter shame and sorrow offers acorrective to over-confidence: a strong recognition of need, withits progressive lessening of me as Christ grows in my life.

To Ponder

• How do you respond when you encounter a line of Scriptureyou've never noticed before, especially if it disturbs yourunderstanding of Jesus and your faith in him?

• How do you keep a proper perspective when your faith is at itsweakest, and when it feels strong?