Loving God, you are the only one who remains faithful and is worthy of praise.  Help us to recognize you wherever you are at work in our world, and empower us to live to the praise of your glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    Today marks week 6 of our series focusing on the Psalms.  We have heard wisdom Psalms and laments, Psalms of trust and Psalms of thanksgiving, as well as Psalms of praise.  Rolf Jacobson, who is a professor at Luther Seminary in Minnesota, suggests that the Psalms actually aren’t meant just for singing in worship on Sundays.  Instead, he talks about how the Psalms really should be our soundtrack for daily life.  What he means is this:

    Do you need a little reminder of how the world works and God’s role in all of that? – There’s a Psalm for that!  Are you in the depths of despair and just wanting to cry out to God for help? – There’s a Psalm for that.  Are you in the middle of a crisis, but want to express your faith and trust in God in the midst of it? – There’s a Psalm for that.  Are you really aware of all your blessings and just want to thank and praise God for God’s goodness? – There’s a Psalm for that.  And, are you noticing all that God has done and aware of God’s grace and power, and just wanting to sing songs of praise? – There are psalms for that, too!

    The thing about many of the psalms, and especially the psalms of praise, is that they tell us who God is by describing what God has done.  And so, in the case of today’s psalm, God is revealed as the one “who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them” (Ps. 146:6).  God is also the only one who remains faithful forever and who reigns forever.  This is why God is worthy of praise.

    However, there are also a few things mentioned that tell us what God is up to in the world.  It is God who executes justice for the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.  It is God who opens the eyes of the blind and who sets the prisoners free.  It is God who watches over strangers and who holds the orphans and the widows in his care.  It is God who lifts up those who are bowed down.  And then we find out that “the Lord loves the righteous,... but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin” (Ps. 146:8, 9).

    For those who seek to know God’s will and to do it, there are things on this list that we also are called to do and to work towards during our time on this earth.  Our bulletin insert today talks about the good things that we cannot or will not do, and some of these things are certainly outside of our sphere of influence.  However, this does not mean that we should just sit back and be passive observers.  God continues to be at work in our world, and often works through people just like you and me.  Things like justice and caring for orphans and widows simply do not happen without faithful people being involved.

    However, to back up for just a moment, these are also many of the things that were in evidence through Jesus.  When John the Baptist sends his disciples to Jesus to see if he really is the Messiah, Jesus gives them a whole list of things that have been happening that are quite obviously God’s power at work.  “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, [and] the poor have good news brought to them” (Lk. 7:22).  At the same time, John would have known that all of these things were mentioned by the prophets.

    In the same way, it shouldn’t be surprising that Jesus engaged in many of the same activities that are mentioned in today’s psalm.  After all, wouldn’t the Son of God also do the things that God does?  And so, Jesus gave food to the hungry – both literally and spiritually!  Jesus opened the eyes of the blind – also both literally and spiritually!  Jesus lifted up those who had been bowed down with heavy burdens, whether illness that made them outcast and unclean, or sin that had cut them off from God.  Jesus also formed a community of people in which resources were shared and in which there was always a place for orphans and widows and strangers.

    However, what about this setting the prisoners free?  We don’t hear about Jesus opening the doors of any prisons and letting everybody out.  Yet, Jesus spoke about himself proclaiming “release to the captives” and letting “the oppressed go free” (Lk. 4:18).  Have any of you ever been captive or oppressed and had Jesus set you free?...  This is an important question for us to think about these days, as many people don’t believe that they need to be saved or set free from anything.

    One of our prayers of confession talks about how we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves.  Another way to think about sin is simply how we are turned in on ourselves and away from God and others.  As well, I would think we could say that there are people who are held captive by consumerism, or by addictions, or by the endless quest to get more and to be more.  Others, I would think, are oppressed by cultural expectations or even family expectations.

    In mentioning these things, I think of how Jesus encouraged people to put God above all other expectations and obligations.  I also think of how he lifted up outcasts and sinners and women and children and treated all of them with dignity and respect.  Jesus brought with him the freedom that comes with forgiveness and love and mercy – freedom to live in love for God and for one another.  Surely experiencing this kind of freedom is a very good reason for praise!

    In closing, I’d like to return for a moment to the parts of Psalm 146 that talk about what God is up to in the world – things like executing justice for the oppressed and giving food to the hungry and lifting up those who are bowed down.  These things are God’s work, and wherever we see these things happening in our world, it is cause for praise.  

    There are two questions that some of you have heard before that relate to God’s mission in the world: “What is God doing?” And “How can we help?”  It is often difficult for us to see what God is up to in our world, but this Psalm gives us plenty of clues.  And so, continue to ask those questions.  What is God doing?  How can we help?  For we have been set free to love and be loved.  Amen.

Pentecost 6 (NL summer)                            Psalm 146
July 5, 2015                                    Luke 7:18-23
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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