Commentators are divided about the meaning of the tenses in this psalm. Is it about a past event, perhaps still to be completed; or is it about an imagined future? If it is about a past event accomplished, it may be about the return from exile in Babylon (538 BC) and would contrast with Psalm 137 (‘By the waters of Babylon...we sat down and wept, remembering Zion’). But then how do we deal with the imperative ‘restore’ of verse 4 and the following prayer? Commentators such as Robert Alter see it as a dream of the future: ‘When the Lord restores Zion’s fortunes, we should be like dreamers.’ So the psalm could be dated shortly after the Return or, alternatively, during the Exile but looking to the future.
The Negeb is a desert in southern Israel that occasionally gets hit by heavy rain. Some have read these last lines about sowing and reaping literally and have related them to a harvest festival, but it is easier and more rewarding to read them poetically, taking the language as metaphors for sorrow and joy. So verses 4-6 contrast aridity with wetness; tears with joy; and weeping with singing for joy. Some of the language can be related to other books: verse 2 with Job 8.21; verses 5-6 with Isaiah 35.10 and Jeremiah 31.16; and verse 6 with Luke 6.21 (the Beatitudes). The whole psalm is held together by the Hebrew rinah, shouts of joy (or Alter’s ‘glad song’) in verses 2 and 6. The psalm looks at how God’s promises are fulfilled, whether in the past or the near future.
Gospel Mark 10.46-52
Jesus cured blind men on two other occasions: the blind man at Bethsaida in Mark 8.22-26 and the young man born blind in John 9.1ff. Here the man is a beggar, obviously made destitute by his inability to work. If he is to cease to be poor, he needs to get his sight back so he can work. The man’s cloak, his one possession, might be seen as a symbol of his worldly security, meagre as that might be, and he throws it off. Jesus makes it clear that it is his faith that has saved him. This faith has, at this stage, nothing to do with a confession of belief. The Greek pistis here means trust: trust that Jesus will have compassion/mercy and can indeed make him well (‘save’ him). In showing unconditional trust that Jesus can save him physically and spiritually, this man is a model for all disciples.
In the context of the Jewish culture of the time, in which sickness and misfortune were seen as a sign of God’s punishment for sin, such a healing would have been seen as a sign of God’s forgiveness, with Jesus as the agent of that forgiveness. However, the healing in John 9 shows the first sign of Jesus rethinking that tradition: ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.’
Volume setting
Words for prayer Week 4
Our psalm readings have moved from praise (Psalm 8), to pleading (90), to reassurance (91) and finally with Psalm 126 to fulfilment, whether as something already accomplished, or something achieved but not yet completed, or even something eagerly awaited. Praising God starts us off on an interaction with God that leads us to pour out our soul, trust to his faithfulness and hope that our desires will be fulfilled, finally bringing some transformation to our lives.
The Gospel gives an example of an impoverished man – one to whom the kingdom is promised – whose needs are met. And the Old Testament reading from Jeremiah 31.7-9 binds the readings together, where the prophet tells ‘the remnant of Israel’, the weeping and the blind, to ‘sing aloud with gladness’ for God will save them.
Q Our life in this world can never be finally fulfilled, but reflect on your needs or desires that have been fulfilled (sometimes in ordinary ways, sometimes in unexpected ways) and on your desires yet to be fulfilled.
Q Are we really joyful?