The Great Reversal

Last weekend the Eastern Synod met in Assembly under the theme: Behold I am doing a new thing. One of the speakers, Diana Butler Bass, took these words from Isaiah and redirected our attention to the similar words found in Jeremiah. Isaiah’s prophetic word emphasizes God’s work and the new thing about to happen through God’s hands, and when complete is a reversal specifically of the environmental crisis --- deserts will reverse to lands flowing with milk and honey. In Jeremiah, Behold I am doing a new thing, is prophetic word that emphasizes the responsibility of people, and when in its fullness is a reversal specifically of economic and social constructs --- the example given is completely upturning the system to be lead -ruled- by women. This in 600BCE.

In today’s Gospel we witness what happens when ‘the great reversal’ is emphasized and brought into being.  Jesus is preaching in his home synagogue; no one has trouble with this – he was invited to speak, to take his turn. The problem is the deeds of power through his hands; the power is reversing the status quo, the so-called balance that has settled out in the community. The problem is that people  -the other people; those people- are having individual reversal of  whatever has made them outcasts; reversal such that coming back into the community they are creating fear and tension with those who see no need for reversal.

And the synagogue community is not kind: to say Jesus is a carpenter.... is to say he’s JUST a labourer; to say this Mary’s son (with no mention of Joseph).. is to say Jesus is a bastard.  The community is not being kind! Who does this guy think he is, how can he have so much wisdom?  The community is not welcoming of the reversal happening through his hands.

So my quandary this week, as we continue praying through Jesus’ prayer book,

considers how Psalm 123 plays out in the community.  I think that prayer 123 contains words  that enact and empower ‘the great reversal.’

Psalm 123 is a prayer for deliverance from enemies, a rescue from oppression. It contains a threefold appeal to God for mercy.  The Psalmist is quite clear that the opponents are the wealthy (the at ease) and the arrogant (proud). It is a song of Ascent, included in Psalms recited by those on pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem.

Okay, so- this psalm would be prayed by Jesus.  This prayer would be recited by the synagogue community; individually and as a group. This psalm would be prayed, perhaps sung, by neighbouring synagogues and communities. The prayer would be on the lips of priests, Pharisees, scribes, Sanhedrin officials.  The prayer would be in the mouths of the widows and the lepers. --A prayer for deliverance from enemies, a rescue from oppression--

Prayer 123 has moved through the lips of those whom I would consider oppressed, but, also on the lips of those who were the oppressor. The Psalm was spoken by Jews in concentration camps, as well as their Christian captors; by slaves cutting cotton and by slave owners whipping workers. The Psalm has passed through the lips of Indigenous children and by the church running residential schools.

In Jesus’ time Psalm 123 was recited – prayed- by the people of Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem; a people under Roman occupation and oppression. Within their own community the religious leaders and officials  - the wealthy and established – prayed this prayer along with those who by the official religious system were oppressed and labelled outcast, just a labourer, bastards.

 Do you see how this Psalm is making me queasy and has my tummy in knots?

With the truth of residential schools, with growing incidents of Islamophobia, with BlackLivesMatter and #metoo, with people sheltering in parks, with food insecurity, with refugees the world over seeking refuge and finding no welcome, with the disparity of COVID vaccine availability ---

Can I seriously pray Psalm 123, for deliverance from enemies, a rescue from oppression- from “those at ease” and the arrogant?  In the big picture, am I not “at ease” and arrogant?

Metaphorically I sense the prayer as the oppressor being ‘evil’ or ‘the human condition,’ perhaps stated ‘all that is wrong with the world;’ a power outside the realm of my control. This does not make Prayer 123 any less problematic, or ‘okay’ to be my prayer by any stretch of the imagination.

And this is exactly the power of words and prayer.

To be in a such a state of wanting to ask for mercy and being appalled in the same breath, to be oppressed in a spiritual or metaphorical way, while being complicit  in the oppression of others --- praying the words are changing my understanding of relationship with God and others, pushing me to look  not just for bestowed mercy from God but also at my responsibility in bestowing mercy. The prayer is working ‘the great reversal.’

Bonhoeffer wrote: “if we are to pray aright, perhaps it is quite necessary that we pray contrary to our own heart. Not what we want to pray is important, but what God wants us to pray.”

Diana Butler Bass, continued in her presentation to Synod Assembly, by getting to the importance of the words, Behold I am doing a new thing  ... the church and society is in a liminal space. Looking behind there is a vast wilderness of dry bones; a landscape carved out by systems (injustices) that became normalized, COVID protocols and behaviours that have become in some ways comfortable, a church that was circling inward to protect itself and live in a theology of scarcity--- turning from the wilderness,  stretched before humanity is a new land, flowing with milk and honey, an option for fresh air, new life; new ways to entertain, experience, hear and share the Gospel. The liminal space is a vantage point for both options where there is choice to return for another decade to circle in the wilderness or courageously step into the new thing God is doing.

Through the centuries people of faith have prayed Psalm 123 – while in enslaved and in captivity, while wandering in the desert, while disapproving and belittling prophets, while being wealthy – at ease and arrogant, while being occupied and in political unrest, while committing atrocities in the name of God, while suffering, while lamenting.  The words have worked in the hearts and minds of people. Power has come from the words.

It is a good thing to be troubled by the prayer ... it is troubling the waters of our hearts ... God is troubling the waters of our hearts... calling us to responsibility to courageously embrace the new thing God is doing... and yes it requires us, mercy shown through human hands, just as the disciples went to heal – showing God’s mercy and love.

‘the great reversal’ is God’s reign, God’s vision of kindom come to fruition. It doesn’t just happen and it is not second nature to human beings. Whether oppressed or oppressor Psalm 123 unites human prayer without judgement of where one is, or the multiple of places one is, on the oppressed/oppressor spectrum; the same is true for communities. God hears unconditionally and equally. God hears the cry for mercy as the speakers -to varying degrees- wake to the call to be responsible (not at ease, not arrogant).

As we have prayed Psalm 123 and take time individually to pray it throughout the week, may the words disturb us to be courageous in participating in the ‘great reversal.’ God says, Behold, I am about to do a new thing