Saturday, March 28, 2020
Psalm 55: An Intimate Companion
It was you, my other self, my comrade and friend, you whose company I enjoyed, at whose side I walked in procession in the house of God.
Betrayal at the hands of an intimate friend. Terror and violence within the city walls.
For they will not mend their ways; they have no fear of God. They strike out at friends and go back on their promises. Softer than butter is their speech, but war is in their hearts. Smoother than oil are their words, but they are sheathed swords.
Treachery, deceit, mischief and evil. Oppression and fraud. Death.
If only I had wings like a dove that I might fly away and rest.
Rocked with grief, his heart pounding, the psalmist retreats, full of fear, shuddering and trembling into himself.
Far away I would flee; I would stay in the desert.
No one goes to the wasteland. Surely there will be no one to betray him there.
I would soon find shelter from the raging winds and storm.
The horrible events that encircle the psalmist will not follow him to the wilderness. Perhaps there he will be able to collect himself into prayer.
At dusk, dawn and noon I will grieve and complain, and my prayer will be heard.
On this Holy Thursday we commemorate the Last Supper of the Lord, a meal in which he shares himself most closely with his most intimate friends. And yet one of these has already made the decision to betray Jesus.
If my foe had viewed me with contempt, from that I could hide. But it was you, my intimate friend, you, whose company I enjoyed, at whose side I walked in procession in the house of God.
Jesus faces his foe head on, sharing a meal with him on the evening before his death, handing a morsel of bread, of himself, to this close companion (Matthew 26:20-25, Mark 14:17-21, Luke 22:21-23, John 13:21-30). The evangelist John closes his accounting of the exchange with these four word: And it was night. Betrayal at the hands of an intimate friend. Terror and violence within the city walls.
Jesus withdraws to the gardens on Gethsemane in prayer. Jesus hands himself over to the plans of his creator.
At dusk, dawn and noon I will grieve and complain, and my prayer will be heard.
It is likely that each of us will suffer an act of betrayal at the hands of an intimate friend. Perhaps we have been the betrayer in a trusted relationship. God does not promise that he will keep us from such deep deception but he comes to each of us in the person of Jesus to instruct us how we might act and how we might behave. He remains with us in the person of the Holy Spirit to comfort us and to teach us wisdom.
If only I had wings like a dove that I might fly away and rest. Far away I would flee; I would stay in the desert. I would soon find shelter from the raging winds and storm. At dusk, dawn and noon I will grieve and complain, and my prayer will be heard.
And so we pray.
When trouble stalks us, let us retreat into the Lord.
When we suffer at the hands of an intimate friend, let us pray at dusk, at dawn and at noon.
When we believe that all is lost, let us remember that our prayer will be heard.
Amen.
This week we have been looking at the story of Jerusalem to see what the events of the city’s life might tell us about our own. Today we spend time reflecting on the effects of betrayal and how we might recover from both internal and external division.
Image from: http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/fyodor-bronnikov/the-head-of-judas-1874
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