Psalm 29 has been chosen for this Sunday, when we'll focus on the Baptism of Our Lord, Jesus. There are at least a couple of powerful baptism connections in this psalm, with an extra gift at the end.
We read "The voice of the Lord is over the waters;", which reminds us of God's creation work in Genesis 1:1-2, where "the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." We're reminded of our own baptisms, in which we were made a new creation, of water and the Word. Luther reminds us "Baptism is not just plain water, but it is the water included in God's command and combined with God's Word." In verse 10 of this psalm we're reminded of THE flood, another image of baptism. The sins of the world were destroyed and washed away, and (...you know this is coming...) God brought forth a NEW CREATION through Noah & his family.
PSALM 29 A Psalm of David.
1 Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.
3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord, over many waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
8 The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth
and strips the forests bare,
and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
10 The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
11 May the Lord give strength to his people!
May the
Lord bless his people with peace!
The main message of this psalm focuses on the voice of the Lord and His power, which is a terrifying thing. The sound of His voice brings forth creation, shakes the mountains & trees, and it brought about the great destroying flood. All sinners as we are should be terrified of the voice of the Lord, but we need not be. Check out verse 11 The Lord gives strength to his people! The Lord blesses his people with peace! How is this?
Remember how St. John begins his gospel? "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." In verse 14 we read: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." Because Jesus became flesh, lived among us and died for us, we have no reason to fear the voice of the Lord! God came to us, speaking His love and grace! And so, we can join with all heaven and earth in praising God, who sits enthroned as King forever!
Living in the Peace given by Jesus Christ,
No comments:
Post a Comment