Daily Bible Reading: Psalms 137-141 and Matthew 20:1-16

Psalm 137 – “By the rivers of Babylon we sat down; there we wept when we remembered Zion” (137:1). How many times have I sung these words? In Zion, the Babylonians forced the Jews to sing, to entertain them. And then the psalm ends with a horrendous plea for vengeance – “Happy are those who pay you [Babylon] back for what you have done to us – who take your babies and smash them against a rock” (137:8-9). It is very hard to read these words and know how truly they reflect a very common human response to brutality and defeat.

Psalm 138 – This is a psalm of thanksgiving for God’s constant love and teaching. “You answered me when I called to you; with your strength you strengthened me” (138:3). The rulers of the world will eventually praise you for your glory. Though you are higher than anyone or anything, you care for the lowly.

Psalm 139 – “Lord, you have examined me and you know me. You know everything I do; from far away you understand all my thoughts” (139:2). You know me fully. “Your knowledge of me is too deep; it is beyond my understanding” (139:6).

Where can I go to escape you, get away from your presence? You are everywhere – in heaven, in the world of the dead; you are everywhere and are there to lead me. Even “the darkness is not dark for you, and the night is as bright as the day” (139:11-12). ”You created every part of me; you put me together in my mother’s womb” (139:13). Toward the end, again, the spirit of the psalm changes to one I am not comfortable with as a Christian – the hatred of all those who hate God. It is serious: “I hate them with a total hatred” (139:22). I don’t think there is anyone on earth who ever lived that I hate with a total hatred – not even Hitler. I feel somewhere even in the depths of the most evil person there is a seed that yearns to grow with love. How it is so extinguished or smothered in some I do not understand, and I think I could fairly say I hate that force or that influence in them that brings them to do such hateful and horrible things. But I do pray for them too. Psalm 140 – Save me from evildoers and keep me safe from those who are violent. It is true I think that some taste the evil of evil people in a way I perhaps have not known. I don’t really know how I would feel or respond if terrible evil was done to me or anyone I loved. Maybe I would understand this “hatred of evil” better. I join with the psalmist in praying that the violent may not hurt others. Psalm 141 – An evening prayer: “Receive my prayer as incense, my uplifted hands as an evening sacrifice” (141:2). May I never take part in the evil anyone does.

Matthew 20 – This has got to be one of the most difficult parable or teachings of Jesus that there is in the whole Bible. I wonder what the “Occupy Wall Street” movement would say in response? Here Jesus likens the kingdom of heaven with a landowner who goes out early in the morning to hire laborers. He gets some at 9, some at 3 and some at 5. All are paid the same wage. The ones hired first “grumble” because it is not fair to them that they should have worked the entire day and only get paid the same as one who worked for an hour. The owner tells them, “Friend, I have not cheated you. After all, you agreed to do a day’s work for one silver coin. Now take your pay and go home. I want to give this man who was hired last as much as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do as I wish with my own money? Or are you jealous because I am generous?” And Jesus concluded, “So those who are last will be first, and those who are first will be last” (20:14-16). I remember a movie I loved called Matewan - about the drama surrounding organization of coal miner’s in West Virginia in 1920. One of the main characters, Danny, is a young man – boy – who is gifted with a call to Christian ministry. When he is asked to deliver a sermon on this particular Jesus story, he totally rebels and says he can’t believe Jesus would have taught this. I loved it.

Jesus’ message must be seen as relating to a deeper truth than wages for work we do here on earth. And the “money” Christ has charge of is not just “capital.” It is God’s love and desire to save that I think Christ is talking about, but that won’t stop “literalists” from taking that line: “Don’t I have the right to do as I wish with my own money?”