A Sermon preached by J. Stuart Taylor III

St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church

August 10, 2008

After 18 vs. of profound reflection on God the Psalmist abruptly calls for the death of the wicked and vows hatred of those who hate God. Seems to be a crude addition and so unacceptable to religious sensibility that it is altogether omitted from liturgical use. I have read this Psalm at any number of memorial services but have never included these verses about the enemy. In fact in my study bible I had a big X marked in pencil excises them. When we find human hatred of the enemy in the Psalms we can in no way, condone it, approve it or use it to justify similar passions in ourselves. But maybe the reason that we can’t simply edit them out is because at sometime and someplace we will experience those feelings because we are human. And when we do we need to have an understanding of the life of prayer that allows us to aknowledge, express and ultimately let go of such dark and dangerous emotion. Our rage and our desire for vengeance are aspects of ourselves that we would rather not know. And spirituality can be construed as something that excludes everything in us that is less than ideal or religious. With the psalmist we have to find a way to pray through these realities, especially in the confidence that we are accepted unconditionally. Psalm 139 if we take the whole Psalm can help us do that. Psalm 139 and certainly other psalms as well can take us on a journey descending through the mind, into the hear, and there in the midst of our ambiguous human-ness, we stand before the eye of God. The all-knowing, all loving, ever-present God within us. Deitrich Bonhoeffer once asked this question in relation to the Psalms: “How do the words of human beings to God become God’s word to human beings?” Somehow in the mystery of Psalm 139, in the mystery of authentic prayer, when we dare to place our humanness before God, when we express and give voice to all that we are, God not only hears us but can speak to us. See how this transformation begins to work in the Psalm itself.

 if we simply edit those passages out. We may try to do the same But there is a danger here with simply editing out the at Does God’s presence, power and knowledge comprehend the enemy as well.But not inconsistent as with Psalm 23. Prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. find Patrick miller’s piece on interpreting the psalms. Might use this as a story. A conversation.see notes on commentary.  Vs. 19: O that you would slay the wicked. ( find sermon where I talk about editing the psalms)You that thirst for blood depart from me. Wicked are defined as those who thirst for blood. They do violence they commit injustice, they exploit and dominate others. Deal with them Lord, execute your justice. Protect and separate us from them.

But here is the conundrum, the human instinct for vengeance begets further violence and vicious cycle of violence. Of enemies forever confined in how they view their enemy and how they are prepared to treat them . I never understood the hatred of enemies until I witnessed two peoples side by side locked in aviolent and struggle. My notion of enemies, even after 9-11 was a pale idea. But here and there in the Psalms and throughout the scriptures. The hatred of enemies and the call to God to destroy them erupts like a wild fire.

Here in Psalm 139. God has enemies too. Those who are diametrically opposed to God’s purposes. For justice , These are the enemies of god. And the Psalmists want to hate those who hate you. I want to hate them with a perfect hatred.

What could be a perfect hatred? That separates the evil from the person? Would not a perfect hatred be like God’s hatred of injustice and oppression.  Could perfect hatred be non-violence Could perfect hatred be the love of enemies. As Jesus taught and practiced? To never repay evil with evil. To hate with a perfect hatred is not to passively acquiesce with evil. But it is the challenge to keep in view the human person made in God’s image – especially in the enemy.

4^th move. Johari’s Window.  When I was working for years as a community organizer I had a teacher mentor introduce me to an exercise in self-knowledge. The exercise was named for its creators’ joe and harry and is found on your bulletin on the back. Even though It is really a useful exercise in building trust within a community, I have found it to be an interesting exercise for myself alone. IN the first quadrant of the square, is that which I know about myself and what others know about me. These may be pretty obvious things about you that you know and that  anyone who knows you knows. In the second quadrant in the upper right hand corner of the square are those things which are unknown to me but are known to others. This quadrant can be a source of great anxiety or joyous affirmation because this is a blind zone in our self-knowledge. This zone is impacted by feedback that comes from outside ourselves. This can be anxiety producing when maybe we are not fully aware of how are seen, how our behavior impacts people negatively. Some times this quadrant can provide us with a joyful recognition as some gift or talent has been affirmed by others that we did not even know we had. The lower left quadrant concerns that knowledge that we have of ourselves which is hidden to others. This area may be large or small, contain much or little depending on how private we are, how much we choose to reveal about ourselves to others. But it also becomes a measure of how much we are willing to share about ourselves. And then finally in the lower right hand quadrant is that which remains a mystery not only to others but to us as well. It may be part of who we are that will never be fully known  or brought into awareness. It is this mysterious part of ourselves that on ly god knows, only God sees, only God understands and names. I share this exercise with you because I think it is useful to now and again search ourselves. And decide

Search me out O God and know my heart; try me and know my restless thoughts. Look well whether there be any wickedness in me. It is not just the evil out there that concerns me but possibililty of evil within me.