The light of the kingdom is sown
Psalm 97
1 The Lord is king! Let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!
2 Clouds and thick darkness are all around him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
3 Fire goes before him, and consumes his adversaries on every side.
4 His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles.
5 The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth.
6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness;
and all the peoples behold his glory.
7 All worshippers of images are put to shame,
those who make their boast in worthless idols;
all gods bow down before him.
8 Zion hears and is glad, and the towns of Judah rejoice,
because of your judgements, O God.
9 For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods.
10 The Lord loves those who hate evil;
he guards the lives of his faithful;
he rescues them from the hand of the wicked.
11 Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart.
12 Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,
and give thanks to his holy name!
We start with vs. 11. The footnotes in the NRSV state that “light is sown” is a literal translation of the Hebrew. I have adopted that text for vs. 11 above.
The image of light being sown is evocative. What is sown takes time to grow – the plant does not become full grown overnight or even in a few days. What is sown takes time – it grows gradually. But the seed that is sown does bear fruit – the seed that is sown miraculously does produce a crop. The idea of the light of God’s kingdom being sown carries the same idea. When first planted it appears that the kingdom is not growing; there is no evidence of growth. The signs of the kingdom take time to appear and when it does appear it is hardly noticeable. But eventually the light shines in the darkness – and nothing can stop the light from shining.
The praise and celebration of this psalm imagines the day when the light of God’s kingdom shines brightly. Shines so all can see. But we are not there yet, we still live in the hope of the light growing to shine. That hope declares the world is not the way it seems, instead the world is as this psalm declares. The world that the psalm proclaims is the world that is coming, the real world, where all people will behold God’s glory (vs. 6) and the forces of evil and destruction and wickedness are overthrown (vs. 10).
The psalm writer invites us to imagine the world that God is bringing, the world where God’s light shines, and in imagining of what will be, what is coming. In the light of God’s kingdom that has been sown, we rejoice.
PRAYER:
God of light, your Son Jesus Christ declared that he was the light of the world, bringing your light into our world. We rejoice that your light shines, shines in the darkness, shines with growing strength, shines that we might have hope. Shine your light, O God, shine your light, Jesus Christ, shine your light, O Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name. Amen.