More than our fill of scorn
Psalm 123
A Song of Ascents.
1 To you I lift up my eyes,
O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
2 As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until he has mercy upon us.
3 Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,
for we have had more than enough of contempt.
4 Our soul has had more than its fill
of the scorn of those who are at ease,
of the contempt of the proud.
The psalm is clear – the only hope for mercy, the only possibility of a way forward is to be found in God. For God is the one who is master (vs. 2) and mistress (vs. 2) – the one who is in control able to bring about a solution, justice, hope, freedom, reconciliation, etc. God is the one who will act for the good and care of those who are downtrodden, with care and compassion towards those who are in distress.
The psalm turns in verse 3. While God will respond to the cry those in distress – those who are the people of his pasture – human beings on the other hand treat the lowly, the needy, the oppressed, those in distress with scorn, with contempt, with disrespect. Human beings who have the resources of those world, who live in comfort, so easily respond to the needs of the poor, the downtrodden, with scorn, with derision, with contempt.
God is different, for in Jesus Christ, part of the Trinity, God knows what it is to be poor, hungry, rejected, oppressed, and downtrodden. God knows and God will listen with care to the cries of those who are in distress. God will not speak with scorn or act with contempt.
This is the good news, that God hears and cares for the cries of the needy, offering them care and compassion. We are invited to follow God’s example walking in the footsteps of Jesus in caring for the poor and the downtrodden. That we would not be among those who while living lives of comfort ourselves treat the poor and the needy with contempt and scorn. That we would be transformed in our inner being to be more like Jesus in our relationships with the poor.
PRAYER:
God of mercy and compassion, thank you for hearing our cry when we are downtrodden, thank you for showing your mercy and grace. Take from us, O Lord, any contempt, any scorn, that we might direct towards the downtrodden and the poor. Teach us to live your pattern of mercy in the world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.