Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22
(Lectionary Translation)
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, *
and his mercy endures for ever.
2 Let all those whom the Lord has redeemed proclaim *
that he redeemed them from the hand of the foe.
3 He gathered them out of the lands; *
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.
17 Some were fools and took to rebellious ways; *
they were afflicted because of their sins.
18 They abhorred all manner of food *
and drew near to death’s door.
19 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, *
and he delivered them from their distress.
20 He sent forth his word and healed them *
and saved them from the grave.
21 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his mercy *
and the wonders he does for his children.
22 Let them offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving *
and tell of his acts with shouts of joy.
PSALM 107
THE WOUNDED HEALERS
The Book of Psalms is an anthology of five “books” – or “sections.” Their order and groupings are not random, but give the entire Psalter a “message greater than the sum of its parts.” This message, however, remains mysterious. Who arranged the psalms this way? Why does Psalm 1 come first, and what about Psalm 150 makes it last? In the earliest Psalter (from the Dead Sea Scrolls) there are 151 psalms. How did we lose that last one from our Bibles? These questions relate to what is called the “canon” of the Bible – its overall composition.
Psalm 107 is pivotal in the Psalter’s canon. It opens Book Five, and has been called “a community hymn celebrating God’s graciousness.” The psalm is a series of “vignettes” describing four groups who are saved: desert wanderers, prisoners, sick persons, and shipwrecked sailors. Our lectionary reading focuses on the sick: how they lost their health, how they cried for help, and how Heaven saved them.
Verses 19-20 have an interesting “parallelism” – that is, ideas that echo, balance and explain each other. These are translated often as “delivered from distress” and “saved from the grave.” The original language is subtler, richer and more complex. The Hebrew might be rendered:
Crying to Become yet more —
beyond our trapped and narrow selves —
we’re poured out now, set free and opened wide.
Our Healing Wound you have Become.
Let loose the arrow of your word,
and lay waste utterly to the lives we thought we knew!
[Psalm 107: 19-20 rendered from the Hebrew by Henry Ralph Carse]
This section of Psalm 107 is very relevant today, as we mark a full year of a global pandemic that has taken far too many human lives. Those among us who have suffered illness and loss may resonate to these verses, whether or not we believe that pain results from “foolish ways” or “sinfulness.”
Deep down, we all understand what being “saved from the grave” means. Our fragile mortal life, so precious to our conscious minds, is unconsciously pierced, cracked open and transformed, in ways we never thought we could bear.
We will never be the same again. Perhaps, now, we too might become the Wounded Healers this world so desperately needs.
Henry Ralph Carse - March 14, 2021