A Meditation on Psalm 148
The Sixth Sunday of Easter revolves around the Gospel lesson of John 15. In this passage, Jesus offers another of his “I am” statements. In previous weeks he states, “I am the Good Shepherd, I am the way, the truth, and the life,” and this week he states, “I am the true vine.” He tells his disciples of the need to produce good fruit, and instructs them that the only way to do so is to “abide in him” for “apart from me, you can do nothing.” In short, Jesus is declaring that we must “dwell in him, and he must dwell in us.” These words should be familiar from our Eucharistic Prayer.
Psalm 148 sits right in the middle of the hymns of praise that end the Psalter. It is so fitting that the “hymnbook of the Bible” end with songs of praise. We read: “I will extol you, my God and King and bless your name forever” —Psalm 145. “Praise the Lord, O my soul! I will praise the Lord as long as I live” —Psalm 146. “Praise the Lord! for it is good to sing praises to our God” —Psalm 147. And we continue with the call to praise in the last three psalms. Today’s psalm is a call to praise God from the highest heights to the deepest depths. It does so with a hymn of creation. The psalm is divided into three parts. The first part is a call for the heavens to “praise the Lord in the heights” —Psalm 148:1. The second part starts in verse 7 and calls us to “Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps” I will look at the third part a little later.
This hymn of praise calls on all creation to praise the Lord. It begins with a call to the angels as those who dwell in heaven’s heights to praise God. It then calls on the sun, moon, and stars from the highest heavens to join in the praise. The psalm introduces the creation in much the same order as Genesis. It moves from the heavens to the earth. It calls all plants, animals, and even the weather to praise the Lord. Just as Genesis ends with man created in the image of God, the last creature called to praise the Lord is also humanity. The call is to everyone: “Kings and all people, men and maidens, old folks and children.”
This is a joyful song of celebration for God’s power in his creation. And yet there is a shadow that hangs over creation. At first, creation was “good” and with the creation of man it was “very good.” It was good because God was in the midst of the garden and we see that He liked to walk “in the cool of the day” and wished to do it near Adam and Eve. God knew his creation was fallen when Adam and Eve ran from him instead of to him. Since then, all creation has been “waiting with eager longing” and “subjected to futility.” —Romans 8:19-20. Humanity also asks, “How can we praise and sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” —Psalm 137. The answer is found in the last verse of today’s psalm. It reads, “God has raised up a horn for his people, his faithful shall praise him, the children of Israel, a people who are near him. Praise the Lord!” —Psalm 148:14.
We are not too familiar with what it means to “raise up a horn.” In ancient lands, the most powerful animal people could think of was a bull. The power of the bull became identified with his “business end.” In other words, the power of the bull was identified as residing in his horns. To say that God raised up a horn is to say that God gave us a powerful ruler or a king. This King would have sufficient strength to restore creation and allow humanity to be “near” God once again. I believe this is exactly why Zechariah can sing his hymn of praise: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited (he came near) and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, … that we should be saved from our enemies and the hand of all who hate us.” —Luke 1: 68-71. This thought is echoed by Mary when she too sings, “ He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, and exalted the humble.” —Luke 1:51-55.
The praises of Psalm 148 are universal and complete because it celebrates the restoration of our fall. Creation celebrates because it has been restored by the power “horn” of a great king. Just as Aslan’s sacrifice restored spring to Narnia, when Christ’s blood fell from the cross it began the work of restoring all creation to its former glory. Through Christ’s blood, we now can once again “abide in him.” Once again humanity can begin to produce good fruit. We can sing a new song. Sing the Lord’s song. We are a people who once again can be “near” God. Praise the Lord!
Yours in Christ,
† Mark
P.S. Much of my thinking through the years has been informed by a book that was written by one of my seminary professors. The book has been a great blessing to me through the years. Here is the information: