How to Pray the Psalms(9)

Number Three: Protestations of Innocence.
Though some Biblical theology, namely the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel, explain the Exile and destruction of Jerusalem as punishment for the sins of Israel, there are other strains which strongly, even audaciously, question this conclusion. Isaiah 40, for example, claims that God overdid it, that Israel received double for her sins, that the Exile was cruel and unusual perhaps. That this is still an uncomfortable idea is evidenced by Handel’s opting to leave this line out of his tenor recitative “Comfort Ye.” While certainly bold, such a challenge to God’s justice is very important in the preparation for the suffering of Christ. Other passages in Isaiah, known to Bible scholars as the ‘Suffering Servant’ passages, depict Israel as suffering not for her own sins, but for those of the nations as well. And here, I wish to point out, during this Octave of the Epiphany, what when we say ‘nations’ or ‘gentiles’, this means us—non Jews. Jews suffered on behalf of people who were lost and didn’t know God—that would be our ancestors. If this sounds strange, remember that eventually, this concept narrows down to the suffering of one Jewish man for the sake of all.
In Psalm 44, we have a text very similar to Psalm 89. Jerusalem is under attack, that is, God’s supremacy in the material world is under attack. The difference between the two Psalms is that, whereas Psalm 89 admits that the Davidic king has sinned, Psalm 44 asserts that Israel has not been in any way unfaithful to God, that the nation is suffering innocently. This sort of thing troubled our novices last year, but it gets even worse. Consider Psalm 25
Give judgment for me, O Lord
for I walk the path of perfection.
I trust in the Lord, I have not wavered
…
To prove my innocence, I wash my hands
and take my place around your altar.
Ouch! We are accustomed to using the rarified spiritual theology of St. Benedict, alluded to above. We all know that we entertain bad thoughts about our bishops and pastors, ‘that tenor’ or ‘that soprano’ or even our spouses. How can we say, in this Psalm, ‘I have not wavered’? The answer again is, that on our own, using this as merely a personal expression, we cannot.
But once we decide to join ourselves to the Church and take our place around the altar we, by default, as it were, ‘prove our innocence’. This is not due to our merits, our great successes at blocking out evil thoughts, but by Christ’s faith which is manifest in our physical presence at the altar. We in fact, are among the just by virtue of our participation in the Eucharist and not by personal perfection. If you will allow me to foreshadow another stumbling block I should point out that the Israelite idea was not far from this, even without a knowledge of Christ. The just were just because God has hesed and not because the nation is flawless. In fact, part of the covenant involves enacting purifying sacrifices, much as part of our faith and witness to Christ is fasting, penance, and the sacrament of confession. These duties of spiritual purification always take place within the Church and not on a purely personal level; and attending to them is, in fact, walking the path of perfection opened to us by Christ. This is not, and cannot, be a personal boast.