For those who want a change from the Gospel

Epiphany 3 – Psalm 128

It isn’t easy to identify the genre of this Psalm, not because there is too little information, but rather because there is too much. At first sight it appear to have something to do with a wedding, which would explain why it is set for today alongside the marriage feast of the Lamb and the wedding at Cana. But we’re also told that it is a Song of Ascents, a section of the Psalter from Ps 120-134, and in its form it appears to resemble a Wisdom Psalm. So what are these genres, and what might they mean to us?

The Songs of Ascents are short Psalms  which are commonly believed to be a discrete collection used during pilgrimages to the Jerusalem Temple. I like to picture streams of pilgrims gathering from all directions and converging to climb up the hill to the Temple, singing as they go. Some of them suggest this more than others, for example Ps 121 – 3, but like the Psalter as a whole they reflect a whole range of experiences and emotions with which the pilgrims would no doubt be travelling. Ps 126 suggests that this collection was post-exilic, and the Temple in question would be that restored and rebuilt under Ezra.

Wisdom Psalms give sound advice on how to live godly lives, and while this never goes amiss it doesn’t seem particularly to be associated with pilgrimage nor marriage. So it isn’t at all clear what this text was designed to do, or how it should be used. Let’s look in more detail at the text and see what it is actually saying.

It appears to fall into two parts. V.1-4 start the Psalm off with a beatitude, parallel in form to those pronounced by Jesus in Matt 5, ‘Blessed are all who fear the Lord …’ This represents the Wisdom part, which, like much wisdom literature, extols the virtues of living good and godly lives. Paradoxically Wisdom literature in the Bible both proclaims blessing and prosperity for those who fear the Lord and live in obedience to him, but also tackles the hard questions about those times when this seems to be anything  but true. Our Psalm promises fruitfulness for the godly in normal, everyday areas of life: fruitful labour, harmonious marriages, happy family life and longevity. Fear God and life will be great. The Psalm isn’t interested in a more nuanced discussion of the relationship between godliness and prosperity, as Job, for example is. It takes for granted that obedience will produce blessing.

But then there is a change of tone, and someone else is speaking, not explaining how blessings may be found, but pronouncing a blessing on both the individuals and the nation as a whole. This voice has led people to suggest that this is a priestly blessing, pronounced over the people by the religious leaders, and our own practice of using the blessing at the end of services points to this as a final liturgical act at the end of the pilgrimage as the people dispersed to their homes, less a Song of Ascents and more a Song of Descent. There is, of course, no reason other than tradition to keep acts of blessing to the end of worship. I can imagine a service where people are blessed as the service starts, with a pronouncement of God’s favour on them as they come together for worship, as well as his blessing as they disperse and live for him for another week.

As a priest I find pronouncing the blessing one of the high spots of the service, and not just because that means it is nearly over! It is an immense privilege not just to pray for the people, but actually to pronounce God’s blessing over them, in a way which I believe will actually make a difference to them in the days ahead. Personally I never fail to find it a moving and powerful end to services, and now that I am retired and am more frequently blessed than blessing, I still relish this final moment when someone invokes God’s favour on me.

But I often wonder how people receive what I so enjoy giving them. What kind of theology of blessing do people operate with, and do they value it as much as I do? As those words are said, accompanied often by the sign of the cross, the basis on which God does bless us, what is going on for people? Maybe this week we might give our attention anew to the blessing, whether we are giving or receiving it.