The Power of Psalm 51

       Legend has it that Psalm 51 was written by David after that remarkable encounter with the high priest Nathan when he was caught in his adultery with Bathsheba.  This is when Nathan told him the story of the man with the little ewe lamb that he had nursed from birth, who had to give it up to his master to be the center of the feast when a guest came for dinner, although the master had a whole herd of sheep of his own.  When David said that terrible things ought to happen to that cruel master, Nathan pointed his finger and said to David: You are the man! (2 Samuel 12: 1-12) Supposedly the great king then went back to his room and wrote this incredible psalm that we have used every Ash Wednesday and on the Fifth Sunday in Lent as we consider our own sinfulness before God.

We always approach Palm Sunday and Holy Week with great trepidation.  I know that Easter is coming, but it is the second Easter that we celebrate, not the first one.  The first one was approached by the disciples and the women with terrible fear.  They had experienced the horror of the crucifixion and the loss of the body from the tomb.  They had no idea what had happened.  Neither would we.  Resurrection is not really in our vocabulary, except as a hoped for event that supposedly will follow our death.  We have never seen a resurrection and neither had the people surrounding Jesus in his last days, except for the few people whom Jesus restored to life.  There are those Christians who approach Easter as a given.  I always hated coming into the church on Holy Saturday and smelling the flowers that the altar guild was arranging for the next day.  Holy Saturday ought to be the day that God is dead, at least if we follow our own theology that Jesus came to us as the incarnate God. Yes, I know that the altar guild had to have time to get ready for Easter, but the theology is clear.

Easter ought to be a surprise.  We ought to be astonished at it.  It is impossible, yet it is right before us.  I have stood at many, many caskets in the church and profoundly wished that I could do a resurrection.  The family sits in tears and friends are around them in comfort, yet that person who means so much to them lies before us all in a casket.  Yes, there is resurrection, but it is not at that moment evident.  It has always been my job as a priest to help to produce the faithful evidence of the resurrection.  That is what the lessons at funerals try to do along with the remembrances of friends and the homily that I would always try to preach.

I want to come to the moment of Easter cleansed of my doubts, cleansed most of all of my sins.  Cleansed of those things that have kept me away from God for so much of my life.  That is the value for me of Psalm 51.  I can put myself in the shoes of King David and remember the things that I have done that have separated me from not only God, but from those around me.  This is when forgiveness becomes more than a word.  It is when I understand the mercy and grace of the God who loves me more than anything else.  That is when I become free to see the enormity of the resurrection not only of the Lord Jesus, but of me also.