God’s salvation is near
Psalm 85:9-14. December 5, 2022 - Monday, 2nd Week of Advent
Psalm 85 is composed of two parts. Part one, verses 2-8, contains a request for forgiveness and salvation based on previous acts of God’s saving acts. The psalmist reminds God - as if God needed any reminder - how he took Israel out of Egypt and when they sinned against him, he forgave their iniquities (Ps 85:2-4). Then, the psalmist issues his prayer of request: “Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us!” (Ps 85:4). On the historical level, this request probably asks for the return from the Babylonian exile. God got angry with Israel for their sins and allowed the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem and the temple. But God’s anger lasts a moment, but His mercy is everlasting (Ps 30:6). And so the psalmist, like Moses before, asks God to be merciful yet again.
In today’s Gospel, we hear the story of a paralysed man being brought to Jesus for healing. His friends brought him there so that his health could be restored. But, as the psalmist made it clear forgiveness of sins is necessary before any restoration can happen. And so, the first words of Jesus are not, “rise, pick up your bed and go home” (Luke 5:24), but “your sins are forgiven” (Luke 5:20).
The second part of psalm 85 that features in the liturgy of the Word today includes God’s answer to the prayer of the psalmist. Interestingly, God’s answer is given in future tense: “I will hear what God proclaims” (Ps 85:9). The psalmist has not heard God’s answer yet, but he is sure of what the answer is going to be: “peace for his people” (Ps 85:9). How does he know? From the history of salvation. He knows how God dealt mercifully with his people and so he is confident that God will continue to deal with his people with mercy. He was not disappointed. God indeed forgave the people their sins and they returned from the Babylonian exile.
But, the psalmist goes even further in his confidence in God’s answering his prayer. He envisions a different world characterised by kindness, faithfulness, righteousness, and well-being and the Lord bestows His graces upon our land (Ps 85:11-13). God’s steadfast love and faithfulness emphasise God’s fidelity. Even if we are unfaithful, God remains faithful to His covenant with us. On the other hand, righteousness and peace describe a world redeemed by God’s grace. No wonder the refrain to our psalm comes from the first reading and declares using the word of Isaiah that “Our God will come to save us” (see Is 35:4).
It is interesting to recall that the tradition of the Church connected this psalm with the mystery of Jesus Christ and His Immaculate Mother. The meaning of Jesus’ name is “God saves”. Psalm 85 tells us God’s “salvation is near to those who fear him” (Ps 85:10). On the other hand, “our land” that “yields its produce” in verse 13 is taken as a symbol of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother, that yielded the fruit of her faith on Christmas Day, giving birth to our Lord and the Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ.