Sacrifice of praise
November 23, 2023 - Thursday, 33rd Week in Ordinary Time
Psalm 50:1b-2, 5-6, 14-15
We are all familiar with the story of Jesus cleansing the temple. Jesus began “to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons” (Mark 11:15). Years before Jesus performed that prophetic act, the psalmist and the prophets were reminding the people that sacrificial system of the temple could not be separated from moral life.
Unlike most psalms, Psalm 50 is not addressed to God but a warning from God. In the ancient world, sacrifices supported the sanctuary, the priests and their families, and the deities worshipped in that sanctuary. In the Bible, the sacrificial system also played vital role in worship and supported the priests and Levites serving in the temple, but the God of Israel did not need those sacrifices. The people were either obliged to offer them as sin offerings or offered them volutarily as a vow or thanksgiving sacrifices (see Lev 1-7).
But, there is a tension between priestly and prophetic traditions. The first view the sacrificial system of the temple as indispensable to the religious life of the people and even efficacious in assuring the holiness of God’s people. But the prophets disagreed. Isaiah, Micah, and Jeremiah sharply criticised the sacrificial system of the temple and its priests for failing to insist on the quality of life (see Is 1:10-20; Jer 7:4-7).
The psalmist mentions one particular sacrifice - a sacrifice of praise - that people should offer to God: “Offer to God praise as your sacrifice” (Ps 50:14). What is a sacrifice of praise? The letter to the Hebrews explains it as “the fruit of lips that acknowledge” God’s name through Jesus Christ, His Son (Heb. 13:15). Moreover, the author includes doing good and sharing material resources as sacrifices that please God (see Heb. 13:16).
Finally, the psalm ends with a statement that to the one who repents the Lord will show His salvation. Jesus’ ministry begins with the words: “repent and believe in the Gospel”. He is God’s salvation and He is the Good News about God’s love and mercy. In him is the fulfilment of God’s promise declared in Isaiah: “Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; Though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool” (Is 1:18).
Since its beginning Christianity was known as a religion of love and Christians were marked by the deeds of charity. For Saint Paul, charity surpasses any spiritual gifts (see 1 Cor 12:31) and the great Spanish mystic and Doctor of the Church, Saint John of the Cross said that “at the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love”. Let charity then be the mark of our lives and let the world knows that God himself is LOVE.