Submit to the Lord

May 5, 2023 - Friday, Fourth Week of Easter

Psalm 2:6-11ab

Psalm 2 together with Psalm 1 form an introductory part to the book of Psalms. In Psalm 1 blessed are those who meditate upon the instructions of the Lord and in Psalm 2 blessed are those who put their trust in the Lord. Psalm 1 mentions the wicked, the sinners, and the insolent (see Ps 1:1) and in Psalm 2 we have the rulers of the nations that plan a rebellion against the Lord and His anointed (see Ps 2:1-2). 

The Church discerns in this psalm the voice of God the Father and His anointed one, namely Jesus Christ. The Father speaks to the rulers of the nations that He has installed His king on Zion (see Ps 2:5). Christ is the king of the universe who reigns over the whole creation from his throne in the heavenly Jerusalem. Then the Lord’s anointed announced the Lord’s decrees: “You are my Son; this day I have begotten you” (Ps 2:7). In our Creed, the Church proclaims that the Son of God was begotten of the Father before all ages and he was begotten by the Holy Spirit of the Blessed Virgin Mary in time.

Then, the Father speaks to his Son promising to give him “the nations for an inheritance and the ends of the earth for [his] possession” (Ps 2:8). At the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew, the devil claimed to be in charge of “all the kingdoms of the world” (Matt 4:8). At the end of Matthew’s Gospel, the risen Christ proclaims: “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt 28:18). Jesus refused to worship the devil in exchange for “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory” (Matt 4:8). He obediently fulfilled God’s plan of salvation by dying for the sins of the world. As a reward for this sublime act of obedience, as Saint Paul writes, “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:9-11).

The Christ of the Lord shall shepherd the nations with an iron staff and “shatter them like a potter’s vessel” (Ps 2:9). Saint Augustine understood that iron staff as justice and the shattering as removing everything sinful. In the book of Jeremiah, the prophet went to the potter’s house and observed how he worked. “And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do” (Jer 18:4). That is how the Lord works on the nations through the proclamation of the Gospel carried to the ends of the earth by his Church. 

Since the nations and their rulers have no chance of succeeding in their rebellion against the Lord and his Christ, the psalmist advises them to submit to the Lord. Their rebellion can be compared to kicking against the goads (see Acts 26:14). But in repenting from their sinful plans and in serving the Lord, they can find joy and fulfilment in life.