The prophecy of the Gospel
Psalm 103:1-4, 9-12. March 11, 2023 - Saturday, 2nd Week of Lent
I recently watched a few testimonies of the Jews who came to faith in Jesus. Their stories are amazing. In each story in one way or another, Jesus appears to them and turns their lives around. But, then they are surprised how they could miss him for so long. These Jews are known as the Messianic Jews because they believe that Jesus truly is God’s promised Messiah. Moreover, when they begin to read their Hebrew Scriptures, they found a reference to Jesus nearly on every page. Psalm 103 can be one such example.
As I read each stanza that describes God’s mercy I cannot but think of the accounts of the Gospels. Jesus Christ is the incarnation of God’s mercy. In the Gospels, we see him pardoning sins, healing various diseases, and saving people from death. Jesus’ dealing with others is permeated with kindness and compassion. And the way he treated tax collectors and sinners proves that the Lord indeed does not deal with us according to our sins but with kindness that is higher than the distance between heaven and earth.
The three key areas in which the psalmist sees God’s mercy are healing, forgiveness, and redemption. Our human life is marked by sickness and sinfulness, and it ends in death. No matter how technologically advance our societies become, we will never be able to solve these issues. But God can. Every healing and every forgiveness point to God’s plan of salvation for you and me: a life that does not know an end, a life of holiness, a life without suffering. Does such a life even exist? Yes, it does. Jesus tells us about it and wants to lead us into it.
The psalmist begins his meditation on God’s mercy with the statement “bless the LORD, O my soul”. All those who witnessed Jesus’ healing of the paralytic man were praising God (see Mark 2:11-12). The Samaritan leper upon realising that he was cleansed by Jesus praised God and return to Jesus to say thanks (Luke 17:11-18). Then, there is the man who was liberated by Jesus from a legion of demons. He could not forget such “benefit” and so he went around and shared what Jesus did for him and everyone was surprised (see Mark 5:1-20).
Reading Psalm 103, we cannot but agree with those Messianic Jews who reading their Scriptures see Jesus nearly on every page. He is indeed there. We only need to know how to look for him.