May 12: Pentacost
Psalm 104 24-34, 35b
Acts 2 1-21
One scholar said it was worth learning Hebrew just to read Psalm 104. It sings on the page. Until we come to the last verse. Our reading today gives us the last phrases: “Bless the Lord, O my soul. Praise the Lord!” The editors of the lectionary don’t want us to speak the whole verse in worship! “Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Praise the Lord!”
The psalm-writer is overwhelmed by God’s goodness. God’s power in creation. God’s kindness to all living things. In the light of God’s grace, human sin stands in sharp contrast. The writer cries out, “Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more.”
We look at this world, and we cry out, too. We trust God understands our distress. But we’d like to see some results!
There are no vowels in the Hebrew text. Most translations give an ‘oh’ sound to a key syllable in verse 35. That makes it “consumed.” As in destroyed by fire. That word can also take an ‘ah’ sound. “Consumed” becomes “complete.” Fulfilled. Whole. Let sinners be made whole by God’s goodness. Redeemed. To sin no more.
That’s a minority opinion, but I have it from two learned rabbis. One ancient, and one my neighbour today. “Let sinners be redeemed, and let the wicked be wicked no more.”
The Talmud tells of Rabbi Meir and his wife, Bruriah. Rabbi Meir was often harassed. Mugged. His neighbours made his life miserable. He took great comfort in praying Psalm 104. Especially the last verse.
Bruriah heard him praying for the downfall of a neighbour. She told him to look at his Bible again. “Don’t you know that verse can be read ‘may sins cease’? Pray for sins to cease. Don’t pray for sinners to die. Pray they may be redeemed.” Rabbi Meir accepted his wife’s biblical scholarship. He prayed as she advised, and his neighbour changed his ways.
Let sinners become whole, and let wickedness be no more.
We need to hear words we’d rather avoid. Words that remind us of the reality of human sin. And of God’s desire to rescue all sinners. The offence in verse 35 isn’t the harshness of the usual translation. The words hurt us, because they apply to us. Not just the people we call sinners.
I think that’s the lesson Bruriah was trying to teach Rabbi Meir.
The prayer at the end of Psalm 104 challenges us to leave the fate of sinners to God. That includes the notorious sinners. The Hitlers, Mugabes, and Graham Jameses. And the garden-variety sinners, like you and me. Leave them—and ourselves—to God’s mercy.
Pray for their redemption. And ours. Pray that the constant repetition of sins and wickedness may cease. Cease from the earth. And cease in our lives.
Then get to work to be answers to our own prayers. That includes dealing honestly with the effects of sin and the consequences of wickedness.
Reading from Acts ends too soon. It stops before telling us what happens after Peter preaches. People ask, “What should we do?”
Peter says, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:37-38) The Spirit comes with power to redeem. Pentecost is about new beginnings.
We pray: Let sinners be redeemed, and let wickedness be no more. We dream of a day when that prayer is answered.
We believe that sin is real. And so is forgiveness. We believe that change is possible. And repentance is necessary. Psalm 104 takes 34-and-a-half verses to remind us that God is good. That means we can face truth we try to avoid and deny. Face it with hope.
