sign in sign up
<<
Home , Psalm 23, Rivers of Babylon

I Hate This -2- Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020 is the worship book of Israel. Series: Thanksgiving Sunday And for us, if I were to ask you to define worship and Scripture: (pg. ) describe what it is… for most of us, just the very Theme: Rage just might lead to gratitude. definition of worship would include thoughts like, inspiring… joyful… upbeat… uplifting… Early Friday morning, I sat down with my Raisin Bran There is not much room in our worship songs for anger. and my and my journal for my morning time w/ So, I think we would be surprised by how much anger God… there is in the Psalms… the Hebrew book of worship. I read Job 4-7… I love the , by the way. Then I got my journal and started my dialogue Sometimes, I am sure, anger is the elephant in the room with God… you can see I usually fill a page, sometimes in our praying… in our joy… in our gratitude. more. We are not free to pray… we are not free to be Friday I simply wrote, “I’m not sleeping. Covid is grateful… to trust… to hope… to open our hearts to love winning. Can’t stop my mind. Can’t stop my anger.” until we pray our anger. Then I put down my pen… stared out the window told us to love our enemies… but before we for a while…and went to work. love them, we will have to pray our hatred. Usually, I pray, and I couldn’t on this day. And, so, there is the book of Psalms… I was too angry to do anything else. Before there is , “The Lord is my Covid is winning. And I’m angry. , I shall lack nothing. He leads me to rest beside quiet streams…” We Christians have a very low tolerance for anger and Before there is Psalm 23, there is : “My for pain… God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Every day I Maybe we should… I don’t know. call out to you, my God, but you do not answer.” Anger is a scary thing. I don’t like feeling it… it keeps me from praying. If Psalms is the book of worship, then what do you call it It robs of joy. when you cry out to God in anger? It makes me a person no one wants to be around. You call it worship. And yet there is a surprising amount of anger in a Right now, maybe you don’t, but I do, I need to very unlikely place in our … the book of Psalms. pray my anger. -3- -4-

I want to take you to a Psalm of white-hot anger, Ps 137. I think now you’re ready to hear how some Jewish But first, a little history, or this Psalm won’t make slaves, newly arrived in , prayed their anger: sense… you’ll get a little more history as we walk , 3 SLIDES through this Psalm, but here’s where we start… This isn’t going to be pleasant. About 2,600 years ago, in the year 587 BC, the But to help organize our minds, this prayer comes in 3 Babylonians destroyed the nation of the Jews. paragraphs… I’ll title each and talk about them as we This was not a quick event that happened in just pray our anger. that one year… [SLIDE] For years, the Babylonians had been harassing the The 1st paragraph is vv. 1 – 4: We do not like where Jews… like a pack of wolves eating a deer alive, biting we are. off pieces and enjoying the blood until, finally, they kill. [SLIDE] There’s … there’s Babylon… it’s a The Jews who lived were taken as slave prisoners walk of well over 1,000 miles. back to Babylon… in Jewish history, this is known as the The Jewish slaves were settled between the Babylonian Exile… sometimes just, the Exile. & Rivers. The Jews lost their freedom… their economy… There were a system of canals that crossed this flat their loved ones… their Temple, which was how they plain… somewhere along those rivers/canals, sat – wept. practiced their faith… they lost their homes… and they They hung up their harps and they refused to sing- lost their nation. are reliefs that the victorious Assyrians and Babylonians This exile would last for decades, so most of the carved on their palace walls that survive today… Jews would never see freedom or homes again. [SLIDE] These reliefs show victorious soldiers prodding When did they realize normal was a long, long the slaves with swords and spears and 3 Hebrew slaves way away? are carrying their harps as if they are playing them… the The Babylonians committed genocide. frowns on their faces are obvious… They engaged in human trafficking of an entire It appears the slaves are being taunted… nation… and a neighboring country… the Edomites, who mocked… “Sing us one of your happy , why don’t had a long, long, bitter history with Israel, the Edomites you? Go ahead, sing us one of your praise songs!” celebrated… they cheered as Babylon razed Jerusalem to the ground… Edomites popped popcorn & enjoyed show. In the ancient world… I suppose even today… -5- -6-

People tended to think their God was always the But I do not like where we are. strongest and the best… I’m angry that the whole world is under this invisible, So, if your nation lost a war and was being taken oppressive, evil thumb. into slavery, it was very common for the victors to say, “I guess your god wasn’t quite up to it, was he? But go So, Father, I’m angry. ahead, sing us one of your worship songs anyway. I’m angry about the leadership class I now think of as the Maybe our god will like it. Maybe not. Maybe he’ll kill elites… who stage photo ops wearing masks, so they can you. But go ahead, sing us one of your praise choruses.” tell us we can’t get haircuts, we can’t gather with more than 10 people, we can’t see our loved ones in care “By the , we sat down and wept. We centers where we now know they will wither away and put away our harps. How can we sing the songs of the die… Lord in a pagan land?” And then, within a week, videos emerge of those We do not like where we are. same leaders in hair solons – maskless… in crowded bars packed with friends – maskless… and moving their loved Now, Covid is not Babylon. ones out of care centers because they know what’s Babylon was a kingdom… it was people… it was a coming… and then they have the classless courage to thinking, planning, scheming enemy. blame the solon… the bar… the care center. Covid has no plan to conquer… to make slaves. Father, I do not like where we are.

But the exile in Babylon was so horrendous – it was so I’m angry for a whole generation of students who are defining – several authors in bible used “Babylon” as a losing what they will never get back… for countless symbol for evil… having to live through destruction. teachers who are torn apart between parents and John did it in his Revelation… Babylon, in guidelines that change by the minute and they can’t Revelation, is a symbol for Rome and the persecution of possibly keep up. Christians by Rome… Where Christians were being fed alive to the lions in the I’m angry that one more time in our world, it is the least arena… or being burned alive to light Caesar’s circuses. of these who suffer the most.

So, maybe it isn’t fair… maybe I’m whiny… -7- -8-

I’m angry that people keep telling me the only way to I cannot sing the praise songs in land where I now live. love is to wear a mask… but what about when it’s not? When a young girl, emaciated-thin, w/ eyes red [SLIDE] Paragraph 2 ~ vv. 5, 6 Remembering is from crying and snot collecting below her nose in hope. clothing that is too big and too old – when she walks in the door of your church and says, “I saw the sign… I These weeping Jews made a vow: We will not forget you, need help… and in 30 seconds you hear the horror of Jerusalem. [SLIDE] how a boyfriend kicked her out so she lived outside for In fact, in those sentences, they called down curses the summer but now it’s cold and although she was on themselves if they did forget. terrified she went back home to her parents where she ran away last year because her dad abused her but she had Now, it wasn’t just a city they were choosing to nowhere else to go so she went home but on her very first remember… it was their faith… their life with God. night home her dad came into her room once again so she Your Bible might read, “Mt. ” instead of ran away two days ago but it is just so cold outside at Jerusalem – that’s what was written there… Mt. Zion… night… can you help? Mt. Zion is a symbol for the place where God dwells Would you say to her, “First, can I can go get my with his people. mask & can you wear one, too?” These weeping Jews were pledging: “We will not Or, would you put your arm around her, sit down forget… we will remember.” beside her, less than the required 6’ away, give her tissues, and say, “Yes, we can help?” There is a hopeful thing we know about this remembering of these weeping Jews… And, would you decide that the next time you see a It was in exile that Israel became a people of the post telling you, you must wear a mask to love… do you book. decide that you will just bear the guilt, because, you The Temple was lost… they could no longer be the think, “I don’t think they even know what’s going on out people of the Temple… the whole sacrificial system there, most of us. We have, most of us, our homes & would be lost… families to go home to, I don’t think they even know.” And so, synagogues came into being… they would Father, I’m so, so angry… I do not like where we be devoted to God not through sacrifice… but through are… so I sit down by the rivers of Babylon & weep. knowing him through Scripture. -9- -10-

Babylon would be the people of military power. The king of the Jews – Zedekiah – along with his family, Babylon would be the people of riches & wealth. was captured in valley of Jericho. Babylon would be the people of pride. Zedekiah & his family was taken to the King of Israel – the people of the book. Babylon who ordered that all of the children of Zedekiah Today… Babylon is dust… ruins. be brutally slaughtered as Zedekiah was forced to And Israel… is. watch… And then the King of Babylon ordered that Remembering is hope. Zedekiah’s eyes be gouged out so that the death of his For you & I, in a few moments, we will be called children would be the last thing he ever saw. to remember. This is scripture, by the way, if we want our Remembering is hope. children and our friends to read the Bible, this is in there… it isn’t hidden… it’s there. [SLIDE] Paragraph 3 ~ verses 7 – 9 Pray your The Babylonians, when they razed a city, they did anger. exactly this to the infants and toddlers of the people they [SLIDE- KEEP] This is one of the most troubling were defeating. paragraphs in scripture. It was victory… it was rule by terror. In the worship book of Israel is the line, “Satisfied is the one who takes your babies and smashes them against the What these angry, weeping Jews were praying for was rocks.” vengeance… Many refuse to read it… or preach it. “God, pay them back. What they did to us, may it Throughout history, many have tried to spiritualize happen to them. May it happen to them.” it away… some have said, “Babies is a symbol for sins What would you pray? just getting born in our lives… we need to stop those sins before they even start.” Many years later, in the NT, the Apostle Paul would No… babies is what they are… helpless newborns. write, [SLIDE] “Do not take vengeance. Leave room for God’s wrath.” In the book of Jeremiah, 52 – we read the history of what Sometimes we remember the burden of the first happened when Babylon captured Jerusalem… half and we forget the freedom of the second… [OFF]

-11- -12-

And this is exactly the prayer of these weeping Jews… If what we’re forgiving is our petty grievances and “God, avenge your people. Pay them back. Do to hurts… our impatience… giving the finger to the driver them what they did to us.” who cut you off… What would you pray? Then, yeah, maybe the cross is excessive.

A woman who is a psychosexual counselor and who Maybe the nice, pleasant, small little lives many of us are works with survivors of incest & rape says that these living is the reason we think the cross is excessive. survivors find enormous comfort in the truth of God’s Maybe we have built such nice, safe lives that we wrath and promise of judgment. don’t know anymore that evil truly exists. These survivors need to know the horrific cruelty will not go on forever… So maybe now, when we pray our anger with these It is easier for them to forgive… to live at peace… weeping Jews… maybe now we know… there is evil. to hope and to heal… True, horrific, mind-boggling evil. When they believe that vengeance belongs to God. And someone has to pay.

This causes me to ponder… “Is there such a thing as Is there such a thing as justice without judgement? justice without judgment? Is it possible to cleanse [COMMUNION PIC – KEEP Through Communion] without getting rid of the dirt?” I don’t know how to pray for justice in a world of Covid. Covid did not plot and scheme to hurt me… There are people who do not like the cross. To ruin lives… to isolate us… to kill… They say, “Why doesn’t God just forgive? Why But it has. the horror of the cross?” And I hate it. My guess is, these people do not understand the And I am angry. full extent of evil. “I’m not sleeping. Covid is winning. I can’t stop If what needs to be forgiven is the neighbor who my mind. I can’t stop my anger.” lets his dog poop in your yard… The lies we tell because it’s more convenient to “By the rivers of Bablyon, I sit down and weep.” tell a small lie and say, “I did respond, didn’t you get my And, so, I will remember… remembering, is hope, after text?” than it is to tell the truth… all… I will remember…