Read the Psalm

Once again, as the people of God walked toward Jerusalem, their prayers centered around sorrow and joy. This is certainly way of Jesus. The classic hymn, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, paints this picture beautifully: 

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

This is the road Jesus walked, and we are invited to walk in His steps: “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” (1 Peter 2:21) His steps are a story of death, burial, and resurrection.

Kevin O’Brien, SJ, writes: “The birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ are different movements of the same symphony of God’s extravagant love for us.” This love for us offers entrance into a new life of relationship with Christ as well as the model for a way of life.

So, as Psalm 126 begins, the psalmist affirms that Zion has experienced a restoration, or we might say … resurrection. And, this was a like a dream that led to laughter and shouts of joy. Dreams are often shrugged off as not being real or things that are too good to be true. Imagine something like this being said: “This seems unreal, unbelievable, too good to be true … except that it is real and true.” All of this followed by joyful laughter and shouts of “yes, hallelujah!”

They had seen it with their own eyes and the nations around them could see it as well. This formed the basis for asking God to restore them again. Restoration and the hope for restoration are rooted in the story and pattern of what God does. In verse 4, the prayer shifts to praying for restoration as a part of the unfolding of the story God is always telling. They prayed for what they knew was coming. The what, when, where, how, and who of the story was certainly mysterious to them, but they trusted there was an unfolding story.

The words “like streams in the Negeb” (vs. 4) connect us with other images found all over the Scriptures in which water (life, healing) is brought to a dry land. (Isaiah 35:6; Jeremiah 31:9) There is hope because God is always telling that story. No matter how dark it looks, there is a sunrise coming. “Tears may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5) All of nature and even the cycle of the seasons tell this story as well. God embedded His story of death, burial, and resurrection into His creation so that we would have a visual and a tangible way to grasp this reality.

In this Gospels, Jesus shares this story of life, death, and resurrection in John 12:24-25:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

So, this story or narrative is the invitation of our lives! It leads us to ask the questions: am I fighting this story of death and resurrection (loving my life; i.e., holding on to my life) or am I embracing it (hating my life; i.e., releasing my life)? If we embrace it, we are trusting that there is an unfolding story that God is telling which leads us to follow in Jesus’ steps. If we fight it, it means that we are adopting a different story that we believe will give lead to life.

The alternative stories we embrace may have been shaped over the years by our family of origin, the culture around us, or hurts and disappointments. Some of these stories may include: I am what I do so I have to work hard to prove myself; I am what I have so I will amass much in order to protect myself; or I am what I others think of me so I do what it takes to be pleasing to others. 

Can you see yourself in any of these alternative stories about who you are? What would it feel like to say: I am one who follows the way of Jesus into death?

James 1 reminds us to “consider it joy” when we encounter trials because we know fruit will come of it. We know that resurrection and restoration is always part of the unfolding story. So, perhaps, we might be moved to laughter the next time we encounter some kind of death to self or a loss and say: “of course, this is the way! And, I trust it.” As we place ourselves in this story of death to resurrection, our afflictive emotions are transformed to joy.

Reflection questions: What story do you need to release? In your current circumstances, what might it look like to trust that God has a story that is unfolding?

Prayer: Lord, may I see my life through the lens of THE story – death, burial, and resurrection. Give me the courage and strength to let things die and trust you in the waiting for resurrection. Amen.