Andy Nagahara
❖ Video
❖ Audio
Mural painting from the catacomb of Commodilla (Roma) Late 4th century
Jesus is Everyone’s God (Psalm 44)
0 For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A <maskil.> [1]
1 We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us what you did in their days, in days long ago.
2 With your hand you drove out the nations and planted our fathers; you crushed the peoples and made our fathers flourish.
3 It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them.
4 You are my King and my God, who decrees [1] victories for Jacob.
5 Through you we push back our enemies; through your name we trample our foes.
6 I do not trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory;
7 but you give us victory over our enemies, you put our adversaries to shame.
8 In God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise your name forever. <Selah>
9 But now you have rejected and humbled us; you no longer go out with our armies.
10 You made us retreat before the enemy, and our adversaries have plundered us.
11 You gave us up to be devoured like sheep and have scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold your people for a pittance, gaining nothing from their sale.
13 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, the scorn and derision of those around us.
14 You have made us a byword among the nations; the peoples shake their heads at us.
15 My disgrace is before me all day long, and my face is covered with shame
16 at the taunts of those who reproach and revile me, because of the enemy, who is bent on revenge.
17 All this happened to us, though we had not forgotten you or been false to your covenant.
18 Our hearts had not turned back; our feet had not strayed from your path.
19 But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals and covered us over with deep darkness.
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
21 would not God have discovered it, since he knows the secrets of the heart?
22 Yet for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
23 Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.
24 Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression?
25 We are brought down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground.
26 Rise up and help us; redeem us because of your unfailing love.
A. The misunderstandings of God’s people
1) Elitism and nationalism
2) Feelings of superiority and inferiority are two sides of the same coin
B. Seeing through Jesus as a “filter”
1) Those who are different from you are not the enemy
2) The true enemy exists within you
Summary
Except for a few prophets, the people of the Old Testament could not see God as anything other than the God of their particular ethnic group. But they are not the only ones who make the same mistake. Christians, who consider themselves to be “God’s people,” have held similar misunderstandings. Jesus expanded the idea of the “neighbor” to all people. By doing so, he broke down the high walls that humanity built up on their own. Those who follow Jesus break down walls, instead of building them.
For Discussion
1) What kind of “walls” exist around us?
2) How do we tend to build “walls”?