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Lord of “All Nations”
Psalm 117
Andy Nagahara
The Psalm 117 is the shortest verse in the Book of Psalms. However, as the Apostle Paul quotes it as an important matter, it offers important suggestions for us as we walk through this world with faith. Today, while introducing some related texts, I would like to consider how we can take on the problems that the psalmist and Paul faced, which are actually our challenges as well. Let’s read it once first.
1 Praise the LORD, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples.
2 For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever
Praise the LORD.
1. The world envisioned by the psalmist
In verse 1, the song encourages all people to praise the Lord, and in verse 2, it sings of His mercy and His truth, His eternal and unchanging power that sustains all people. However, this did not take place in the days of the psalmist. Judaism remained the religion of the Jewish people.
Yet when God revealed himself as Jesus, it became clear that his teachings were good news for “all” peoples, transcending ethnic and national boundaries, even though he himself worked almost exclusively among the Jewish people.
As a result, the teachings have reached us over 2,000 years. But even though it has arrived, we cannot say that all the people are living in dignity and peace, worthy of the likeness in which they were created. Of course, we have to wait for the end of days for the completion of the Kingdom of God, but it is natural for a disciple of Jesus to never stop moving forward toward its realization, and it is not right to approve of the current situation or to give up.
The reason why we cannot see the “mercy and the truth of the Lord” as the psalmist sings, but rather the opposite, why the world is full of people suffering from economic disparity, discrimination, and war, comes from our attitudes about “culture” and “nation”. These problems are not new. They existed before the Bible was written, and they originated from the nature of sin that we have.
As an apostle for the Gentiles, the Apostle Paul was the first meritorious person to spread the gospel beyond the Jewish cultural sphere to the world, but he saw serious conflicts between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. There exists a cultural prejudice that is not easily liberated by believing in Jesus, that our own culture is the evangelical culture and we do not accept others.
2. The problem facing the apostle Paul (Romans 14, 15)
Paul quotes Romans chapter 14 and 15 as a basis for admonishing Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians for their conflict regarding the law, especially the food code, and for overcoming the conflict. For Jewish Christians, there was no question of keeping the Old Testament-based law as a rule, and so, if Gentiles believed in Jesus, they were expected to keep the law. On the other hand, the argument of the Gentile Christians was that to believe in Jesus, whose observance of the law tolerated violations when they were not based on love, but to be obsessed with the dictates of the law was not really following Jesus, but remaining in Judaism. So Paul showed that what was in dispute was a matter of culture that had nothing to do with the essence of the gospel, and he recommended that they accept one another’s opponents.
I will read a few parts, but I urge you to re-read the entire chapters 14 and 15 this week.
14:1 Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 2 One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him.
17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.
19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.
15:7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. 8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs 9 so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name.” 10 Again, it says, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” 11 And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and sing praises to him, all you peoples.”
Then Paul concludes as follows.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (15:13)
Cultures of countries with long Christian histories are often confused with the gospel, but they often have nothing to do with the gospel. Another mistake that missionaries often make is that they fail to distinguish their own culture from the gospel and end up ” preaching” their culture in the mission field. During the Showa period (1926-1989), there were even missionaries who said, “Japanese people greet each other with bowing their heads, but that would mean that they are worshipping idols, so let’s shake hands instead.
Actually it could happen to anyone. There are even some Japanese who claim that it is anti-biblical to allow married couples to have different surnames because it is written that the man and woman are to be united apart from their parents. No, no, no, in Korea, where there are far more Christians than in Japan, it is normal for married couples to have different surnames. People tend to take their own norm for universal and even God’s norm. But we must remember that this could easily lead to discrimination and heartlessness, which grieves Jesus.
The commandment of Jesus is simple. “Love God and love your neighbor.” These are not two conflicting things, but two sides of the same coin.
3. Our idea of war and peace (I Samuel 8)
However, last week I was stunned to see a copy of a candidate for the upcoming the House of Councilors election in Japan. It said, “As a pastor, I love God, love my country, and love people”. Why should we squeeze “the state” in between the two most important commandments that Jesus said? Many might say that it is simply a catchphrase, so don’t worry about it, but I had a strong feeling of discomfort. This is because a country is never simply a set of peoples.
In chapter 8 on the book of Samuel we see the basic biblical view of the state. Let’s read a few excerpts. I would encourage you to read the entire chapter 8 this week and think about this as well.
5 They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”
6 But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. 7 And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. … ”
“… and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day.”
That is to say, God recognized state power ( the king, since this was the time) as a necessary evil, after warning that it was something that could easily oppose God and oppress people. Jesus can never accept the superiority of a race or the legitimacy of war as well as the superiority of a culture.
This is my personal opinion, but I believe that the Japanese Constitution is the one that best reflects the will of Jesus in the world. There is no need to change it now at all, and any change that would obscure its foundations of sovereignty of the people and renunciation of war would be unacceptable.
The party of the candidate I mentioned earlier belongs to is a party that is nationalistic and has a desire to change the Constitution so that the country can wage war more freely. To insert the “state,” which is only a necessary evil, between the two inseparable commandments of love presented for the peace that God brings, leads to the path of reproducing the tragedy of World War II. In the past, the German churches, with a few exceptions, encouraged the Nazis to wage war. Also, Japanese churches cooperated with Japan’s invasion policy. Now the Russian church is supporting the aggression taking place in Ukraine.
Nationalism is not a path of trust in God’s mercy and God’s justice, praised by all peoples, but in the military power of a particular ethnic, racial, national, or dictatorial group. Whether it is a country or a culture, they should be a wall of separation that Jesus has already destroyed on the cross. And yet we still act as if they exist, so peace is terribly far away, isn’t it?
I will close by reading a portion of Paul’s another letter.
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
(Prayer) Thank you, God, for reminding us that you are the Lord of all people. We know that we are the ones who are prone to prejudice and to rely more on our human strength and senses than on Your mercy and Your righteousness. As many of Your people suffer, are troubled, and are persecuted because of it, help us to think rightly and to act in a manner worthy of Your followers. Together with all peoples, allow us to praise you, to thank you for your mercy, and to seek your righteousness.
We pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Summary
The psalmist knew that the God of the people suffering under the oppression of other nations was also the God of all nations. Unfortunately, it was difficult for many Jewish people to grasp this idea. Jesus’ arrival was necessary for this reality to set in. Paul was The psalmist knew that the God of the people suffering under the oppression of other nations was also the God of all nations. Unfortunately, it was difficult for many Jewish people to grasp this idea. Jesus’ arrival was necessary for this reality to set in. Paul was the apostle who heard the inclusive gospel of Jesus and brought it to the gentiles, and because he was also Jewish, he was able to serve as mediator between the Jewish Christians and the gentile Christians. He was able to reiterate Jesus’ most important teaching to love God and love other people. This teaching also helps us navigate our lives during times of pandemic and war.
For Discussion
1. How do you think God views nations?
2. How do you view the many other religions in our world today?