Lift up your eyes for the mercy of the Lord

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Lift up your eyes for the mercy of the Lord

(Psalm 123)

Andy Nagahara

Today’s text is Psalm 123. It’s a short verse, so let’s read it in its entirety first.

0 A song of ascents.
1 I lift up my eyes to you,
to you whose throne is in heaven.
2 As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the LORD our God,
till he shows us his mercy.

3 Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy on us,
for we have endured much contempt.
4 We have endured much ridicule from the proud,
much contempt from the arrogant.

1. “I” and “we”

It is a short psalm in which only the first verse is in the form of “I” singing to God, but from verse 2 onward, “we” are singing to God.　Last time, in Psalm 122, I talked about “From my faith to our faith.’’　This does not mean that faith should never be personal, nor does it mean that communal faith is better.
Each of us is a unique being, loved by God and created in God’s image. The Bible does not teach that we must give up our individuality for the sake of the community. Just as God looks upon each of us with love, so too do we love each person in front of us as individuals, and the individual is not less important than the community.

However, on the other hand, community is emphasized because people cannot live alone. God speaks to us, shows mercy, and blesses us through someone. I have said that it is a community, but for those who believe in God, it is the church. There is only one church in the world with Jesus Christ as its head. And Yourchurch is part of that.
There are many things other than churches that are called communities. Because of their existence, people are helped and are able to live. But no community can replace the church. The reason is that the leader is God. Leaders of communities outside of the church are human. And people who are leaders are also selfish, make mistakes, and make enemies. For example, a country is such a community. Yakuza and mafia are also communities.
The church is a big family, a community where God is the Lord.
Everyone who believes in Jesus as Lord is part of this family.

For those who follow Jesus, loving oneself, loving others, and loving God are not contradictory. Not only are there no conflicts, but even if any of these three elements are missing, it cannot be called true love. If you don’t love God, you can’t really love others or yourself. If you don’t love others, you can’t truly love God or yourself. If you don’t love yourself, you can’t truly love God or others.
The church is supposed to be the only community in which this love is possible. However, calling yourself a church does not automatically make this happen. Rather, it is easy to lose that characteristic and transform into a community whose centripetal force is not “love”. So we need to stop every now and then and ask ourselves, “Are we living in true love? Do we love ourselves, others, and God consistently?”

2. Lift up your eyes for the mercy of the Lord (1, 2)

Lifting up our eyes toward the Lord is the basic attitude of our worship. It has various meanings. However, the state of mind of the people suggested in this text does not seem to be a happy one, filled with joy and looking up.
“our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he shows us his mercy” In other words, they are looking up with a desperate desire to say, “Please do something, we will continue to watch you until you show us mercy”.

Have you ever come across a cardboard box containing an abandoned kitten? This has happened to me many times, so most of the cats that have lived in my house have come to me like this. There are few people who can resist the way they stare at you and scream at you, making you think, “If you just walk away, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.’’ The cat’s tricky thing is that although it was picked up in such a way, before long it has changed its position to that of “I” who “came” to a lonely human.
Let’s not just talk about cats, let’s talk about dogs. This is Matthew 15:21-28.

Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession.”
Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.
He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.”
“Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour. (Matthew 15:21-28)

Desperately seeking is not to be servile. It comes from absolute trust. God is the one who gives without asking for anything in return. It is okay to think that I am a beloved child and deserve to have mercy. Rather, unnecessary restraint is rude to God. God is pleased with earnest seeking. It is a religious attitude that can be traced back to the faith of Jacob. Therefore, instead of hiding the painful and sad things deep in our hearts, let’s seek to be healed by the Lord’s mercy.

Then, is there any mercy from the Lord that we, as a church, should seek? I think there are many. Christianity is losing influence. This is the same both overseas and domestically. It has been scandalized and losing credibility. It is beginning to take on the legalistic tendencies that made Jesus so hated. Consequently, it will turn people away from him who should be meeting Jesus.
The church must be reformed. What about Yourchurch being part of that? We changed something that shouldn’t have changed. We came here without changing things that needed to be changed. After 30 years of continuous work, such things are bound to happen. Therefore, as a community, shouldn’t we earnestly seek the Lord’s mercy and lift our eyes to Him?

3. Ridicule and contempt (3, 4)

3 Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy on us,
for we have endured much contempt.
4 We have endured much ridicule from the proud,
much contempt from the arrogant.

The mercy the psalmist sought from God was to heal and strengthen his soul, which had been severely injured by people’s ridicule and contempt, and to be filled with joy. And it seems that this was a form of ridicule and contempt towards Israel as the ethnic community from surrounding countries.
There was a time when Christianity in Japan faced such ridicule and contempt from society. That was during World War II. Christianity was the religion of the enemy countries, and Christians who did not recognize the Emperor as a divine being were criticized as non-citizens. Since Japan lost the war and the war was over, the rulers of the country became the people, not the Emperor. However, although I do not wish for such a thing, there are people who want to return to the wartime or pre-war system, so there is no guarantee that something similar will not happen again. It still happens that democratic countries end up being ruled by dictators.

Those who believe in Jesus as Lord are responsible for the politics of their country as one of the sovereigns entrusted with sovereignty by God. Unfortunately, even in a democratic society, ridicule and contempt still exist. We are exposed to a wide range of prejudices, including racism, ethnocentrism, sexism and academic discrimination. These are personal matters as well as communal, family, and church matters. If one of us has suffered ridicule or contempt for something personal, that is also what “we” have suffered.
I think there are many people who think that they are immune to ridicule and contempt, but for those of us who are encouraged to weep with those who cry and laugh with those who laugh, this is not someone else’s problem. However, this does not mean that we have to know each other in detail about the problem. Rather, because we are a family whose Lord is Jesus, Jesus knows each of us better than anyone else, so we can grieve, suffer, and pray together without knowing the details.

We would like to be a church that continues to pray with those who still suffer from ridicule and contempt, saying, “We look up to You, our God and Lord, and we will not turn away, until You have mercy on us.”

(Prayer)

God, have mercy on us and heal our souls.
Reveal Yourself to those who rebel against Your love and torment others with ridicule and contempt, and bring them back to Your love.
Please have mercy, heal, and lift up the souls who have been discriminated against, ridiculed, and despised and hurt because of prejudice based on origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, educational background, or occupation.
We pray with anticipation and thanksgiving in the name of Jesus Christ.

Summary

For those who follow Jesus, loving oneself, loving others, and loving God are not contradictory. In fact, if any of these three elements are missing, it cannot be called true love. We can count on the Lord’s mercy to free us from suffering and fear. And we need to be diligent in keeping our eyes on the Lord until we receive mercy.

For Discussion

What is the Lord’s mercy?
Please share your experience with ridicule and contempt?