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Bless in the name of the Lord
(Psalm 129)
Andy Nagahara
0 A song of ascents.
1 They have greatly oppressed me from my youth– let Israel say–
2 they have greatly oppressed me from my youth, but they have not gained the victory over me.
3 Plowmen have plowed my back and made their furrows long.
4 But the LORD is righteous; he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.
5 May all who hate Zion be turned back in shame.
6 May they be like grass on the roof, which withers before it can grow;
7 with it the reaper cannot fill his hands, nor the one who gathers fill his arms.
8 May those who pass by not say, “The blessing of the LORD be upon you; we bless you in the name of the LORD.”
1. Jesus’ call to all people
As you have continued to read the Psalms, you are well aware that the people of Israel have had a very difficult journey through history. As a small country in the Middle East located at the intersection of Asia, Africa, and Europe, Israel has continued to suffer from the great powers that have appeared in history one after another.
During the Old Testament period, it suffered from Assyria and Babylonia, and during the time Jesus was on earth, it was under the control of the Roman Empire. Eventually, they lost their homeland, continued to be exposed to prejudice and persecution, and finally culminated in a genocide by the Nazis. After World War II, Israel became independent in 1948 with the support of the victorious powers, but conflicts have continued and major conflicts still occur today.
How should we who believe in Jesus view this situation? Some people say that regarding the current conflict, “Of course, Christians should unconditionally stand on the side of Israel, the people of God.” If we follow this view, it follows that Israel’s victory is God’s will and that the Palestinians should either leave or submit to the Israeli government.
It is true that Israel is a special people in the sense that they have played a special role in God’s plan.However, if we look at the entire Old Testament, it is clear that this did not mean that they were unilaterally overrun by evil nations even though they had no problems. God has been concerned about Israel’s unbelief and disobedience and warned them through the prophets.
The people of Israel are not special beings in the relationship between God and humans, but rather they are representative or standard beings. The coming of Jesus was an event presented by God as the final proposal for reconciliation between God and humanity. It was a call to people, pointing out Himself as a person, Jesus, and saying, “Follow me.” It is a call to all people, and Jews are no exception.
I think it is wrong to think that Christians should unconditionally stand on Israel’s side when it comes to the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Of course, this does not mean that we should unconditionally stand on the side of Palestine. Both are doing things that are against God’s will.
Moreover, both are not the will of the people, but the will of the respective authorities. And it is those without power who are losing their lives.
In Israel’s history before the coming of Jesus, God used prophets to warn leaders when they were going down the wrong path. However, in many cases, the leaders did not listen to the prophecies and made things worse and increasing the suffering of the people.
In the history of God’s salvation, Jesus could be described as the last prophet. Jesus himself tells this parable:
He went on to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out. “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’ “But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. (Luke 20:9-15a)
Jesus’ standards of judgment do not waver, regardless of whether the other person is a Jew or a Gentile. Its standard is “love and justice.” But, human love and justice are both imperfect and self-centered.
A superficial reading of the Bible can provide such a person with a source of authority that justifies such an attitude. This is how to read the Bible that we have been talking about so far. This is also related to the question of in what sense the Bible is “the word of God.” If we take the Old Testament literally as words addressed to us, then the righteousness is to destroy the pagans.
I was in the United States for most of February, and in connection with this year’s presidential election, I noticed that churches associated with nationalism are starting to have a huge influence, so much so that not a day goes by without hearing the term “Christian nationalism” in the media. But the gospel of Jesus has nothing to do with nationalism. Rather, Jesus knows that the powers and organizations created by humans tend to disregard the small, the weak, and the minorities.
2. Blessings bring the Gospel
By the way, the last verse of today’s text has a very different meaning between the Japanese joint translation and the English NIV. Most Japanese translations so far have translated the same way as the NIV:
May those who pass by not say, “The blessing of the LORD be upon you; we bless you in the name of the LORD.”
However, the Bible association’s joint translation translates it as follows:
May those who pass by not say, “The blessing of the LORD be upon you” (But,） We bless you in the name of the Lord.
In other words, they have completely opposite meanings, but with the resources we have today to translate from ancient Hebrew into modern language, it is an original text that can be translated either way, but cannot be determined as one or the other. The earlier translations and NIV probably have a cleaner flow.
However, when we look at the state of Christianity in the modern world, the perspective of this new translation seems to be very important.
No one would want to bless their own enemies or those that torment them. If many people around you do not want to bless you, and you are also suffering from them, it is impossible to bless such a person. But if we recall the words of Jesus, doesn’t this seem to make more sense as God’s universal message?
These are parallel texts (texts that supposedly both describe the same scene), but I would like to read them from both Luke and Matthew.
“But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. (Luke ルカ6:27,28)
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, (Matthew 5:43,44)
It is hard to determine which meaning the psalmist meant when he sang the song. But this translation anticipates Jesus’ way of thinking.
Up until now, the teaching has been to hate, but love your enemies.
Be kind to those who hate you
Bless those who curse you.
Pray for those who insult and persecute you. (Don’t pray for misfortune! Pray for good fortune. Praying for misfortune is not a prayer, but a curse.)
But how is such a thing possible? How can we bless those who torment us? Is it possible to be kind? Is it possible to love? The reason we don’t think that’s possible is because we misunderstand those concepts.
Blessing is not a prayer or declaration for the object to become stronger, bigger, or richer, but rather a prayer and declaration for the object to become a person who conforms to God’s will and to be with God. God loves everyone. It is clear from the famous parable of the prodigal son that God desires that even the most evil people realize their evil and return to Him.
The shortest description of God in the Bible is “love.” What kind of love did Jesus show? It was giving his life freely. We think, “That’s impossible.”
However, Jesus forgave Peter, who denied being a disciple of Jesus for his own protection, even though he had declared that he would die with Jesus, and ordered him to start a Christian church.
No one can love as perfectly as Jesus did. All we can do is walk in accordance with Jesus to express the love of Jesus, be helped by the Holy Spirit, which is the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Jesus, even if we are imperfect, and help each other as members of the church, which is the body of Christ.
The gospel of Jesus destroyed the binary structure of “blessing and cursing” and “loving and hating” created by man’s sinful nature, and restored the order of God’s creation. The political and religious authorities of Israel could not accept the gospel of Jesus, which threatened their legitimacy, so they crucified him.
There is no other way than to say that the world is still based on the worldview of the Old Testament. Yet, if we believe in the gospel of Jesus, we can love and bless the world the way Jesus did. Whether it is for Israel, for Ukraine, for starving communities, for the problems of our own country, or for those around us, the essence of what we should think, pray, and do remains the same. It is for us to pray that the love and justice of Jesus will be expressed there, that people will encounter him and know God’s love, that we will bless people and take the small steps we need to do.
(Prayer)
God, thank you for the blessing of allowing me to follow you.
Thank you for providing people who have prayed, blessed and been kind to us so that we could know you.
Please fill us with your Spirit so that we too can pray, bless, and be kind to people in various situations.
Lead me to walk as a part of your body that represents your love and justice.
We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Summary
What we can do to those who hurt us is not to curse them, but to bless them. Blessing is when a person realizes God’s love and is reconciled with God. Through reconciliation with God, all people can become the ones who seek God’s justice instead of their own.
Summary
- How would you respond to Jesus’ words in Matthew 5 and Luke 5?
- What does it mean to bless?