Download Psalm 85:8-13 “A Meeting and a Kiss” by Bradley G. Call Thoburn

Psalm 85:8-13
“A Meeting and a Kiss”
Thoburn United Methodist Church
by Bradley G. Call
July 12, 2009
I don’t very often preach from the Psalms and neither do many others. The reason for this
is that the Psalms are mostly a collection of hymns and prayers, more designed to be expressions
of praise or need or relationship with God, not to be analyzed and expounded upon. But today
we’re going to do just that with this portion of Psalm 85, which is a prayer of deliverance from
national adversity for ancient Israel.
Scholars are uncertain of the precise nature of the adversity– perhaps poor crops– but are
united in seeing this as a “group lament”. The psalm as a whole begins in the opening verses
with a recollection of God’s favor toward his people in time past, then moves to a prayer that
God’s favor may be shown again in the present difficulties, whatever they were. Finally the
psalm, in the section we have shared as our scripture for today, moves to an “affirmation of
faith” that one day– one day– “steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace
will kiss each other.”
A meeting and a kiss... It sounds like the prelude to some lurid tale about a secret
rendezvous between two sweethearts, but it’s not. It’s a biblical story. In fact, in some ways, you
might say it’s the biblical story: “Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and
peace will kiss each other...”
“Love and faithfulness” are popular words in the Old Testament. They are tied to God’s
ways with Israel throughout her history. In pure grace, God chose one family, later one small
nation tucked in a corner of the globe, and offered the rich blessing of his love and presence. In
love, God offered Abraham the son he ached for, and freedom for Israel, and a throne for David.
In faithfulness, God held Israel accountable to the demands of the Covenant, even when their
actions brought on pain and exile and suffering.
It could be that the words of this Psalm were chanted or sung sometime during that long
period when God’s people were adrift in a strange land, painfully aware that they had broken
their end of the tie... but longing for a better day, a day of forgiveness, a day when they would
again taste the nearness and see proof of the faithfulness of God.
Many Bible scholars believe that Psalm 85 comes from about 520 BCE. This was just
after the Jewish people came back from their exile in Babylon. What had led to that exile? God
had been angry with the people because they had not obeyed him. So God let the Babylonians
conquer the people of Israel and take them to Babylon. Jerusalem was destroyed.
After 70 years, the Persians defeated the Babylonians. Cyrus, the King of Persia, sent the
Jews back to their homeland. But, a few years after they returned, things were bad. They had not
rebuilt God’s house, the temple. There had not been much rain, so there was not much fruit in the
fields. This meant that there was not much food. Also, some enemies attacked. So the people of
Israel thought that God was still angry with them. They asked for God’s help to make things
better, and in our text for today we see the psalmist’s understanding of God’s answer.
In general, it is an answer of peace. Here is the gist it: “Help is at hand.” Imagine the
scene as the psalmist rises to proclaim this word of hope to the people. “God’s glory will again
come to the land. God will again be present to bless the community and nurture it to fullness of
life. And this gift is for the faithful, those whose lives are centered in relationship with God.”
The language is intimate: the welcome embrace of seemingly opposing, yet central
characteristics of God. “Steadfast love and faithfulness”– think about how difficult it is to get
those two together. Faithfulness means doing the right thing all the time; steadfast love means
even when you don’t get it right, I will still be with you. A similar thing can be said for
“righteousness and peace”. Yet our verse says that these seeming opposites have met together.
They have kissed each other.
Steadfast love and faithfulness, as it were, fall for each other; righteousness and peace
kiss each other, as in an act of spontaneous joy. And the result of this embrace: faithfulness
flourishes out of the earth like flowers that turn winter into spring. Righteousness looks down
from heaven– it leans out, cranes forward; the revitalized earth strains upwards and heaven bends
downwards, reaching out to embrace each other. The Lord’s loving kindness is revealed; the land
becomes fruitful, and righteousness comes in stately procession, creating a path for the Lord’s
feet. In other words, this is cosmic optimism, “big time”.
How can this happen? Our Methodist forefather, John Wesley saw, as do many others,
that the instance in which this “meeting” takes place is in the life and work of Christ. And only in
Christ can it happen.
So the gospel proclaims a God who is gracious– who, in Christ, brings us into an
experience of forgiveness and life, who leads us into truth... a God whose glory is seen tangibly
and fully in the Word made flesh, who comes to dwell in our very midst, bone of our bone and
flesh of our flesh. In him love and faithfulness truly meet, and righteousness and peace come
together. In him, heaven bends down to earth and earth reaches up to touch heaven.
And because in this human being, Jesus Christ, steadfast love and faithfulness,
righteousness and peace, are found united and reconciled and in harmony one with another,
therefore all the discordant and contradictory parts of our human nature, all our conflicts and disintegration, find resolution in him. And because he is of us, and we are of him, our humanity is
being remade and reintegrated and reconciled.
Consider the story of The Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11–24. Notice the difference in the
relationship between the father and the son before and after they were separated. Before, they
were together because of birth. After the son confessed his sin and asked for forgiveness, their
relationship was based on a choice.
What made the difference?“Steadfast love and faithfulness are met together;
righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” The father had always loved his son, but the
son did not understand this fact until after he received forgiveness for his sin. He saw the truth
about himself, and then he experienced mercy. Righteousness and peace were the result of their
renewed relationship.
And with regard to our fallen world, all that human sin and wickedness, evil and madness
is judged and dealt with in Jesus Christ, who took on our human form and likeness– and even
more so through his taking upon himself the burden of our sins and shortcomings, and paying the
price by going to the cross on our behalf, so that the possibility of a new humanity and a new
creation is set before us. So the struggle we are engaged in– to realize this new creation– is one
whose final outcome has already been demonstrated, because it has already been fulfilled in the
flesh of Christ himself, whose resurrection we celebrate whenever we gather.
That is why we pray for the grace to look on the world– with all its pain, its injustice, its
evils, and its hurts– with clear sight, and engage in Christian living and in prayer. We are
working with Christ for the transformation of the world by the power of the gospel, because
steadfast love and faithfulness, righteousness and peace have embraced and will embrace the
whole of creation in God’s day.
And that is why, despite acts of terror, fanaticism, violence, oppression, and countless
individual hurts and tragedies, we too can remain people of hope.
Steadfast love and faithfulness still meet, righteousness and peace still kiss when
Christians not only hear the stories of Jesus, but also ache to go out and bring comfort to the
sorrowing, food to the hungry, and peace to those who know no peace. Steadfast love and
faithfulness still meet, righteousness and peace still kiss when the Spirit given by the One who
was love and faithfulness himself bears fruit in our lives for the blessing of the world.