Commentary on Ps 118 for the 6th Sunday of Year A
Psalm 118 6A Commentary.
Psalm 118 is the longest psalm in the Bible. It is another alphabet song. Some of us might remember the Perry Como love song of the 50’s, “A, you’re adorable. B you are beautiful, C you’re a cutey full of charms!” Our Psalm 118 is a much more ancient alphabetical love song: and it’s a love song about God’s Law. In this long acrostic psalm each letter of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet is used to begin a block of eight verses, each verse within the block beginning with that letter! Anyway, 22 letters times 8 verses each time equals 176 verses. Such is the mind of that ancient composer! Overall, this is an alphabet of Divine Love.
In this love song about law, God’s law is seen, not as a list of rules, but as a precious gift. The verses call for a warm-hearted joyful obedience that brings about a way of life that brings people closer to God. In its calling for our human response, the psalm has been called “The ABC of a God-centred life”. Such a way of life shows a wholeness that is true holiness.
Our liturgy for the sixth weekend of Year A selects 8 of the176 verses. These form a response to the first reading about the wise way of life suggested in the Book of Ecclesiasticus. And our psalm on God’s Torah or teaching leads forward to the teaching of Jesus in the Gospel: there Jesus’ teaching goes well beyond the negative morality of many of the Pharisees. Jesus points to the positive practice of fulfillment, going beyond the letter of the Law of legality, into fulfillment of the Law in ways of love of neighbour. That echoes our psalm’s ABC of the God-centred Life. And for motive he invites us to act with our psalm’s motive of the ABC of Divine Love.
A long and challenging psalm with its two-fisted punches of Life and Love!
