Ps 68: words (c) The Grail, England; music Gerry Fitzpatrick (c) St Mungo Music. Sung by The St Mungo Singers. Graphic (c) Netta Ewing.
Script; recorded script; audio recording of Ps 68; small video.
Psalm 68 Commentary. 15 Year C
Psalm 68 is one of the longest and deeply felt psalms in the whole Bible.
Before the verses selected for our Sunday liturgy occur, the psalmist is up to his neck in deep water, somewhere or somehow struggling in the mire, so that his urgent prayers resound: “save me”, verse 1; “rescue me”; verse 14; “answer me!” (verse 16); “make haste to answer me!” verse 17; “draw near me!” (18); “redeem me!” and “set me free!” (Verse 18); “protect me!” (19). The repetition obviously shows the intensity in the psalmist’s pain.
With all that going on, we can now sing the prayerful verses selected by the liturgists for today’s Sunday: they follow the urgent exhortation of Moses on the nearness of God through his Word, and when we sing “the Lord listens to the needy”, they point forward to the nearness of God’s call in our needy neighbour, as exemplified in the Good Samaritan parable.
The verses that we sing on the 15th Sunday of Year C form a great song of petition to a loving God: the psalmist prays. “In your great love answer me, for your love is kind and full of compassion!” (Verse 16). From his or her “poverty and pain” the singer’s faith is inspired by the certainty of God’s love, a love that is “great” and “kind”.
Love of God’s word and its practical application give us food for thought…. and action! God is close to us in his Word and our neighbour!
