Ps 146 Blest are the poor in spirit: Commentary by Dr Noel Donnelly for Sunday 5B
Psalm 146 Commentary 5 Year B
Our psalm for this weekend follows a most depressing reading from the Book of Job. Poor fellow, he lies in bed wondering when it will be day; but when he has got up, he restlessly longs for the evening … especially the evening his life!
Psalm 146 bursts on the scene telling him to get a grip! God is very much still around, loving and building up anyone who is broken hearted. So wake up and praise this great and mighty One who can raise up the lowly and cast into the dust those who think they are great!
Psalm 146 is a great and joyful opener for the last collection of psalms in the 150-fold list. It asks us never to forget that God is a trustworthy healer of the individual amidst the trillions of stars, each with its own planetary circumstances. It challenges the old “scandal of particularity”, where the would be believer struggles to imagine how God could possibly be concerned with one human amidst the millions. But we remind ourselves in verse 5 that “the Lord is great and almighty, with wisdom that can never be measured”.
The writer of Job, and all who feel depression like him, would do well to physically sing this psalm and feel the presence of the Lord, our powerful, healing and trustworthy loving creator who never creates rubbish but raises up those who use their God-given freedom to go astray.
Our psalm of healing leads us to the Gospel portait of Jesus the healer of individuals like Peter’s mother-in-law. Let’s really mean it when we sing the response, “Praise the Lord who heals the broken-hearted!”
