Psalm 3 - Torment, Not Tormentors

Just jumping right in...I am not a fan of the vengeaful language that shows up in many of the Psalms. Psalm 3 (NRSV) ends in this way.

Rise up, O LORD!
Deliver me, O my God!
For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;
you break the teeth of the wicked.
Deliverance belongs to the LORD;
may your blessing be on your people!

Honestly, not a fan of the celebrating the striking of the enemies and the breaking of the teeth. There are other Psalms that say similar things (and much worse). I understand the anger and the hurt behind them, but that doesn’t mean I have to like them. I am also not a fan of the quick shift from attacking enemies and breaking teeth to celebrating blessing.

But in Fischer’s alternate translation, there’s a shift (again, he’s paraphrasing not doing a literal translation)...Here’s what he offers...

Rise up and embrace me!
Shatter the jaws, break the teeth of my torment
That no twisted words can be formed in its mouth
Salvation flows from you
And blessings rain down on your people

Notice the difference...It is about God taking action against the torment, not the tormentors. This was so refreshing to read and ponder the last 24 hours or so. One of the things that I read in the Gospels over and over is how Jesus often separated actions of people from the people themselves. He honored the person but spoke against the action. That’s also what I heard in Fischer’s version of this Psalm. It isn’t asking God to protect against or fight back against the person(s) per se but instead the actions. It is a beautiful and a necessary and refreshing shift.

It is the same shift that I saw when I watched Rev. Marianne Edgar Budde’s bold and beautiful message in the prayer service at the National Cathedral. Her message is stunning in how she doesn’t demean or attack anyone and how she lifts up the very real things that Scripture speaks of about unity, humility, and justice. But most of all, I saw how she respectfully and humbly spoke to the President at the end of her message. She could have attacked him about the things he has said, the policies he had already enacted or had promised to enact, or many other things. She didn’t lash out at who could be considered a tormentor.

Instead she humbly asked him for mercy and compassion upon people who are scared and will be facing very real effects of new policies being put in place. She never demeaned him, never called him a name, but instead addressed him with the respect due the office and as a fellow person created in the image of God. And all of what she said was fully rooted in the prophetic words of Scripture. Hers is a sermon that should be shown in every preaching class in a seminary of how to speak truth to power.

If you have not seen the full message, please take 15 minutes to watch it in full. Even if you have heard from news or social media sources that are outraged about what she said, please watch and decide for yourself. Or if all you’ve seen are the instagram edited clips splitscreening her with the reactions of President Trump and Vice-President Vance, you need to watch the whole. Here’s the video.

There was also another thing stirring for me as I watched. If I remember the layout of the cathedral accurately, I believe that the Chapel of St. Joseph of Arimathea is directly below the sanctuary where Rev. Budde was speaking and the congregation was gathered. Here’s a photo of the chapel from when we visited in 2022.

It is a chapel that is centered on the time following Jesus’ death on the cross and before the resurrection. (There is also a Chapel of the Resurrection elsewhere on the main level of the cathedral which is stunning in color and vibrancy and life). This chapel, however, is fully below ground. It is cold and the air is absolutely still. When you walk in, you feel the utter silence of the space. The art in the front of chapel depicts the lifeless body of Jesus after it was taken down from the cross. Surrounding him are people attending to his body, including St. Joseph of Arimathea who is described in the Gospels as offering a tomb he had for Jesus to be buried within. The acoustics of the space are also stunning as it is one of those places that, when you walk in, you automatically begin talking in hushed tones.

But there’s something else about this chapel. Interred in the walls are the cremated remains of many people but notably those of Helen Keller (and her friend/helper Anne Sullivan) and Matthew Sheperd.

Helen Keller was blind and deaf but, with the help of Anne Sullivan, learned to read braille and also to speak. Her story wasn’t just about overcoming those disabilities but she became a couragous advocate for the rights and dignity of all people, a staunch anti-war protestor, and an advocate for women’s rights. Her story is often told but usually only the first few decades when she and Anne were learning to work together, not so much the last 70 years of her life and all that she fought for.

Matthew Shepard was a 21 year old gay man in Laramie, Wyoming who was brutally tortured and then murdered by two men. He was beaten and pistol-whipped by them and eventually tied to a split-rail fence in a remote area and left for dead. It was nearly 24 hours after he was left that he was found barely alive. He died several days later. The horror of this reverberated across the country. This brutal attack eventually led to a landmark federal law that expanded the definition of hate crimes to include disabilities along with sexual orientation and gender. Matthew’s life was only 21 short years but he has not been forgotten.

It is people like Helen and people like Matthew and so many others that Rev. Budde was humbly and graciously asking for not only the President but all of us to remember and to have compassion and have mercy. She was not calling for vengeance on anyone but instead compassion and care for all. She exemplified the spirit of this unique translation of Psalm 3 and her words very much felt like a blessing of salvation flowing from God and asking for blessings to rain down on all people, not just some.

Grace, Peace, Love, and Joy,
Ed

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