September 2, 2023 — Psalm 126

“When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” The LORD has done great things for us, and we rejoiced. Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like the watercourses in the Negeb. May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy. Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.”

In the old religious myths of Egypt, seedtime was associated with the death of the god of fertility, and harvest was associated with his revival. This tradition created an association of sowing seed with grief and reaping the harvest with joy. The Psalm then uses this association as a cultural idiom. Sowing in tears represents the going out of the Israelites during the diaspora to Babylon and the shouts of joy represent those who come carrying the sheaves of harvest as they return.

I believe that the Lord weeps every time someone leaves the faith — leaves the church — expresses their contempt for any hope that the church can be a healing, sustaining, and worshipful presence in the community. But when someone returns to the faith, or when one person remembers their need for the Lord, then, as Jesus says “In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!” (Luke 15:7)

Let us Pray:

Faithful God, like a grain of wheat falling into the earth your Son went into death, so that after three days the earth might bloom with the joy of his rising. Let the seeds of justice, which we plant with tears, bring forth the power of the resurrection in the places of death and despair, and gather us at last into the joyful harvest of the saints; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.

Pastor Dave