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Most Wednesday mornings a group of us gather online to explore the readings that will be used in worship the following Sunday. Our handout features readings, commentaries, and notes for the Third Sunday of Easter (April 14, 2024) in Year B of the Revised Common Lectionary.
On Wednesday, April 10, 2024, we explored Psalm 4 for the voice of the Spirit. Our handout included commentaries on the other appointed texts from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 3:12-19), the First Letter of John (1 John 3:1-7), and the Gospel according to Luke (Luke 24:36b-48).
From a commentary on Psalm 4
Whether in the brightness of daytime or the gloom of night, there are times when the believer is caught somewhere between the mercy of God and merciless humans, somewhere between the God of love and the vile hatred of humanity, somewhere between the tranquility of trusting God and the trappings of human treachery. With a thorough reading of the Psalms from beginning to end, one could easily come to the conclusion that life is full of enemies, tribulations, and hardships. In fact, one could readily conclude that enemies, tribulations, sickness, and hardship go hand in hand with living. This seems to be one of the core truths the psalmists talk about. While these painful realities may not define all of human experience, they certainly seem to be at the heart of all human existence.
Far too often we mistakenly understand what should lead us to praise and what should lead us to feel blessed in terms of the absence of hardship and adversaries. Blessing, as this psalmist will conclude, is about having the full confidence in God in the midst of the inevitable realities of hardship and enemies. To nurture a faith or practice a spirituality that does not recognize or acknowledge adversity and adversaries is to live in a different world from the world of the psalmists. It is to live in a world removed from reality. The psalmists lived in the real world, and they called out to the God they found in the midst of the real world.
Perhaps it is because of the complexity of human relationships that we are driven to seek God’s answer to our prayers. According to verse 2, honor suffers shame, and mortals love vain words and seek after lies. We pray to God because there is no false communication with God (at least on God’s behalf). With God, we have authentic communion and sincere communication.
Psalm 4 confirms some of the things we assert about God.
Gary V. Simpson, “Pastoral Perspective on Psalm 4” in Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year B, ed. David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, vol. 2 (Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008), 414-416
- God answers prayer.
- God gives (breathing) room in human suffering.
- God is gracious.
- God is the source of our safety.
View or download the handout we used to guide our discussion and tune our hearts to the Spirit.
View the Revised Common Lectionary readings appointed for Sunday, April 14, 2024, on the Revised Common Lectionary site curated by the Vanderbilt Divinity Library.
Be well. Do good. Pay attention. Keep learning.
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Hear what the Spirit is saying 