Songs for the Liberator

This week and last, as the last two weeks of lent, I’ve been sitting with Psalms 113-118.  I recently learned that these are the Psalms that make up the Hallel sung at Passover, and most likely when Jesus and his disciples broke bread together at what we call the “last supper”, they sang these Psalms.

When Mark writes the narrative of the Passover meal Jesus had with his disciples just days before his death,  he mentions that as they left, “They sang a hymn” (Mark 14:26).  The English word “hymn” is actually a Greek word spelled with English letters.  The Greek word humnos used here is actually a verb—so Mark is saying something more like: they went out hymning—or just singing hymns (not necessarily one hymn as our translations lead us to believe).  Many scholars think it’s likely that as Jesus and his disciples left the upper room to go up to the Mount of Olives, they were singing these six Psalms.

I’ve enjoyed reading through Psalms113-118 slowly and thinking of Jesus singing them just before he died.  The psalmist remembers and invites praise to a faithful God who liberated the Israelites from slavery:

Psalm 113

5 

Who is like the Lord our God,    

the One who sits enthroned on high,

6 

who stoops down to look    

on the heavens and the earth?

7 

He raises the poor from the dust    

and lifts the needy from the ash heap;

8 

he seats them with princes,    

with the princes of his people.

After poetically recalling the liberating acts of God in the Exodus, the Psalmist shares how this God of steadfast love had rescued him in his time of need.  Each year people sang and remembered that whatever was happening in their life, no matter how hard, the liberating God is faithful:

Psalm 118

5

When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord;    

he brought me into a spacious place.

6 

The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.    

What can mere mortals do to me?

7 

The Lord is with me; he is my helper.    

I look in triumph on my enemies.

8 

It is better to take refuge in the Lord    

than to trust in humans.

9 

It is better to take refuge in the Lord    

than to trust in princes.

Christ gave his life to liberate us from the pain and sorrow of a way of living that leads to our own destruction.   The story of the Bible from beginning to end reflects a God who “humbles himself to lift up the poor and needy”.  This is what Jesus sang about as he walked humbly toward his own death for us—the poor and needy.

118: 29 

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;    

his love endures forever.