Author: Administrador

As Lent moves toward Easter, Jesus turns his face to Jerusalem. In the Gospel lesson this week, Mary anoints Jesus in an act that is not understood by the disciples but is understood to Mary and Jesus. The Epistle encourages believers to “press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of … Continue reading “Psalm 126 Commentary by Beth L. Tanner”

The Psalms of December’s lectionary: three National Laments — and now, the Sunday after Christmas? A National Thanksgiving! How fitting. Corporate prayers of confession, pleading for mercy for the people, issue in the dawning of salvation, and thus a National Thanksgiving. We might be able to picture a national prayer for help, much as we … Continue reading “Psalm 124 Commentary by James Howell”

One of the more helpful approaches to the Psalms is considering these poems as pilgrimage songs of faith. The people of ancient Israel went on pilgrimage to the temple to worship, and these are the songs they sang as they traveled to express their faith. As the community sings its faith, it also comes to … Continue reading “Psalm 123 Commentary by W. H. Bellinger, Jr.”

Fifteen psalms in the middle of Book Five of the Psalter, Psalms 120-134, all share a common superscription, “Songs of Ascents”. The verbal root of “ascents” is “to go up.” The frequent references to Jerusalem and Zion in this collection of psalms (Psalms 122:1, 6; 125:1, 2; 126:1; 128:5; 129:5; 132:13; 133:3; 134:3) may account … Continue reading “Psalm 123 Commentary by Nancy deClaissé-Walford”

Psalm 123 is the fourth psalm in the collection of psalms held together by the common designation “of Ascents” in their titles (Psalms 120-134). These psalms were probably collected for use during pilgrimage to Jerusalem or to promote such pilgrimage. The term “ascents” comes from a Hebrew root meaning “to go up.” This word appears … Continue reading “Psalm 123 Commentary by Jerome Creach”

Psalm 112 is constructed as an acrostic poetic text. Each line begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The reader in English would probably not catch this pattern unless the translation of the text was purposely altered in order for it to be so. Hence, if the text were to read as an … Continue reading “Psalm 112 Commentary by Paul O. Myhre”

Psalm 122 is a perfect psalm for the beginning of a new church year on this First Sunday of Advent. Identified as “A Song of Ascents,” this psalm describes the pilgrim throng entering “the house of the Lord.” As we begin a new church year we, too, herald the glad tidings and invitation to all … Continue reading “Psalm 122 Commentary by Paul S. Berge”

The lectionary readings for this Sunday offer a variety of preachable texts. The Gospel is the story about being asked to move up at a banquet; this is itself an expansion of the OT lesson, Proverbs 25:6-7. There is even a text from Sirach 10:12-18, providing the preacher an opportunity to acquaint the congregation with … Continue reading “Psalm 112 Commentary by James Limburg”

The psalm begins with an iconic, inspirational “poster verse” that in our day will likely be heard as referring to the Sunday morning worship high experienced by those who are feeling especially close to God, their communities, or both. This gladness is faithful to the sense of the psalm and is something to be celebrated! … Continue reading “Psalm 122 Commentary by Henry Langknecht”

Psalm 112 is an alphabetic acrostic that presents us, the readers, with a totalizing view of its subject matter: the happy life. Our psalmist, in writing these twenty-two lines that correspond to the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, has attempted to be both artistic and thorough. That the psalm does not achieve the high … Continue reading “Psalm 112 Commentary by Paul K.-K. Cho”