Read Psalm 137:1-9. 1By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. 2On the willows there we hung up our lyres. 3For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” 4How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? 5If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! 6Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy! 7Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!” 8O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us! 9Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!
In the same way that the psalms give a voice to the joy and the sorrow in our hearts, they also give a voice to the deep seated anger, yes righteous anger, that rightly lives in us.
Yet the 137th Psalm is likely shocking to most of us, especially its climax. No modern choruses have been composed to help us rejoice in the dashing of children against rocks. This may be because Christianity in the west has simply not fulfilled its share of the sufferings of Christ. If, like the Israelites, we had seen our babies crushed by the Babylonians, well, who can say they would not also pray verse nine? Eye for eye. Tooth for tooth. Little one for little one.
Christ in us makes us ambassadors for reconciliation, praying for the peace of our “Babylon.” But our witness for peace, and our love of our enemy never removes the vengeance and justice of the Lord Almighty. He WILL repay. That’s a promise. But it is up to God, and God alone as to how that vengeance plays out. Until that day we must never ignore the cries of the oppressed, their innocent blood cries out to us from the ground.
Jesus was the little one that had to escape the dashing of King Herod, running away to Egypt. But at the cross Jesus would not run away. He would be crushed by an evil empire in our place. He took all injustice upon himself making forgiveness, love, and mercy possible in and through us. Making to live is Christ a life of reconciliation never vengeance.
You: Have you ever felt like praying a prayer like verse eight or nine?
You in Christ: How does union with Christ allow us to trust his justice?
Christ in you: How does trusting God’s justice allow us to reconcile with our enemies just as Christ has reconciled with us?
Pray: Jesus, you were dashed against the rocks of my sin and my injustice. Yes, things make me angry still, but let me trust your vengeance never my own. Amen.
To Live is Christ 