Friday, July 19, 2024
 
Holly & Mistletoe
Psalm 85:10-11
10        Steadfast love and faithfulness meet;
                        righteousness and peace kiss each other.
11        Faithfulness springs up from the ground,
                        and righteousness looks down from the sky.
 
 
   If you’re a romantic, you’re sure to have a mistletoe hung up somewhere in your home during the Christmas season. If you’re standing under the mistletoe—awares or unawares—you’re going to give or receive at least a peck on the cheek.
   For whatever reason, this reminds of the childhood song sung by children in days of yore. Don’t ask me the connection. This is simply how my brain works.
 
Mary and Michael sitting in a tree;
K-I-S-S-I-N-G
First comes love,
Then comes marriage,
Then comes baby in a baby carriage.
 
   The ‘kissing’ in this song is the beginning of a relationship between two people. There’s an attraction there, which grows stronger.
   Psalm 85:10-11 is packed with great promises and attributes of God. “Steadfast love” is expressed in God’s act of strength and victory, salvation and deliverance. “Faithfulness” is God’s truthfulness to His people (wouldn’t it be great if all our relationships were based on full truth). Righteousness is well-being and salvation that comes from God.
   These are all words that are relational. Most Christians understand, or at least can grasp, God’s steadfast love and faithfulness. However, “righteousness” is a word that seems get a little confusing in the life of the Christian. “What is righteousness? How do I get righteous? What needs to be done to maintain righteousness before God?” and so forth.
   Righteousness is not a norm. Rather, it’s a relationship. ^[1]
   Patrick Henry Reardon comments on this verse citing St. Ambrose of Milan:
Psalm 84 (Hebrew 85) is a further canticle honoring both facets of the Incarnation, for the latter is that history-defining encounter of two worlds, wherein “the Lord will grant His mercy, and our earth shall give its fruit.” “Truth has arisen from the earth,” we pray in this psalm, speaking of the Child born unto us, “and righteousness has stooped down from the heaven,” we go on, telling of the Son given unto us. This union is the sacrament of God become Man, in which “mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have shared a kiss.”^[2]
   Maybe we should hang mistletoe all year ‘round?


^[1] Hans-Joachim Kraus, A Continental Commentary: Theology of the Psalms (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1992), 154.
^[2] Patrick Henry Reardon, Christ in the Psalms (Chesterton, IN: Ancient Faith Publishing, 2000), 167.