Have mercy on us, LORD, have mercy on us, for we have endured no end of contempt. – Psalm 123:3

Today's Scripture Reading (September 7, 2025): Psalm 122 & 123

We live in an individual society. The questions we often ask are very personal ones; usually, those questions are variations on the concept of "how does this affect me?" A more important question might be, "What can I do to change the outcome?" Most of the time, it seems to be a good strategy, but sometimes the problem is just too big for us to solve.

However, the biblical idea of society and sin is quite different. The Bible describes and celebrates a highly communal society. Maybe a good example of this is the story of Peter and Cornelius. The story is told in Acts 10. Peter is a good Jew, but he has a vision of being offered unclean food. Peter, as a Jew, professes that he can't eat these foods because they are unclean and forbidden for a Jew to consume. God's message is to emphasize that if God declares something to be clean, then it is indeed clean. The message is not about food; it is about people. God is about to send Peter to a Gentile named Cornelius. Typically, by law, the contact between a good Jew and a Gentile is severely limited. But God had a different plan.

Peter goes to the house of Cornelius and shares the Gospel message with all those who have gathered there. "While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message" (Acts 10:44). It wasn't just Cornelius who believed, but the community that had gathered around Cornelius who also believed. And after this, Peter baptized not just Cornelius, but that same community. It is a familiar story in the Bible. Sometimes, as in the case of Paul's salvation, it is the person who is saved by the community. However, it is often the community that is saved at the same moment by the person who has come to share Christ's message with them.

As David begins this Psalm, he starts to speak from his point of view. "I lift up my eyes to you, to you who sit enthroned in heaven" (Psalm 123:1). But the point of view quickly changes from I or me to us and we. David recognizes that it is not just he who requires mercy, but the whole community. It is not just him that has had contempt poured out over him until he is full to overflowing or saturated; this has also happened to the whole community.

It is a perspective that we need to regain. What happens to one of us colors all of us. And what is done by one inside the community colors the community as a whole. We have been filled with contempt, but some of it has been deserved. And so, we too plead for God to pour out his mercy on the community; mercy that will be given to us until we are exceedingly full. We need to be saturated with the mercy of God, just as we are saturated with the contempt that comes from those who stand against us.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Psalm 124 & 125