psalm 81: listen - 18th week monday

Central to psalm 81 is the middle verse which is the first line in our responsorial psalm, the melancholic cry of God, "My people heard not my voice, and Israel obeyed me not; if only my people would hear me, and Israel walk in my ways." Psalm 81 is a reflection on this central command of God to Israel – the shema.  Shema means to listen.  It is the very essence of our relationship with God.  Listen.  Many times, shema is also translated as accept – to accept because the listening in shema is immediately followed by doing and acting.

In psalm 81 we come to know the consequences of not listening.  For refusing to listen, God says, "And so, I gave them up to the hardness of their hearts; and they walked according to their own counsels." 

Explain the existence of evil in the world – "I gave them up to the hardness of their hearts, and they walked according to their own counsels."  That is why there is evil in the world.

If we want to do what we want to do, God will not stop us.  Many times these have led to sad consequences.

But there is something more disturbing in the psalm.  God said, "Israel I would feed with the best of wheat, and with honey from the rock I would fill them."  In the same psalm we hear God say, "Open wide your mouth that I may fill it." Living with old people we know how repulsive it is to be ordered to "open wide our mouths so that somebody else may fill them with food or medicine."  For a long time we have claimed and defended our self-reliance, we are proud of the fact that we have taken care of ourselves in all those years.  And yet the best wheat, the sweetest honey are those which God himself will feed us without us.  Just open wide your mouth.  But again that is the hardest thing to do – to be cared for by others instead of caring for others, to be taught instead of teaching, To be helped instead of helping, to be loved instead of loving.