psalm 72: mishpat and zedekah. 1st week advent tuesday

Today we continue our reflection on the responsorial psalm of the mass, in particular, we reflect on Psalm 72.  Psalm 72 is a royal psalm.  It is a royal psalm because it speaks of the role of the king, his relationship with God and how God works in his people through the person of the king.  In particular, psalm 72 asks God for two things – that he endow the king with justice and with righteousness so that he can govern his people with justice.  However as we go along with the psalm we notice that the prayers cannot be all true.  It is too idealistic and surely Solomon to whom this psalm is dedicated or any other king cannot and could not have fulfilled it.  For example it says that in his reign "there will be profound peace and his justice shall endure until the moon be no more.  His rule will be from sea to sea until it reaches till the end of the earth.  And all kings will bow before him."  It cannot be possible, it is not humanly possible.    That is why royal psalms like our psalm today psalm 72 were interpreted by the Fathers of the Church as Messianic psalms.  They refer not to kings but to the king of kings – they refer to Jesus who was after all a descendant of the royal line of David.

Today the psalmist prays that God would endow the king of kings who would rule over us with two things – justice and righteousness.  What are these? 

The justice that the psalmist is asking from God is not about being fair, or a king who would reward the good and punish evil.  The justice which the psalmist is asking is a translation of the Hebrew word mishpat.  And what is this?  Mishpat can only happen when the poorest among us are cared for.  This is the kind of justice which is expected from the messianic king- everyone would have enough and the poor will be lifted up.  SO this is the first expectation – Jesus comes so that mishpat can happen.

Today we celebrate advent, a time of expectation when the messiah will come and finally reign if not in our world at the very least initially in our hearts, in each one's heart.  And so when we say "Come Lord Jesus"  "Come Emmanuel" we also want to live this value of mishpat in our own little way.  In the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians Paul exhorted the Corinthian Christians to share with those who have less so that "Whoever had much did not have more, and whoever had little did not have less.”  Ang nagatipon sing madamo, wala magsobra, Ang nagatipon sing diutay, wala makulangi."  Learn to share.  This is mishpat, the justice of the messiah king and this is the justice which we need to inculcate also in our own lives.

The second thing that the psalmist is asking that the messianic king should have is righteousness.  What is this righteousness?    Righteousness is not arrogance nga daw campante ka bala tungod kay ikaw ang pinakamaayo.  It is not conceit.  It is not self-assured.  In Hebrew the word righteousness is zedekah and it means to be in sync with God, to be like God in his ways, in his actions, in his love, in everything that he does for his people.  To become like God in everything.  This is the righteousness which the psalm is asking for the messiah king. 

Again as we wait for the king in advent, as we await the fulfillment of the psalmist's prayer we are invited to also live the value zedekah – to be righteous in our lives – to be like God in the way we treat others, to be like God in the way we relate with our workers and with the people we work with – to be compassionate like God, to be forgiving like God, to be generous like God, to take pity like God, to be affected by the pain of others like God.

And so we pray Lord as we wait for your coming for the fulfillment of justice and righteousness, we welcome you into our hearts and like you make us just and make us righteous.