Ps. 103.3-5 (creation, liturgy and theology)

He is the one / who has forgiven / all your iniquity
who has cured / all your ailments
the one who has redeemed / your life / from the Pit
who has crowned you / with loyal-love and affection
the one who has filled your existence / with good
so that your youth has come back / new as an eagles. 

We noted the theme of ‘totality’ in the previous reflection—the fact that the psalmist calls upon his entire (total) being to bless Yhwh. In turn, Yhwh’s ‘totality’ is embodied in his ‘transcendent’ name that is the source of all blessing. Here, in these verses, we see how this ‘totality of blessing’ is performed in the psalmist own life. Yhwh’s action toward the psalmist is not partial; when he acts, he acts in a total and prodigal fashion toward him. Note the repeated use of “all” (all your iniquity, all your ailments) and the redemption of his entire “life” from the Pit and his “filling” of his “existence with good”. There is, in this, a two-fold dynamic. The first three lines speak of Yhwh’s total act of removal and redemption. The second three lines focus on his ‘filling’ the psalmist’s life with abundance. All of this is Yhwh’s act of ‘blessing’. One thing that comes through very clearly in this is that Yhwh’s act toward the psalmist is not simply an ‘act of grace’ but an abundant, and overflowing act of generosity and loving-concern for him. He does not merely provide the psalmist ‘what he needs’. Instead, he removes what is necessary for his life to be restored (iniquity/ailments), but then pours down upon him, or ‘fills him’ with a torrent of festive life. What we see in this is that the removal of iniquity and ailments is, in a sense, but a prelude to the real goal of blessing, which is the ‘filling of existence’ with good things; we might say this—that ‘redemption from sin’ is not the point, although it is necessary. The point (or goal) is a living within the prodigal and divine blessing of Yhwh. This is, incidentally, the same dynamic inherent in Yhwh’s wrath and blessing—Yhwh’s wrath is always penultimate to his gracious blessing, which is the sphere he seeks to move his people (and all of creation) into. We could even say that these verses exhibit a type of movement of cross-and-resurrection. 

A second thing to note is that the psalmist is intentionally attributing (and reminding himself of) all of these actions to Yhwh. “He is the one who…”. This may seem like a banal observation but I think the psalmist finds in this refrain something of crucial importance to his act of blessing and his memory. Perhaps what we see is the temptation on the psalmist’s part, and those around him, to attribute these acts to other divine forces, that all acts of blessing and redemption are not Yhwh’s alone. And yet, this attribution to other divine forces, is precisely what would thwart the ‘totality’ we have been speaking of. The psalmist can throw his ‘entire being’ into blessing Yhwh because Yhwh is the entire source of his blessing. If there is any remainder, if blessing originates from any other source, then the act of blessing Yhwh cannot be total and all-consuming. Moreover, his name is, arguably, not the ‘transcendent’ name that is the source of all of the psalmist’s and Israel’s redemption and blessing. This is not abstract. It entirely shapes and affects the way the psalmist, and all of Israel, provide liturgy and blessing to Yhwh. If blessing originates, even in part, from a source other than Yhwh, then Yhwh is not and cannot be the entire focus of blessing. 

Incidentally, this reality must shed light on the creation account in Genesis, and the fact that it is, itself, a type of liturgy. What I mean is this—what Genesis establishes, over against every other creation account, is the fact that Yhwh is sole ground, or cause, of creation. There is no remainder, no competitor, no partner. It is, in the words of this psalm, a ‘total’ act of Yhwh. For that reason, all of creation, and all divine power, is founded in Yhwh. More crucially—this establishes Yhwh’s sole and unique praise of Yhwh alone. It is the ground of their liturgy. If the foundational question is, “Who do we bless? Or, Who do we give liturgy to?” then Genesis provides the answer—Yhwh alone. What I find tremendously important about this is the fact that liturgy may stand at the heart of Genesis; liturgy may be what actually ‘shapes’ the creation account more than anything. Genesis must establish that no other divine power can be appealed to as a source of blessing. This finds resonance in the Church’s later development of her understanding of Christ—if Christ is not fully God, then we are not fully redeemed. In other words, Christ must be God, without remainder, in order for our liturgy to make any sense, in order for what the Church had been practicing in her living tradition, to mean what it professed. Liturgy, in this sense, drove theology (so to speak). Theology (the Creed in particular) was the attempt to precisely define what the Church practiced in her liturgy.