The text: Psalm 80 – NRSV
Psalm 80 is a communal lament, a national cry to God for salvation. As you read it, however, the cause of the trouble is not at first clear. The psalmist, speaking for the entire community, pleas to God for salvation and questions how long God will remain angry. But angry at what? In an extended metaphor that dominates the psalm, the nation is compared to a vine that God planted and nurtured. Interestingly, this vine has walls, and it is these walls that God broke, allowing invaders to attack the vine. What is happening here? Did God abandon his precious vine? The psalm doesn’t give away the answer until the penultimate verse, and even then indirectly. After all of the pleas and cries comes the awful admission: it was not God who abandoned the vine; rather, the vine abandoned God. It’s one of the oldest stories in the Good Book. Yes, this psalm is a lament; but at its heart, it is a confession. We should take care here. Neither this psalm, nor the practice of confession that it so well exemplifies, is about blaming the victim, nor are its cries a call to self-loathing about our failings, either at the level of the individual or that of the nation. Confession is about restoration. It is about laying ourselves bare to God so that our relationship with God can be healed. Why else does the psalm repeat the refrain, let your face shine, that we may be saved? This Lent, how can you let God’s face shine?
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