This psalm of ascent evokes the pilgrimages to Jerusalem, going up into the hills and waiting to catch sight of the Lord’s holy Temple.
Audio reflection
1 A Song of Ascents. I lift up my eyes to the hills– from where will my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be dislodged; your guardian does not slumber.
4 Behold the guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.
5 The Lord is your guardian; the Lord is your shade at your right hand.
6 By day, the sun does not strike you, nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord guards you from all evil; he guards your life.
8 The Lord guards your going out and your coming in from now and forevermore.(The translation is an amended version of the NRSV, brought closer to the Hebrew by the author)
Reflection
In our times, I hear determination at the beginning of this psalm that catches my attention. “I lift up my eyes!” Indeed, my eyes are cast down as I reflect on the sad state of our world – the violence, the poverty, the suffering, which characterize so many places on the face of the planet. Yet, in reciting this psalm, I am encouraged to lift up my eyes. This psalm of ascent evokes the pilgrimages to Jerusalem, going up into the hills and waiting to catch sight of the Lord’s holy Temple.
In order to lift up my eyes, I must stand up straight with my head held high. It is this posture that signals the status of a person freed from the bonds of slavery. “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be their slaves no more; I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect” (Leviticus 26:13). This posture of walking erect was rendered into Greek by the ancient translators “meta parresias”, an expression that means having an attitude of openness that stems from freedom and lack of fear. The psalm roots that attitude in lifting up my eyes and focusing on the presence of the Lord, at work in my life and in the world, even if not always easy to perceive.
In the Acts of the Apostles, Luke adopts the expression “meta parresias” to describe the community of believers in the Risen Christ who have been filled with the Spirit. Bent over as slaves to fear, closing themselves in the safety of a locked room, they are filled with the spirit at Pentecost and then go out boldly proclaiming the Good News. Their courage and confidence in the face of adversity, not only opposition but even persecution, are rooted in their keeping their sight on the Lord working through them. With this attitude of eyes lifted, heads held high, walking erect, they can fill their world with the Good News that contradicts the messages of death and destruction broadcast by the lords of this world. They become apostles of hope in a jubilee year of the Lord’s favor.
Lifting up our eyes is a first step towards leaving our comfort zones in order to recommit as disciples becoming apostles. We go out into a ravaged world to bear witness to a resurrected Lord, countering the culture of death that abounds. Jesus constantly had to push his disciples to go beyond where they wanted to go. At the beginning of the Gospel, he charges them saying, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do” (Mark 1:38). Jesus has come to go out not to stay at home. Later, he tells his disciples, “Let us go across to the other side” (Mark 4:35). After his resurrection, he opens up the broadest horizons, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). However, none of this can we do alone; in lifting up our eyes, we recognize the God who is with us, the one who is our strength and our guide.
