From the Organ Bench

Psalm 31
The Redemptive Prayer of Wailing
The contributors of The Jerome Biblical Commentary (edited by Raymond
E. Brown, S.S., Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S.J., and Roland E. Murphy, O. Carm.),
classify Psalm 31 as “a thanksgiving song, by one who has been delivered from
his afflictions and who praises God in the Temple.” The authors then remark,
as an aside, that Jesus used this psalm, the “first line of verse 6 as his prayer on
Calvary.” Ten words are the totality of commentary on Jesus’ interaction with
this psalm. They also suggest that verse 8 could be interpreted as “mortal
sickness.” Calvary was not a hospital. I would not define a prayer uttered in
that place as a prayer uttered due to illness. Verse 17 suggests a theophany of
God’s Presence, probably why the authors think the poet is praying in the
Temple. Verse 25 is not commented on at all. Should I ask for a refund?
The 1969 revised edition of A New Catholic Commentary on Holy
Scripture, describes Psalm 31 as a collection of three poems. Using the
language of music, Psalm 31 could be compared to a sonata, with the first
movement being a “quiet prayer of confidence.” The second movement, verses
10-19 is “a passionate description of distress.” The sonata concludes with a
third movement, verses 20-25, as a “proclamation of God’s goodness with
encouragement to love him (sic). These authors expound a little more about
how Jesus prayed verse 6 at Calvary. He was on the cross. They also note in
one sentence that verse 24 is the only verse in the entire collection of 150
Psalms where “the simple advice is given to ‘Love the Lord’”. They are also
silent about the importance, if any, of verse 25.
On this 9th Sunday of Ordinary Time, we are exposed to four verses of
“quiet confidence”, one verse of “passionate distress” and a closing verse
devoid of commentary. Renee Rust views Psalm 31 as a psalm of lament. In
Making the Psalms Your Prayer, she describes the lament psalms as “the
Bible’s complaint department”. In lament psalms, God is the one who is a
really good listener and answers the individual’s plea for help. Rust states that
in the lament psalms, three types of situations are brought to the Lord’s
attention. Personal loss, suffering from sin and feeling lost are the chief
grievances. Personal loss includes loss of life, health or loss of friendship. Her
book is an easy read and has the Nihil Obstat, Imprimi Potest and Imprimatur
on the inside first page.
 Psalm 31 in its entirety is 25 verses. The selected verses for this Sunday’s
liturgy are rather pleasant in tone. Obviously, the poet is suffering from some
sort of distress because he seeks a rescue or a deliverance from something that
is unpleasant:
In you, O LORD, I take refuge;
In your justice rescue me,
Listen to my plea
Hurry and save me.

The poet seeks a remedy to his problem that only the LORD can provide:
Be my rock of refuge
(be a hard mass of mineral aggregate in which I can be protected)
Be a stronghold to give me safety.
You are my rock and my fortress,
Because of your reputation,
YOU will lead and guide me (out of this mess!)

In my opinion, Psalm 31 is not a hymn of thanksgiving. It has elements of

thanksgiving, but it is a song of lament. One could almost say it has some of
the same themes as a classic country-western somebody done me wrong tune.
Verses 2-9 offer a typical complaint with overtones of trust. The inner core of
this section in verse 5.
I have no idea why it was omitted from today’s responsorial psalm because it
offers an excellent personal response to the reading from Deuteronomy.

Luke is the only gospel writer that quotes verse five from Psalm 31. The
Septuagint reads:
Ε ι ς χ ε ι ρ α σ σ ο υ π α ρ α ϕ η σ ο µ α ι
τ ο π ν ε υ µ α µ ο ν,
ε λ υ τ ρϖσϖ µ ε Κυ ρ ι ε ο Θ ε ο σ τ η σ αλ
η θ ε ι α ς.
You have redeemed me O LORD the God of (the) truth.

Luke’s verse 46 of chapter 23 is embedded with the first half of Ps. 31:5. In
fact he copies from the LXX word for word, as I have indicated by bold type.
His verse 46 of chapter 23 is:
κ α ι φω ν η σα ς φω ν η µ ε γ α λ η
ο Ι η σ ο υ ς ε ι π ε ν, Πα τ ε ρ,
and having cried out with a voice greatly intense (the) Jesus said, Father,
Ε ι ς χ ε ι ρ α σ σ ο υ π α ρ α φ η σ ο µ α ι
τ ο π ν ε υ µ α µ ο ν,
Into hands of you I entrust the spirit of me
τ ο υ τϖ δ ε ω ι πϖ ν ε ξ π ν ε υ σ ε ν.
this and having said he breathed out.

How does Jesus pray this psalm? φ ϖ ν η σ α ς means to speak with

considerable loudness or volume; to call out; to shout out; to cry out. In the
Greek world, φ ϖ ν η was the word used to indicate the human voice as an
instrument of communication. When “voice” is used as in Luke 9:35, “the
voice from a cloud”, the communication is coming from God’s voice. When
“voicing” as a verb, coupled with “voice” as a noun with a “mega” intensity
driven modifier, the result is extremely loud crying out in prayer. Jesus is
lamenting to the LORD of Psalm 31 with cries of terrible, horrific intensity.
The last thing Jesus speaks is a verse from a song. The verb,
π α ρ α φ η σ ο µ α ι , like all Greek verbs, is very descriptive and
comprehensive in meaning. It means to entrust oneself to the care of another;
to commit oneself to the care of someone else. We would say, “I give myself
into your care”. Jesus is making the psalm a living reality. He is not just
reciting a bible verse he learned in synagogue as a child. His will, his thought,
his speech, is intensely focused on communicating with his Dad. And like a
son, he trusts the hands of his father to receive the ultimate prayer of his life.
Luke concludes the verse with a word which he only uses once and which
is only used for a total of three times in the entire New Testament. The choice
of this one word is critical to the gospel story. Luke uses a scientific word,
borrowed from Hellenistic physicians to relate the last action of Jesus. The
ancients held the idea that at death the vital force that keeps the body alive,
leaves the body in the breath. Luke simply says, “He breathed out”.

Delma Rouleau
9th Sunday in Ordinary Time
6 March 2011