Tag Archives: Psalms

I Believed and so I Spoke

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This medieval illumination depicts Jephthah sacrificing his daughter after she spends time alone with her friends in the mountains “bewailing her virginity,” described in Judges 11. There was a festival of Jephthah’s daughter every year at midwinter; Christians see her as a “type,” a prophetic anticipation, of Christ.

However, since we have the same spirit of faith according to what is written, “I believed, there I spoke out” (Ps. 116:9), we too believe; therefore, also speak out, for we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and place us together with you in his presence. (2 Cor. 4:13-14)

The Apostle Paul quotes the psalm: I believed, and so I spoke out. He points out that he–and the Christians faithful to his preaching–have the same faith as King David and Moses, who also faced great tribulations and adversaries from those they thought were their friends and followers.

The psalm that St. Paul quotes is commonly used in the Prayers Before Receiving Holy Communion. Because the Lord has delivered the psalmist, the psalmist asks, “How shall I repay the Lord for all the good things he has done for me?” The answer is: “I will lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord.” and “I will offer you the sacrifice of thanksgiving [eucharist] and call upon the Name of the Lord.” God has delivered us and so we thank him by offering him a thank-offering and sharing a feast with him. We participate in Christ’s resurrection every time we offer the thank-offering and lift up the cup of salvation. But our lives have to match our liturgical actions.

He who raised Jesus from the dead will raise us also if we do his will and walk in his commandments and love the things which he loved, abstaining from all unrighteousness, covetousness, love of money, evil speaking, and false witness.

St. Polycarp of Smyrna, Epistle to the Philippians

St. Paul’s faith, and the faith of David, Moses, and all the prophets is placed in the same Lord. This same Lord delivered the prophets in the Old Testament and will deliver St. Paul and the New Testament believers as well. This deliverance is not simply victory over earthly enemies; it is victory over THE enemy, which is Death.

Paul believed that through the work of Christ, he and all believers were made greater than death and that they would all be brought before the terrible seat of judgement.

St. Theodoret of Cyr, Commentary on 2nd Corinthians

This psalm promises that “precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” This verse was often associated with Jephthah’s daughter, who was sacrificed by her father to keep a promise he had made to God and which is similar in many ways to Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac. (Read about Jephthah and his daughter here.) In both episodes, the father is asked to give a child as an offering to save a family or clan, anticipating our Father in heaven giving his own Son to be killed as a sacrifice that saves the world.

I highly recommend reading Psalm 116:9-end each week as part of our preparation for receiving Holy Communion. The words of King David become our words as well and together we lift up the cup of salvation to celebrate the victory which the Lord shares with us.

Partners in Ministry

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Veneto, 11th or 12th century 
Musée National de l’Age Médiévale, Paris
St. Benedict, identified by the inscription S[ANCTUS] BENEDICT[US] ABB[AS], “St. Benedict the Abbot.”  His peaked cowl is like that seen on this saint in the 10th century fresco beneath San Crisogono in Trastevere, Rome, but with vertical and horizontal bands such as one would see on a bishop’s mitre. Benedict was not a bishop, but he is sometimes pictured in a mitre nevertheless, because a medieval abbot—and an abbess!—generally wore a mitre.



For we write you nothing but what you can read and understand; I hope you will understand fully, as you have understood in part, that you can be proud of us as we can be proud of you, on the day of the Lord Jesus. (2 Cor. 1:13-14)

St. Paul tells the Corinthians that he trusts them to understand what he is writing to them, just as they have understood what he has already taught them. He wants them to be proud of him as their spiritual father, just as he is proud of them as his spiritual children. After some of the things he said in First Corinthians, it sounds surprising that he says he is proud of them. But like any father, he is proud of his children despite their misunderstandings and problematic behavior.

Ambrosiaster, a Bible commentary writer in the AD 300s, said, “Paul asserts that his boasting over his disobedient children is noticed and that this will be to their advantage on the day of judgement.” On the day of the Lord Jesus, i.e. Judgement Day, Paul will boast of his Corinthian spiritual offspring and that will win them a favorable judgement from Christ. Paul’s pride in his spiritual children will overcome any doubts the Lord has about their suitability for his Kingdom.

Paul cuts at the root of the envy which his speech might occasion by making the Corinthians sharers and partners in the glory of his good works.

St. John Chrysostom (d. AD 407

But the apostle also says that he is not simply covering over their misbehavior with false pride. They share in his ministry by supporting him, listening to him, responding to him, correcting themselves based on his instructions. No one should be jealous that he is saying good things about them just because he wants to put on a face of false bravado.

They have understood his teaching in the past and he is confident they will understand his teaching now. True understanding involves a real response. The Corinthians didn’t just say, “Yes, yes” and then ignore what St. Paul had said. They might have disagreed or argued with him at first but when they understood his points, they responded by putting their understanding into action.

This correlation of understanding and action is at the heart of what St. Benedict wrote in his six-century Rule. A true monk — i.e. a real Christian — listens to his teacher and that listening involves action in response. “Listening” is not a passive activity; sound waves don’t enter your ears and then get forgotten. Listening is a very active process, in which the monk — or lay Christian in the world — hears the teaching, chews on it, mulls it over, and then integrates the teaching into his/her behavior.

Many times in the Psalms this point is also made: to hear is to act (Ps. 40, 45, 85). Jesus makes the same point: he listens to the Father and his listening results in his obedient action. Truly listening, the speaker and the hearer each want the same thing, they have one will. Authentic fellowship, i.e. communion, results.

Whoever Eats or Drinks in an Unworthy Manner

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This icon of Melchizedek is one of several that I painted many years ago. You can see the curls of the challah bread in his hand reflected in the curls of his beard. He wears the turban of a high priest and the crown of a king, as he was both priest of God Most High and king of (Jeru-)Salem. His sacrifice of bread and wine (described in Genesis 14 and Psalm 110) is considered an anticipation of the Eucharist.


Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself…. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgement upon himself. (1 Cor. 11:27-29)

The apostle’s words are blunt and sharp. Whoever shares in the Eucharist unworthily brings condemnation on themselves. Although meant to be life-giving, the Holy Gifts can bring judgement and condemnation because the presence of God is a two-edged sword: his light exposes and reveals the truth, whatever that truth might be. If it reveals our honest struggle to live in fellowship with him, we share the fellowship we seek. If it reveals either no such struggle or even active struggle to avoid his light, then we are judged because our partaking of the Eucharist reveals that we knew better, that we turned our back on our own words by refusing to even attempt to live up to the words we said at our baptism and at the celebration of the Eucharist.

“What does it mean to receive unworthily? To receive in mockery, to receive in contempt.”

St. Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 227

How do we mock the Eucharist? When we dare to consume the Eucharist when we are allowing ourselves to be consumed with greed, or anger, or malice. These attitudes are what make us unworthy to receive the Holy Gifts. It was these attitudes–especially greed and selfishness–on display among the Corinthians that made them refuse to wait for one another at the parish dinners, some eating too much and getting drunk while others were going hungry.

To struggle against our greed, anger, or malice is a sign of life and God honors that struggle by remaining in fellowship with the one who struggles. If we give up the struggle against these attitudes, we are already spiritually dead, even if we are physically still alive.

“Do you work wonders for the dead? Will those who have died stand up and give you thanks?” (Psalm 88:11) This question in the psalms concerns not just those dead and buried in the ground but those spiritually dead, still walking around the surface of the earth. In hell, there is no Eucharist; the spiritually dead, in need of Resurrection, are equally outside the Eucharist. “For in death, no one remembers you; and who will give you thanks in the grave?” (Psalm 6:5)

The dead, those who have surrendered to their greed-anger-malice, are incapable of giving thanks or honest participation in the Eucharist. These are the people who mock the Eucharist and receive it with contempt. Struggling against these attitudes are what make us capable of giving thanks and honest participation in the Eucharist; even if we fail and must renew our struggle time-after-time-after-time-after-time, this is the behavior of a person who honors the Eucharist and avoids bringing judgement and condemnation upon themselves.