Focusing on Thanksgiving

Psalm 118 is a psalm of Thanksgiving. It’s chief aim is to give praise to God for all he has done. If you have spent much time in Scripture, there are a number of phrases in this text which might “tickle your ears” a bit.

• “His love endures forever”
• “The Lord is my strength”
• “I will enter and give thanks to the Lord”
• “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone”
• “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”

Keep these phrases in the front of your mind as we dive in to what this Psalm has to share with us.

For the Israelites, this Psalm recounts the time of the Exodus when Israel was in distress. At just the right time, God rescues Israel and with His mighty hand brings peace to the people once more. That pivotal event is definitely in this psalm – but the language the Psalm uses points to a broader understanding of God’s rescue. More than merely relating the events of the Exodus story, Psalm 118 expands this idea beyond this single crisis. The psalmist is going above and beyond to make sure that you come away with the feeling that God’s love has always been there and will continue to be there forever. 

This Psalm is part of a group of Psalms that go together, known as the “Egyptian Hallel.” In fact, Psalm 118 is the concluding psalm and the climax of the series. 

• Psalm 113 praises God as the one who reverses the status of the poor, lowly, and needy.
• Psalm 114 tells the story of the Exodus and how God’s rule enters the world.
• Psalm 115 contrasts how God helps Israel with how other gods treat the rest of the nations.
• Psalm 116 expresses thanks to God for saving them from death.
• Psalm 117 calls on the rest of the nations to praise the Lord.
• Psalm 118, then, sums up all the others and announces that Israel exists to praise God before all the earth.

Today, we usually think of the Passover in just one of two ways. Either we recall the actual event in Egypt with the blood on the door and the angel of death, or we think of the time when Jesus and his disciples got together for the Last Supper. For the Israelites, it is one of the most important festivals of the Jewish calendar. Up until the time the Temple was destroyed, it was a public, communal event that lasted one whole week. Many people planned a pilgrimage to Jerusalem timed specifically to make this festival. These six Psalms would be read – one each day – leading up to the final Passover meal and a reading of Psalm 118.

It was during this very Passover meal that Jesus applied verse 22 to himself. Jesus *is* the stone which the builders rejected, and crucified. But He is also the stone which God has made the cornerstone through raising Jesus from the grave. That’s important. It is central to our beliefs about salvation. But if we limit our interaction there, we miss a great deal of context and meaning. By identifying Himself as the ultimate fulfillment of verse 22, Jesus isn’t just pointing out facts. He is tying his own identity with that of the whole Psalm. This was a tried-and-true method of rabbinic teaching during the first century – the rabbi would recall a specific verse, and expect all of his disciples to recall the whole passage. Jesus is doing the same thing here.

All four Gospels record the account of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. He rides on a donkey and people are laying palm branches on the ground. Matthew, Mark, Luke, *and* John all make a point of telling us that these people were praising Jesus and giving him honor by quoting from Psalm 118, verse 26a! “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” 

Psalm 118 is all about expressing Thanksgiving to God for rescuing His people. Jesus ties his identity to the rejected stone in this Psalm, and so is also saying that He is the “One who comes in the name of the Lord.” In doing so, Jesus is drawing out a whole trunkload of comparisons. By connecting the two specific dots of Himself and the rejected stone, He is wanting you to continue connecting the rest of the dots about who He is. What are all the things that this Psalm is about and how do they become so much more with this new perspective?

• Jesus is the new passover lamb, sacrificed to save the people.
• Jesus is the blood for the doorway, to turn away God’s wrath.
• Jesus is the cornerstone for the kingdom which God is building.
• Jesus is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, who brings God’s light to shine on all of us.
• Jesus is the one who is not dead, but lives to proclaim what the Lord has done!
• Jesus is the reason we can join in with Psalm 118 and give thanks to God for rescuing us!
• Because His Love Endures Forever.

Because God has rescued us from our sin, we can live a life that is based on joy and thankfulness instead of despair or worry. The most important thing in life has already been taken care of. Sometimes we forget, though, and we despair or worry anyway. Think about your main outlook on life. Do you often find yourself consumed with worry? Are you able to relax and enjoy knowing that God has already rescued you? By returning to Psalm 118 often, and reading it with the ultimate fulfillment through Jesus in mind, we can give our worries to the Father, ask for His peace in our hearts, and ask Him to increase our Thankfulness. 

~ Clay