Psalm 15 Commentary

It’s quite the list.

• Is blameless (so commits no sin presumably)
• Does what is righteous
• Speaks the truth and so never lies
• Never slanders a neighbor or utters any kind of slur against anyone
• Despises the vile but honors the good
• Keeps promises no matter what it costs
• Gives interest-free money to the poor and accepts no bribes

“Whoever does these things will never be shaken.”

Or I would add “Whoever does these things is Jesus and beyond that . . .”

Well, I guess the rest of us who are not Jesus get shaken now and again.  We may all aspire to this kind of honest and upright and generous living but we fall short.  Social media alone has led a lot of people—including not a few who profess to be followers of Jesus—to utter an awful lot of slurs and slanders against others, most particularly in some cases against even fellow church members.

Psalm 15 is as aspirational for as it is descriptive of the average person.  No doubt many of us know saintly people who fit the Psalm 15 bill more often than not, although those tend to be the same people who will wave you off as being inaccurate if not foolish if you were to tell them how much you esteem their character and how much Psalm 15 reminds you of them.  I suppose thoroughgoing humility is part of the package here.  Why wouldn’t someone who even comes close to being characterized by the traits and behaviors described in this poem not also be self-effacing and humble?  A proud person just would not act in these ways because if nothing else, the proud tend to lie about themselves and pride’s first cousin of envy leads one to degrade other people in case it seems like they are threatening the portion of limelight the proud are sure they deserve.

For anyone who is honest about themselves, then, Psalm 15 is not just aspirational but it may also quickly become an occasion for penitence and confession.  Even those of us could say that we strive to live in these ways and perhaps even those of us who could say we do manage to live in these ways at least somewhat consistently would also have to admit it’s not every moment or every day we pull off all these virtues.  Anger can rise so quickly in our hearts and the next thing we know we are belittling someone.  Envy creeps up on us and next thing we know we are slandering another person so as to cut them down to size lest they eclipse us.  Or we go along to get along on Facebook and find ourselves perpetuating a mischaracterization (if not an outright lie) about someone we know or even about someone we don’t know but have heard of.

We could wish looking at Psalm 15 would be like looking at ourselves in a mirror.  In reality looking at Psalm 15 causes those of us who are honest to look down at our feet with a grimace forming on our faces as we acknowledge that too often, Psalm 15 just does not really describe us.  Or worse, we know that we like to look like Psalm 15 on the outside but in our heart of hearts, we have to confess to being hypocrites now and again (and maybe somewhat often).  We say nice things to someone but once we are home alone talking to our spouse or to a friend, we cut loose with a whole lot of nasty things about this other person.

So do we turn from Psalm 15 and only feel bad about ourselves?  Or can we allow this to be truly aspirational, a reflection of who we really want to be and so the psalm becomes a goad to keep striving.  The New Testament suggests in many places that as we proceed through the lifelong process of sanctification, we are to engage in an ongoing process of dying and rising with Christ.  Over and over and bit by bit we need to die to our old selves and rise to newness with Christ Jesus our Lord.  In this life and short of the full restoration that awaits us in the Kingdom of God we are never going to be quite finished with this pattern of dying and rising.

But by remaining open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit who lives within us now as a result of our baptisms, maybe we can see over time that we are getting there.  It reminds one of something the world-renowned cellist Pablo Pascal once said.  When a friend found out that well into his early 90s Pascal was still practicing the cello three hours every day, the friend asked why he would do this given his fame and accomplishments in music performance.  “Because” Pascal replied, “I think I’m getting a little better.”

Some days in the Christian walk of discipleship maybe “a little better” is in and of itself a fine spiritual accomplishment.  And a song like Psalm 15 can be our guide to see how we’re doing.

Illustration Idea

In Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray we witness the man Dorian who acts like a noble and good and kind person but who secretly harbors all manner of malice and contempt.  But in Oscar Gray’s attic there is a portrait of himself.  But Dorian soon discovers this is no ordinary portrait.  Instead it changes by the day and reveals his true self.  When Dorian encounters someone he deeply envies, he does not openly express that envy but when he goes home and checks the portrait, he sees the lips on the portrait Dorian have gotten tight and thin in a display of invidious disdain.  When he feels intense anger one day, he comes home to see the face on the portrait had turned red and the eyes were wild in fury.

This goes on until the man in the portrait is so ugly that Dorian can no longer stand it and he slashes the portrait with a knife.  But because the portrait is his true self, Dorian immediately falls dead with a knife through his own heart.

Psalm 15 calls us to not just look good but to be good through and through.  Only this kind of person is the one who, to invoke the final line of the poem, will genuinely never be shaken.