Praying to the God of Vengeance
We have a tradition at our church, following Brian Zahnd's morning prayer liturgy, of praying the psalm for the day that corresponds with the day of the year. Yesterday was day 244 so we were praying Psalm 94. (There are 150 psalms and 365 days, so on day 151 we start over at Psalm 1.) Psalm 94 is addressed to the "God of Vengeance." Such an address can be troublesome to followers of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. We believe Jesus is the full revelation of God and reveals to us the heart and nature of God our Father. Subsequently, Jesus taught us to love our enemies and do good to those who harm us. How are we as followers of King Jesus in the reign of his peaceable kingdom to make sense of addressing prayers to the "God of vengeance"?
Here are some thoughts as I prayed Psalm 94.
1. The God of vengeance is defined by Jesus upon the cross
The word "vengeance" can bring up a lot of violent images. I know it does for me. As a child of the 1970s who grew up in the 1980s, my imagination was shaped by retaliatory violence predominately through movies starring Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stallon, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. I am still a big fan of The Outlaw Josey Wales, where Eastwood plays the role of a confederate outlaw who refuses to surrender the Union after members of the "Red Legs" murdered his family. (There is a hint of peace at the end of the movie when Wales strikes a deal with Chief Ten Bears of the Comanche tribe. But that's a story for another day.) For Christians, we define vengeance through the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, particularly the death of Jesus. Whatever it looks like for God to be a God of vengeance, it must be shaped by Jesus who died for our sins without a hint of retaliation, and only the words of forgiveness on his lips.
2. Vengeance is associated with God's judgement
To claim, as we do, that God is love plus nothing does not imply God isn't a judge. In the creed, we confess concerning Jesus, "He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end." We are free to forgive and not retaliate because when we forgive those who have harmed us we place them in the hands of God and we believe God will do with them what is just and fair. How God judges and when God judges isn't our concern. Our job is to walk in love, forgiveness, truth-telling, and justice. God's judgment often comes in the form of rejection, rejecting that which is unloving and inhumane. Judgment is often depicted as God's anger or wrath in the Scripture. According to N.T. Wright, "The lamb's anger [i.e. judgment] is the rejection, by Love incarnate, of all that is unloving. The only people who should be afraid of it are those who are determined to resist the call of love" (N.T. Wright, Revelation for Everyone, 68).
3. God's judges according to mercy
The criteria by which God judges is mercy, the kind of mercy that is renewed every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). Those who find themselves on the other side of God's vengeance are those who withhold mercy from others. James writes, "So whatever you say or whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law that sets you free. There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you" (James 2:12-13 NLT). The "law that sets you free," according to James, is the royal law of love, that is to love your neighbor as yourself. God's judgment will fall upon the proud, the haughty, those who use power to oppress others, those who reject the way of mercy. Is God a God of vengeance? A better question would be, "Am I a person of mercy?"