Psalm 35: GOTCHA!
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Do not let those gloat over me
who are my enemies without cause;
do not let those who hate me without reason
maliciously wink the eye.
They do not speak peaceably,
but devise false accusations
against those who live quietly in the land.
They sneer at me and say, “Aha! Aha!
With our own eyes we have seen it.”
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It is Wednesday of Holy Week, the day before Christ was betrayed. It was to be the last day of freedom for Jesus.
By Wednesday, the wheels were in motion, eyes were winking, elbows were nudging, and tongues were wagging.
Aha! AHA! The plan is in place! We've GOT him now!
I fear we live in a pervasive culture of GOTCHA! Every news outlet, regardless of its political stripe, looks for ways to wag the tongue and point out fault.
"Aha! AHA!" they say. "We see it with our own eyes! Caught them in the very act! We're going to bring them all down! We've gotcha now!"
Christ sees us with our faults and failures as well, but he does not wink at our shame. He sees our hidden strengths and lifts us up, so we can lift others who have fallen.
In Native tradition, every warrior is called to know their own strength AND weakness. Strengths allow us to lift up others. Weakness allows us to do so with compassion and humility.
Christ, our ultimate warrior, accepted the humility of death on a cross to lift up all of us. Now we, as wounded warriors, can leave behind the GOTCHA culture. In its place, we say, come on sister! Let's go brother! We can make it together--
I've gotcha covered.