Lectionary Reflection for Easter 2A on Psalm 16

THE SACRED LIFE

I’m not really interested in what happened two thousand years ago on the first Easter Sunday, if it’s just a strange historical event. And I’m not really interested in the resurrection as a promise of life beyond the grave, or as a future hope I can trust in when my time comes. I’m not denying that something happened that transformed the disciples and inspired their conviction that Jesus is risen. I’m just saying that the Bible is not clear on what that something was, and if it was nothing more than a single anomalous event, then it makes very little real difference to our world now. This is evidenced by the Christian nationalist leaders who claim to believe in the resurrection, but live no differently than their unreligious, wealth-accumulating, immigrant-deporting, war-mongering friends. And if our hope in the resurrection is nothing more than some kind of philosophical guarantee of life after death, then again, the resurrection has little to offer us now. So, if I’m honest, I need more than just a past event or a future promise. But thankfully, the Bible assures us that resurrection is so much more.

My conviction that resurrection is present, active, and meaningful for our lives now means that it has become the central truth by which I live. It’s not just a historic miracle or a future transformation. It’s the fundamental truth of how the universe is designed. Death always leads to new life. Winter always gives way to Spring. Stars die, and new ones are born from their dust. Even in our human lives, death is a constant companion. No one is free from grieving the death of dreams, people, relationships, and things we love. We lose jobs, we lose houses, we lose opportunities, but somehow we muddle through and even find things to laugh at, to celebrate, and to enjoy. It is this capacity to experience vibrant life in the midst of death that convinces me of the reality of resurrection. As Richard Rohr writes:

If we are to speak of miracles, the most miraculous thing of all is that God uses the very thing that would normally destroy you—the tragic, the sorrowful, the painful, the unjust—to transform and enlighten you. Now you are indestructible and there are no absolute dead ends. This is what we mean when we say we are “saved by the death and resurrection of Jesus.”^¹

But there is still more. Resurrection life is not about some kind of zombie-fied existence of living again after having been dead. It is not about extending life into eternity. It is about a quality of life that Jesus embodied and invites us to share. At the heart of this new way of being is a profound and life-giving sense of sacredness—a capacity to recognise and honour our own sacredness and that of the people and world around us. We are all sacred.² It’s when we forget this that we start to hate and do violence to ourselves and others, and fall for the delusion that a life focused on self-centredness, self-protection, and self-aggrandisement can bring us the security, fulfilment, love, and joy we long for. And so the experience of resurrection liberates us from the death-curse of our self-destruction, and leads us into Life, with a capital ‘L’—what Jesus called abundant life, fullness of life, eternal life, or the reign of God. To complete Rohr’s quote:

[Resurrection] is not a cosmic transaction, but a human transformation to a much higher level of love and consciousness. You have been plucked from the flames of any would-be death to the soul, and you have become a very different kind of human being in this world. Jesus is indeed saving the world.³

Another way to put this is to say that Jesus’ resurrection reveals the new humanity into which we are all invited,⁴ and which transforms us, personally and collectively, into beings that embody the divine presence, nature, life, and glory—often in surprisingly ordinary and mundane ways. As followers of Jesus have tried to understand life in this new sacred humanity, they have often turned to the Psalms, both to express the beauty, truth, and goodness of this life and to lament the lack of it. The poetry and music of Israel’s songbook speak into the depths of our souls and help us to make sense of our lives and world not just intellectually, but intuitively and viscerally. And this is why in this season of resurrection, the Psalms can be a meaningful and inspiring guide to prayer and life.

A RESURRECTION PSALM

It is almost impossible to know the background or authorship of any of the 150 songs in the Book of Psalms. While some do have ascriptions mentioning specific authors, most scholars believe these were not originally included in the Psalms, and their purpose is to associate the relevant Psalm with a significant historical figure, rather than to identify the author.⁵ And, while the “Book of Psalms contains prayers and songs from every period of Israel’s history”,⁶ they were only collected, probably by temple priests, into the form we now know very late in Israel’s history, probably during the intertestamental period.⁷

When it comes to Psalm 16, which is included in the Lectionary readings for Easter 2A, there is another aspect of biblical scholarship that can give us an entry point to grasp the writer’s message, and that is to pay attention to the sequence of the Psalms within the whole collection.⁸ While we may not have the specific background of each psalm, the sequence in which the psalms appear in the Book can potentially give us some insight into how the compilers understood these songs, and perhaps even how they were used in Israel’s worship and religious life in the time when the Book of Psalms was compiled.

The sequence of Psalms 15–17 offers a fascinating narrative that speaks into our exploration of resurrection. Remembering that both Peter (Acts 2:25–28) and Paul (Acts 13:35–37) quoted Psalm 16 in their conversations about the raising of Jesus,⁹ it is not unreasonable to think of it as a song of resurrection, even though the original writer would certainly not have been thinking in this way. With this in mind, then, Psalm 15 describes the life of those who embrace God’s way and live with integrity, kindness, and simplicity. Psalm 16 begins with a prayer for God to keep the writer safe, perhaps suggesting that they had experienced some kind of hardship or, perhaps, persecution at the hands of those “who chase after other gods” and perform “sacrifices of blood” (16:4).¹⁰ In confessing God as their refuge and inheritance, then, the psalmist could be appealing to Psalm 15 as a description of how they have lived, and evidence of their trust in God’s care and goodness. The faith and faithfulness of the writer, then, are the justifications for asking, in Psalm 17, that God would protect, vindicate, and liberate the psalmist from their persecutors. Placed together, then, these three Psalms tell a story of trust, living by God’s values and priorities, being attacked by evil and violent people, crying out for God’s rescue, and finally experiencing God’s restoration (17:15). It’s not surprising that the New Testament writers saw in these songs a poetic expression of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. And running through the heart of it all is the godly “path of life” which the Psalmist has followed and which has given them ”fullness of joy” and ”pleasures for evermore”, even in their suffering (16:11 NRSV).

THE PATH OF LIFE

If we are to describe the new humanity that Jesus revealed in his life, death, and resurrection, Psalm 16 is a good place to start—and to grasp the meaning of this song, we need to start at the end. Verse 11 declares that God has shown the Psalmist “the path of life” in which the writer has found ”fullness of joy” and ”pleasures for evermore”, even in the midst of their suffering. The verses preceding this declaration give a description, in helpful groups of two verses, of what this “path of life” looks like. The psalm describes each characteristic of this path—all of which could easily fill an article or a book on its own—in brief, but beautifully poetic terms.

Conviction (16:1–2)

The writer begins by asking for God’s protection, because they have committed themselves to God’s rulership over their lives and have chosen God as their source of all goodness. It may be tempting to interpret this as a pietistic promise that the psalmist will devote their life to constant prayer and a playlist of nothing but worship music. But the writer is not trying to hide away from the world in a closed and exclusive religious fortress from which they can denounce “the world”. Rather, the writer is acknowledging that in our arrogance and ignorance, human beings so often end up bringing disaster on ourselves and those around us. It is an admission that “a god is whatever we cling to, whatever we think will deliver us and bring the good life,”¹¹ and that the gods of our society that constantly seek our allegiance always fail to deliver on their promise. And so, in choosing God as their refuge and source of life, the writer embraces God’s way of being that is the antithesis of the self-centred, self-protective, self-aggrandising way of so much of human society.

Connection (16:3–4)

The next two verses are unclear. The Common English Bible describes hypocritical “holy ones” who had won the writer over, but turned out to be violent followers of other gods. However, the NRSV, NLT, NIV, The Voice, and The Message all prefer an interpretation in which the writer celebrates companions who share their conviction that God deserves their full devotion. The psalmist contrasts this faithful community with the violent people who follow violent gods, and expresses delight at how heroic, just, and loving his companions in faith are.¹² In celebrating their connection with others who have chosen God’s way of life, the writer reveals how important it is to have a circle of friends who can support and strengthen us when life is painful. The resurrection accounts, and the story of the Christian community that grew out of them, show that the new humanity that this psalmist describes, and that Jesus embodied, is both personal and collective.

Contentment (16:5–6)

While the psalmist doesn’t explicitly state this, one of the benefits of living in a “new humanity” community is that we find in God and God’s people an “inheritance”, a “cup of blessing”, and a “pleasant land” (NLT).¹³ The psalmist is not proposing a “prosperity gospel” in which we can name, claim, and frame all the wealth and possessions that God gives us because of our faith. Rather, using words that echo back to the sharing of land among the tribes of Israel, the writer is describing how living in God’s path of life leads to contentment.¹⁴

Curiosity (16:7–8)

In this “new humanity”, the writer discovers that they do not need to have everything worked out, and their faith is not about certainty or having all the answers. Rather, it is about staying curious, asking questions, and trusting that God will teach and guide us through life’s challenges. For the psalmist, the way of faith is one of lifelong learning: staying open to the Spirit who guides us “into all truth” (John 16:13)—sometimes through intuitive new insights, sometimes through experience, sometimes through our community tradition, sometimes through the Scriptures, and sometimes through the discoveries of science. As James Howell puts it, living by God’s counsel is ”a constant moving forward in sync with God. One so close to God isn’t blown about like autumn leaves or a small ship in a storm.”¹⁵

Courage (16:9–10)

The final characteristic is the one that is most often related to Jesus—it is the confidence and courage that the writer expresses that their heart can be glad, their soul can rejoice, and their body can be secure, because God will not leave them among the dead or allow them to rot in the grave (16:10). Nadia Bolz-Weber is right on target with her description of this aspect of the “path of life”:

…the Christian faith, while wildly misrepresented in so much of American culture, is really about death and resurrection. It’s about how God continues to reach into the graves we dig for ourselves and pull us out, giving us new life, in ways both dramatic and small.¹⁶

In Luke’s resurrection narrative (24:1-12), the two dazzling men at the tomb ask the women why they’re looking for the living among the dead. Like Miss Haversham in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, we are all tempted to do this. When something dies, we keep going back there. We keep walking around the graveyard trying to make sense of things and trying to find some way to get back to life. But all that happens is we get so used to living among the graves, accepting the deadness in our lives, that we don’t look for God’s life anywhere else. But this Psalm is a challenge to that. It’s a strong argument that is trying to persuade us to embrace life—fullness of life, death-defying life—not by escaping from life’s struggles, griefs, and sufferings, but in the midst of them.

WALKING THE PATH

These five qualities sum up, for this psalmist, what it means to follow God’s path of life.¹⁷ And the result is that, even when we face persecution, false accusations, failure, grief, or fear, we can find a sense of security and even celebration. It’s not that it is easy. It’s not that we don’t grieve or struggle or get angry or resist those who seek to harm us and our society. It’s that we refuse to be defined by what evil does to us. We refuse to fight back in a way that turns us into the evil we are trying to eradicate. It’s that we recognise and accept that Christ’s humanity does not protect us from the crosses we must face, but uses those crosses to transform us into those who incarnate the life, love, justice, and joy of Christ.

And so now, as we enter the Easter season, it can be helpful to hold these five qualities—conviction, connection, contentment, curiosity, and courage—close to our hearts. We may even find it helpful to practice a daily breathing meditation in which we read each section of Psalm 16, imagine breathing in the related quality, and then breathe out anything in our lives that may be hindering our capacity to embody that quality in our lives and relationships. But however we may choose to do it, may we all learn to embody—and share with others—the same “new humanity” that Jesus and the writer of Psalm 16 revealed:

You show me the path of life.
In your presence there is fullness of joy;
in your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (NRSV)

1. Richard Rohr, “Dying into Life,” The Center for Action and Contemplation Daily Meditations, July 5, 2016; https://cac.org/daily-meditations/dying-into-life-the-eternal-christ-2016-07-05/.

2. Ilia Delio, The Not-Yet God: Carl Jung, Teilhard de Chardin, and the Relational Whole, (Orbis Books, 2023), Kindle, 34.

3. Rohr, “Dying into Life.”

4. For more about the resurrection as a new humanity, see John van de Laar, “A New Humanity,” Sacredise Your Life!, on Substack, April 02, 2026; https://sacredise.substack.com/p/a-new-humanity.

5. Rolf A. Jacobson, “Psalms”, in The New Interpreter’s Bible One-Volume Commentary, Beverly Roberts Gaventa and David L. Peterson, eds., (Abingdon Press, 2010), Kindle, 807.

6. Fred Gaiser, “Summary of Psalms,” Enter the Bible, Accessed April 5, 2026; https://enterthebible.org/courses/psalms/lessons/summary-of-psalms/.

7. Fred Gaiser, “Background of Psalms,” Enter the Bible, Accessed April 5, 2026; https://enterthebible.org/courses/psalms/lessons/background-of-psalms/.

8. J. Clinton McCann, Jr., “Commentary on Psalm 16,” Working Preacher, June 30, 2013; https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-13-3/commentary-on-psalm-16-6.

9. Craig A. Satterlee, “Commentary on Psalm 16,”Working Preacher, June 27, 2010; https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-13-3/commentary-on-psalm-16-3.

10. Nancy deClaissé-Walford, “Commentary on Psalm 16,” Working Preacher, April 19, 2020; https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/second-sunday-of-easter/commentary-on-psalm-16-12.

11. James Howell, “Commentary on Psalm 16,” Working Preacher, April 12, 2026; https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/second-sunday-of-easter/commentary-on-psalm-16-18.

12. Joel LeMon, “Commentary on Psalm 16,” Working Preacher, June 30, 2019; https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-13-3/commentary-on-psalm-16-11.

13. I believe Jesus was saying the same thing in Matthew 6:33. Seeking first God’s reign means to seek a community of justice and love, not an individual life of piety. And in this Christ-following community, we discover that all things are given to us, because those who truly follow Christ will care for one another, even as the church did in Acts 2:42-47.

14. Howell, “Commentary on Psalm 16.”

15. Ibid.

16. Nadia Bolz-Weber, Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint, (Jericho Books, 2013), EPUB, Introduction: Fall 2005.

17. McCann, “Commentary on Psalm 16.”