1 Fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God.’
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
there is no one who does good.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind
to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God.
3 They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse;
there is no one who does good, no, not one.
4 Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
who eat up my people as they eat bread,
and do not call upon the Lord?
5 There they shall be in great terror,
for God is with the company of the righteous.
6 You would confound the plans of the poor,
but the Lord is their refuge.
7 O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion!
When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,
Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.
In the winter of 1623, the poet and priest John Donne was seriously ill and in isolation. He wrote a series of essays as he recovered. One of them is called Meditation 17. And it has become popular for this one excerpt, now known as No man is an island. Nearly 400 years on, there can possibly be no more apt a poem than this. Today, in the calendar of those whose lives we remember in our rhythm of worship and prayer in the Church of England, we remember John Donne. He died on this last day of March in 1631.
If the unfolding health crisis hitting this world has taught us anything, it is that we are ALL affected. Yet we are also ALL being invited to become like islands, isolated from one another in order to protect one another, and especially the most vulnerable and needy, from this pandemic. We save lives by becoming islands, as it were, yet we know that for everyone who suffers we all suffer. Any person’s death diminishes us all.
Here is the poem by Donne:
No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend's
Or of thine own were:
Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.
Our psalm today has within it the unresolved tension of someone righteous and faithful who is convinced they are isolated and surrounded by the foolish – like an island of goodness in a sea of corrupt and vile behaviours. ‘There is no one who does good, no not one,’ is a phrase repeated twice (vs1 & vs3). These foolish ones have no sense of God in their lives at all. Yet God looks down from heaven and sees the whole of humankind as one body (vs2). But God does not see is anyone wise. Then, a strange thing happens in the psalm which seems contradictory and creates that sense of unresolved tension. Suddenly, God is with the ‘company of the righteous… the poor’ (vs5 & vs6) and we have the now familiar image of God being a ‘refuge’ to them – a safe harbour. Those who seek to confound the poor will themselves, in their misplaced priorities and misguided ‘island’ (or selfish) behaviour, somehow be overwhelmed by great terror (they don’t make it to safety). The powerful will be overturned, the poor will find refuge ‘when the Lord restores the fortunes of his people’ (vs7).
In our national life we are all of us being called to pull together in solidarity with the weakest and most vulnerable. We are again and again being asked to turn aside from self-interest and an autonomous ‘island mentality’, yet at the same time to choose to become islands for others’ sakes.
May the wisdom God seeks – dependence not our own resources but the daily loving kindness of God – inspires us all to continue to break free from a besieged ‘island mentality’ and be adventurous (like the sea-going island nation we are) in our love for others. One of the seas of adventure open to us each day is through the wonders of our modern technology where we can set sail from our own homes into the safe harbours of others. For we, as Donne says, are ‘involved in mankind’ and no man is an island.
Who is the fool?
ReplyDeleteI was appalled to listen to the President of Brazil, Bolsonaro, not taking coronavirus or social distancing seriously and saying how we need to confront it and deal with it “like men not women”.
https://www.channel4.com/news/bolsonaro-shuns-social-distancing-and-tells-brazil-to-deal-with-virus-like-men
His words judge him to be a fool. How sad it is to hear women being spoken about, once again, in such derogatory tones. When will it end. How long?
Then there’s the man in the Parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12:16-21) who stores his crops for only himself without any regard for others who need food or who go hungry. God calls him, in his greed and selfishness, “You fool!” He has an autonomous island mentality.
And then I look to the cross and St Paul who writes: “For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1Cr 1:18). Christ gave himself fully to others. His love is for all, women and men, and through his death we are reconciled to God. Inclusive, generous, all embracing love. Thanks be to God.