The Psalms are songs that were originally used in Israelite worship. They spoke in very poetic terms about God and creation and God’s relationship to Israel, humanity and all of creation. Worship itself is meant to center on God and on how God is involved in our human, national, and world lives. And so it is that the Psalmist asks the question, “What are human beings that God cares for them?” Who are we that God would love us so much?

To look at this question more deeply, we need to consider 2 observations. The first is that the singer refers to God as “you”, which indicates a personal relationship. The singer speaks in terms of a relationship that is close, that is intimate with God. At the same time, God is understood and praised as the creator and Lord of all of creation, of all of the universe. God is so large and so beyond humanity, so far beyond anything that God has made, like human beings. Yet this God who is Lord of all of reality deigns to have a personal, intimate relationship with parts of his creation, in this case, human beings like the singer and the other worshipers.

So when the Psalmist asks the question, “What are humans?”, we have a kind of paradox. On the one hand, human beings should naturally respond that we human beings are really insignificant when we look at the stars and try to find our place and importance in all that God has created. We aren’t even big enough or powerful enough to be a fly speck in the universe. On the other hand, God, right from the beginning of creation, has shown a particular interest in us earthbound mortal human beings. In fact, God has given us an important part in helping with and protecting and being good stewards of creation.

And that is what is significant about who we are in God’s eyes. Right from the beginning of creation, as recorded in Genesis, the Bible’s first book, God has given us a special role in this world. Among the last to be created, we human beings have been given an awareness of our creator, that there is a something greater or more powerful than us, who came before everything else, and who sets the rules for how life is to be lived. It does not appear that any other creature on this earth has that awareness except us human beings. We human beings were also given a responsibility to bring balance and order into creation as God’s representatives. And even when human beings disturbed that balance and broke that order through sin, still God forgave us and reconciled us to the divine, continuing to entrust us with the stewardship of all that God had made. Perhaps it was then that we began to understand that God had chosen us to be God’s defense against evil. We have been given the power to choose either sin or grace, to join evil or to stand with God against evil.

What is amazing about God choosing us for these purposes is something that the Psalmist suggests in vs. 2. And that is that we human beings are weak, defenseless babes when compared to God and even to the power of evil. Why would God choose such powerless creatures to help the divine in the battle against evil, to bring balance and order into creation? Why are we God’s representatives and stewards here on earth? “What are human beings that God is mindful of us, mortals that God cares for us?” If we are so powerless and defenseless, why did God take the extraordinary step to come to the world through a human being, Jesus the Christ, so that our sins might be forgiven and we might be reconciled to God?

The Psalmist doesn’t really say; he merely stands in awe and wonder that God would entrust us human beings with such a task. My own suggestion (and this is my understanding and not someone else’s) is that God chose us human beings because we are the only creatures of God who recognize God and can worship God; we are the only creatures created by God who can have a relationship with our creator and savior God. And the reason this suggestion is important in my mind is that because we are weak and powerless as babies to stand up to evil, we understand and accept that only the power of God can defeat evil. God chose us to be divine helpers and Christ chose us to be disciples because we know our true relationship to God: we are dependent upon God and can only rely on the strength and power of God to live a faithful life, to stand with Christ against evil, to be assured that the battle with evil has already been won through the death and resurrection of Christ.

It is that assurance of triumph that we celebrate once again today. Because Christ’s death and resurrection defeated death and evil, these communion symbols put us in touch with God’s power and love in such a way that we are once again forgiven and reconciled so that we may assist God in sharing grace. You and I have been given a great responsibility in this created order. Through Holy Communion let us celebrate the one who invites us into partnership with Him. Let us pray.