Psalm 116: Death’s Exile to Temple’s Passover, Lift the Cup as One

Rev. Thomas Eckstein, pastor of Concordia Lutheran Church in Jamestown, North Dakota, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Psalm 116. “I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD.” Psalm 116 is used in so many ways in church tradition: during Easter, before communion, at funerals, and on Maundy Thursday. What ties it all together? God’s people speak as one voice, as God’s servant raised from the death of exile. At the newly restored temple, God’s people finally could celebrate Passover together again. And our Lord Jesus sang this psalm with His disciples at their Passover celebration in the upper room. “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.” So precious was Jesus, that God brought Him back from death itself, and us with Him. We long to gather as His body, the true temple.