Sermon 4-13-08

The text for today’s sermon is Psalm 23. This Psalm is the most beloved and well known of all the Psalms. Most of us at one time had to memorize it probably for confirmation class and many of us can recite it today. Psalm 23 is read at many Christian funerals and prayed in times when we need comfort. But do you really know it? Do you understand its full meaning or has it become like many other Christian elements such as the Lord’s Prayer or the Apostles Creed that we know so well that we often repeat them without thinking of their meaning. I would like to take some time on this Good Shepherd Sunday to meditate on this beloved Psalm and to reveal for us its true meaning.

Verse 1; “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” The words ‘the LORD’ occupy the first and emphatic place in the verse and refer to the personal name of our God. The simple word ‘my’ signifies that there is a relationship between our God and everyone who believes this Psalm. David, whom we think was the author of this psalm, in using the word ‘shepherd’ chose an intimate metaphor unlike any other found in the Psalms. The shepherd lives with his flock and is everything to it including guide, physician, and protector. The words ‘I shall not want’ are not a good translation in our age of consumerism. They do not mean that we will never have wants; therefore these words are better translated as I will not lack anything that is needed. God provides for our needs but doesn’t always provide for all of our wants.

Verse 2; “He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.” This verse describes the very needs of the sheep that the Lord provides namely green grass, water and rest. God provides for all of our needs of body and soul.

Verse 3; “He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” The word that is translated as soul can also mean life. God restored our life when he sent His Son Jesus Christ to be sacrificed for the forgiveness of our sins. The meaning of the second half of this verse is that God lead or guides us in good or righteous actions. This verse is a clear exposition of Lutheran theology; God justifies the believer and then guides the believer in leading a sanctified life through good works.

Verse 4; “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” There is some debate to the meaning of the word translated shadow of death. It can mean either instances of extreme danger or it can mean shadow of death. The selection of the meaning is not as important as the fact that because God is with us we will not fear this evil. The last section of verse 4 is one that probably most of us don’t think about but it is very interesting. The rod and staff were both tools that the shepherd used in protecting his flock. They were used at times to defend the flock but they were also used to discipline them as well. Most people would have a hard time believing that discipline is comforting, just ask any young child. I explained it this way to my Bible study class last Sunday; A parent who truly loves his child will discipline that child when he does something wrong. This discipline is used to show that an action was wrong and also to show how to properly act. God acts in the same way, He uses discpline because he loves us therefore discipline is comforting because we know that God is doing it out of love for us.

Verse 5; “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” David changes the imagery here from a shepherd to one of even greater intimacy. In the Old Testament world to eat and drink at someone’s table created a bond of mutual loyalty, and could be the culminating action of a covenant. It was this way in Exodus 24 when the elders of Israel ‘beheld God, and ate and drank’ and it was also this way in the Last Supper when Jesus announced ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood’. Therefore to be God’s guest is to be more than an acquaintance, invited for a day it means to live in a covenant bound relationship with Him. The annointing of the head with oil was a ceremony of preperation for a feast. God not only prepares a feast for us, He also prepares us for the feast, and not only does He fill our cup but our cup overflows with His goodness.

Verse 6; “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” This last verse is a good translation and is easily understood except one word needs to be changed which enhances the meaning of the entire verse. The word ‘follow’ does not give us the full understanding of the Hebrew verb. When we think of something following us we think of something that is behind us at a distance for example our shadow on a sunny day. This Hebrew verb has a connotation of something that is pursuing or chasing after something. Therefore in order to understand the true meaning of the verse, it should read; “Surely goodness and mercy will pursue me all the days of my life…”

This short Psalm gives us a very good picture of what the Good Shepherd does for us. Our God provides us with all of our needs. Luther stated this in his meaning of the 4th petition of the Lord’s Prayer. “Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body…” Our God restores our life; He has done this through His Son our Savior Jesus Christ. Verse 10 from the Gospel reading for today tells us that Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Our God leads us to do righteous acts. Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Our God is with us in our times of need. Matthew writes in the very last verse of his Gospel, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Our God lovingly uses discipline to get us to follow His ways. Leviticus 26:23-24 “And if by this discipline you are not turned to me but walk contrary to me, then I also will walk contrary to you, and I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins.” Our God prepares the feast that is yet to come as He spoke through the prophet Isaiah, “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.” Our God’s goodness and mercy pursues us.

Lamentations 3:22 “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;”

We are truly blessed sheep because of what the Good Shepherd does for us. Let us read together the meaning of the 1^st Article of the Apostles Creed, which reminds us how truly blessed we are, it can be found on page 322 of LSB. “I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life. He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil. All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey him.” As Luther stated, we cannot earn these blessings through good works. All of our good works would not merit the goodness that the Father blesses us with. Isaiah wrote “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” because they don’t earn for us God’s mercy but good works that are done in thankfulness for what God has done for us, those are the works that we should be doing. Good works don’t earn salvation, they are joyous acts done in response to the salvation earned for us on the cross.

As you leave here today and throughout the week ponder on how gracious and merciful the Good Shepherd really is and how He has wonderfully blessed you and then go and do likewise to your neighbor. Amen. Go in peace and serve the Lord! Amen.