The Person and the Path
The Person and the Path by Rev. L. John Gable
April 25, 2021
I will remind you that this year we are looking at what we have identified as being 50 Great Passages, 50 Passages of Scripture with which we believe we should have at least some familiarity, and we are now 1/3 of our way through the list, this is week 17 to be exact. These are not laid out in any particular order or hierarchy or priority, but we come today to Psalm 23 which surely makes the “top 10” list for most people, perhaps even the top 2 or 3 list for some, even for people who do not have an active faith life. I’ve never tried to make a tally but my guess is, of the 473 funeral and memorial services I have been a part of over the past 39 years, the vast majority of them have included the 23rd Psalm, and in nearly every one of them I have invited the gathered congregation to listen or read or say it with me, using the familiar King James Version, as I invite you to do now. Let’s say these words together:
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
There is something very powerful about hearing God’s people speak God’s Word aloud together, isn’t there? What would you say this Psalm is about? We might say it is about how it makes us feel: loved, comforted, protected, all true; but the first line of the Psalm tells us it is about the Lord, “The Lord is my shepherd”. Describing the Lord in this way is a brilliant use of metaphor; a metaphor being that which describes something “like or as” something it is not. Literally speaking, the Lord is not a shepherd, but the use of this metaphor invites us to draw not only on Israel’s rich history and traditions, but also on our own experiences and to use our own imaginations. As we each imagine what it means to say that the Lord is my shepherd we realize there is more than one right answer: your experience with the Lord is your experience even though it differs from my own; your imagination of how God is shepherd to you is uniquely your own and each of us can make that very same claim. Even those of us who do not live in an agrarian culture can very easily draw on the imagery of who a shepherd is and what a shepherd does and that, says the Psalmist, is who the Lord is and what He does for us.
But then he takes that expansive, all-inclusive metaphor and makes it intimate and personal when he says, “The Lord is MY shepherd.” Whereas most of Scripture very appropriately uses “our” language, here the Psalmist uses “my” language without cutting anyone out; recall we all just said these words, individually and together. The Lord is MY shepherd, and YOUR shepherd which means, as different as our experiences of Him may be, we are each still sheep of His fold, under His care and protection. This Psalm is more than a beautiful piece of poetry; it is a promise of our faith.
So the Psalm is definitely about a Person, the Lord, but as we read it we see that it is also about a Path He calls us to follow; it is about the Lord but it is also about a lifestyle, a way of walking with Him and living in relationship with Him.
So with the Psalmist we say, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Let your mind wander a bit. How has the Lord been your shepherd? Think back over this past week, this past year, over the course of your lifetime? In what ways has the Lord enabled you to lie down in green pastures, led you beside still waters, restored your soul, not just once, but repeatedly? Try not to think literally, “Hmmm, when was the last time I laid down in a green pasture?”, but metaphorically. Call to mind a time when you have experienced the rest and refreshment of being in the Lord’s presence such as the Psalmist describes here? When have you been able to say, “I want for nothing” simply because you realize that the Lord will provide for your every need? Recall, this is the experience of God being her faithful provision about which Carolyn Morris spoke two weeks ago during our “Can I Get a Witness?” Sunday. Is that something you have experienced in your walk with the Lord? Do you hear His invitation to you, today, to come away with Me and find rest for your souls? I hope so because He is inviting you, still today, to walk with Him, in paths of righteousness, the right paths, as one of His followers, for His name’s sake.
We say the next phrase, “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil”. Is that because there is nothing to fear? No! It is because “Thou art with me”. Many, in many different traditions, have spoken of the life of faith as being like, again using a metaphor, a journey, walking or following in the way. Oscar preached a wonderful message last week reflecting on Jesus’ words, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Following in the way of Jesus offers no promises that it will be easy or comfortable or free from danger. The Psalmist here describes walking through the valley…of the shadow… of death. Whether literally or metaphorically, that image is fear-producing, as is much that we imagine or encounter in our own lives, but we are clearly told that we need not fear. Why? Because the Lord is with us, walking right alongside us as our companion, guide and friend. Again, from our videos two weeks ago, Kat Gering-Williams spoke of her experience of feeling the joy of the Lord’s presence even as she, as have many of us, walked through the valley of the shadow of a very difficult year and through it all, she, and we also, experienced the presence of the Lord walking with us, right alongside us.
The Psalmist continues, “Thou prepareth a table before me in the presence of my enemies”. What a strange dichotomy! Preparing a table makes sense to us as God is our gracious Provider, but in the presence of my enemies? The image again is a rich one as the shepherd creates an environment in which the sheep can rest and eat in serenity despite the very real threats which surround them, wild animals and thieves, and what for us? What are the fears and threats that surround you, real and imagined? Germs, violence, oppression, discrimination, the list is endless. Those threats are real, to be sure, there is much to be frightened of, but again we need not be afraid, because the Lord is with us, “anointing our heads with oil and our cups to overflow” with His blessings. Again I am reminded of the story Chad and Stephanie Lynn told of going to see their adopted children Frantz and Cefie in Haiti and all of the “enemies” which tried to prevent them from getting to them, but the Lord provided the way of blessing.
And the song concludes, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Normally we think that is our “enemies” which pursue us, but on this journey of faith it is the “goodness and mercy” of the Lord that follows us, chases after us, pursues us, even as it leads us. The Hebrew word for “goodness and mercy” is “hesed” and it is one of the most beautiful words in all of Scripture as it speaks of God’s posture and attitude toward us, not only in this life, but in the life yet to come. Goodness and mercy, hesed, is both our experience with Him now and our hope for eternity in His promised Kingdom. So it is in the confidence of faith that we can then say, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
Given this rich background it is little wonder why Jesus picks up this imagery and uses this metaphor in His teaching when He says, “I am the good shepherd.” Despite the pictures we’ve seen since childhood of Jesus with lambs draped over His shoulders, Jesus was not a shepherd; He was a carpenter, but were He to have said, “I am the good carpenter” it wouldn’t have quite the same ring to it, would it? So He claims this well-known, well-understood, well-loved image which had for centuries been attributed to God and to kings and other leaders in Israel’ tradition and then fulfills it by making it uniquely His own by saying “I am the good shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me.” Jesus know us, each and every one of us, intimately and personally and invites us to know Him as well, intimately and personally, as the Father knows Him and He the Father. So well does He know us and so much does He love us that He was willing to lay down His life for us, His sheep. And in the divine love of the Father, to take it up again in order to conquer our last and greatest fear, death itself. Because of Christ’s sacrificial death and His glorious resurrection death is but a shadow, no longer to be faced with fear or dread. As one once asked, “Which would you rather be hit by, a truck or the shadow of a truck?” Friends, this is the reason this passage is used so often in funeral and memorial services. Because of God’s great love for us and what God has done for us in Jesus Christ death is but a shadow, it is has lost its victory, it has lost its sting. It need no longer be feared.
Our Gospel lesson for today ends on a curious note, a discussion, a debate, a disagreement in which many participate still today: who is this Jesus Christ? Some thought Him to be divine, others possessed by a demon. Is He a lunatic, a liar or the Lord? That is the question each of us must answer for ourselves today and it is framed by the Psalm we read together this morning as we’ve spoken of the Person and the path.
There are many persons who claim to know the truth and show the way; but they are all thieves and bandits, hired hands who know not the way to the Father nor the needs of the sheep, only Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life”, and then gives hard evidence to prove it. There are many divergent paths we are given to follow, but invariably they lead us to a places we do not desire to go. So hear me plainly when I say: if we want the kind of blessed assurance that only Jesus can offer, then put our trust in Him we must; there is no other. And if we are to say we are followers of Jesus, that Jesus is our Lord, then it is this path of righteousness, of rightness and right living we are called to follow; there is no other. Simply put, we can’t say Jesus is our good shepherd and then choose to follow another; nor can continue to follow another path and live in a lifestyle which does not honor Him as Lord and still expect to receive His promised blessings and approval. As Andrew Hart reminded us in his “witness” video, it is in our obedience, in our following Him and Him alone, that our faith is deepened and our lives enriched.
Jesus alone is the One Who restores our souls, Who leads us in paths of righteousness, Who accompanies us through danger, Who spreads a banquet table for us despite our greatest fears and anxieties, and Who pursues us with His gracious love and mercy as He leads us toward our eternal home.
If this is the life you desire in the present and the hope you hold on tofor the future, then Jesus alone is both the Person and the Path, and in Him, and Him alone, we each can say “I shall not want.”