This Sunday, May 7 is the Fifth Sunday of Easter.
Verse of the Season/Month:
This week’s sermon is The Way the Truth and the Life
This week’s readings are:
A Funeral Psalm to Live By - Psalm 23:4
Today at Gloria Dei we had a funeral – a kind old man who died right after his 90th birthday. And, of course, it is at times like these that we often turn to Psalm 23 for words of comfort – especially to v. 4 where David writes, “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.”
This verse even influences how our culture talks about death. In movies we hear those words spoken at the graveside, and it is sampled in Coolio’s Gangsta’s Paradise on the soundtrack for the movie Dangerous Minds.
The message is clear – even when you walk through the worst things that happen in this life, God is with you … and that makes all the difference!
The verse begins, “Even when I walk through the valley of …” and then we find an interesting word in Hebrew. It is either a compound word that combines the words shadow and death or it is a form of the word shadow meaning gloom, or deep-darkness. In either case it seems pretty clear that this valley is the place where the most terrible things happen in this life – and as far as this life is concerned the worst thing that can happen is that we die.
So as I walk through this valley of deathly darkness we not just
confronted with our individual deaths – as though that weren’t bad enough! No
we are also confronted with the death of our loved ones, and on top of that all
the terrible things that happen in this life.
- Loss of job
- Lingering illness
- Failed marriages
- Broken dreams and realized nightmares.
And yet, “I do not fear evil.” It is usually translated, “I
will not fear,” but it just as easily can be a present tense and a statement of
defiant confidence rooted in God’s presence. “You are with me.”
- Hebrews 13:5 – I will never leave you or forsake you.
- Matthew 28:20 – I am with you always to the end of the age.
Now, why is God’s presence a comfort? On one level it is a comfort to know that we are not alone. A person visits someone who is in the hospital not because they can heal them, but they can relieve the loneliness and their presence often pushes back the fears – even if it is just for a moment. God’s presence on our behalf does that, too. But there is more going on here. It isn’t just that God is there, “Thou art with me,” he is there as our shepherd, and, “Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”
Rods and staffs are both sticks of sorts. A rod is usually used for beating. It is a club used against those who would harm the sheep – those who would harm you! The staff is a walking stick to help a person walk where there is treacherous footing – and a shepherd’s staff often has that curl at the end that shepherds can use to pull sheep back to himself. Both the rod and the staff are symbols of authority, and the message is that we are comforted by God’s presence because He acts to punish the wicked who would harm His people, and he stands in the midst of His people, comforting, drawing us back when we stray, and leading us back to the fold.
So we walk through this life – always overshadowed by that
shadow of death – fearing nothing because God is with us, and he not only
stands with us, walks with us and goes with us, He defends us – and that is
seen most clearly at the cross where our Good Shepherd, Jesus, puts himself
between us and the eternal punishment we deserved so that he could lead us
through death to a new and everlasting life.
Comments