X Jesus Christ, the Son of God X
Psalm 23
Miserkordias Domini (2. Sonntag nach Ostern) 037 weiß
Victor the Moor, Martyr at Milan, Italy 303
8. May 2011
1. O Lord, Most Gracious and Merciful Savior, where there is a fear that lies upon us, there You make that place a place of peace, so that we have the confidence, the joy of the faithful, and the salvation of the sheep who are of Your elect fold, for You have said to us: „You, My sheep, have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you,“ You convert us, and thus we are converted; You heal us, and thus we are healed; You help us, and thus we are helped! (Löhe 218 §11). Amen.
2. Our sermon text for this morning, dear brothers and sisters, is from the 23rd Psalm where King David writes: 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 shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever (KJV). This is our text. 3. Important events often leave indelible marks in our memory. I remember a Lutheran high school chapel service that dealt with Psalm 23. The preacher was our Dean of Students. Mr. Eismann was a tall, stern man (don’t they make the best and imposing deans of students?) who before his position at our high school had been a missionary for a decade in Africa. Mr. Eismann’s sermon began in darkness. Every light in the auditorium was out. It was pitch black. But we heard his voice as it boomed out. He talked about pain and death, for his father had died a few months earlier. He talked about grief. He mentioned some things that we as teen-agers had faced – some of our struggles that we wrestled with. Looking back, those concerns of a sixteen-year old don’t seem to be the overwhelming darkness they had threatened to be in 1984.
4. The blessed women going to Jesus’ tomb on that first Easter Sunday were also in a shroud of darkness. Their rabbi and friend had been crucified three days earlier. They had hoped and believed that He was the promised Messiah who would redeem Israel and the world. But He had been executed. He was dead. He had been hastily buried in one of His disciple’s tomb. The forces of darkness had won, so they thought. All that was left for these women was to go to Jesus’ tomb, complete His burial, and try to carry on with their lives without Him. Their hearts were sorrowful in the darkness that enveloped them. Jesus’ apostles were at the time hiding in fear. They were afraid that the Jewish Sanhedrin would come busting through their locked doors to haul them away, put them on trial as disciples of Jesus, and either stone them or deliver them to Pontius Pilate for crucifixion. What deep-seated phobias and concerns depress us so that we cower in fear surrounded by darkness? Is it a sin that troubles your conscience or uncertainty about the future? We know all too well the fear and uncertainty the apostles and women felt on the dawn of that Easter Sunday in A.D. 33.
5. Although Mr. Eismann preached in darkness, there were times when he would stand in a bright circle created by a spotlight. Whenever he talked about Jesus, forgiveness, or God’s love and protection, he stepped directly into the spotlight. At those times we could see and hear him. When he ended his sermon with the gospel that God is with us no matter what the circumstance, then all the lights in the auditorium were turned on. It was a drastic change. Darkness immediately gave way to brilliant light. The image was clear: Christ, the Divine Light, drives away all fear; Christ cares for us in the darkest moments of our lives.
6. As the women approached the tomb, they stepped into the spotlight of the grave. The tomb was not closed, but open for the two-ton stone had been miraculously and Divinely rolled completely away. Angels proclaimed to the women that Jesus had risen! Jesus’ body was not laying wrapped in His burial shroud, for Jesus was gone and the shroud was lying there with the napkin that covered his face neatly rolled up next to the shroud. John saw this sight and Peter went in the tomb itself and confirmed it. Mary Magdalene embraced the risen Jesus, and Thomas saw the nail prints in Jesus’ hands and His spear-pierced side. The empty tomb and the risen Christ are not merely a spotlight but a light brighter than the sun at noon on a clear summer day.
7. The risen Christ Jesus is the Good Shepherd of Psalm 23. King David boldly writes: The Lord is our Shepherd; we shall not want. What do we need in this life to live comfortably? Sociologists always list the big three: food, clothing, and shelter. The Lord Jesus’ provision and providence for His creation goes so much farther. Martin Luther wonderfully confesses it in his explanation of the First Article of the Apostles’ Creed: „God 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“ (Luther 15-16).
8. Jesus maketh us to lie down in green pastures. How pastoral and peaceful this image is for us who are overworked and overstressed by the daily chores and tasks of our lives. A good contemporary image of this for us (and it is an image that is nearly forty years old!) is the opening credits for „Little House on the Prairie“ when Laura Ingalls and her sisters are bounding down the hillside among the field grass with child-like wonder and serenity. That is what Jesus does for us in our lives: He brings us times of peace and tranquility amidst the hustle and bustle of our urban lives.
9. Jesus leadeth us beside the still waters. Life in this world is often choppy and tumultuous. The Atlantic Ocean can be treacherous as waves toss boats and crash against homes built along the coastline. The trials and tribulations of this life leave us seasick. Jesus leads us besides the still waters. These waters are calm and soothing. Beside these still waters we can relax and unwind. There is no fear of impending emergencies, but blissful relaxation.
10. Jesus restoreth our souls. Here David reminds us that Jesus is not merely concerned about our bodies and our physical life on this earth, but that Jesus is also concerned about our souls and our spiritual well-being on this earth and on the new earth to come on the last day. Jesus brings not only physical blessings, but spiritual blessings as well. Martin Luther gets to the real heart of the matter here in his explanation of the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed: „Jesus Christ … has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, so that I may be His own and live under Him in His reign and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity“ (Luther 16-17, emphasis added).
11. Jesus leadeth us in the paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake. Here is the focal point of the Psalm and Jesus’ Office of the Good Shepherd. All of Holy Scripture is condensed down to this very point: how does one become righteous before Yahweh? David tells us in this psalm that true righteousness comes from Jesus. You and I do not become righteous by our own good works or good intentions. You and I become righteous because Christ applies to us His very own righteousness that is His, according to His human nature, by the fact that He perfectly did His Father’s will and perfectly obeyed the law in all its minutiae, including His vicarious sacrifice and penal substitution on the cross, and also according to His Divine nature, by the fact that because He is the Son of God He is therefore righteous by His very Divine nature.
12. Yea though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil, for Jesus is with us; His rod and staff they comfort us. Here, David describes the power and authority of Jesus over the forces in this world. By Christ’s death and resurrection, death and evil have been conquered. Death and the fear of death hold no power over Christians. Evil and the devil do not enslave Christians. Christ has tasted death: the little death of the physical body and in doing so He has denuded the greater death of eternal separation from the Triune God. By the rod and staff of His Word, the Holy Scriptures, Jesus comforts us. Death has been swallowed up in resurrection victory (1 Corinthians 15,54). Death has no victory (1 Corinthians 15,55). Death has lost its sting (1 Corinthians 15,55). Death did its worst to Jesus, but His body did not see any decay. The grave could not contain Jesus in His tomb. Jesus rose from the dead and opened the stone of His grave; He walked out of the tomb on Easter morning in defiance of death and the grave. Thus the Apostle Paul proclaims, »The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ« (1 Corinthians 15,56-57)!
13. Jesus preparest a table before us in the presence of our enemies. Here David is describing the banquet feast that Christ will host on the last day. David is looking ahead to the beginning of eternal life in the presence of the Triune God when believers have been reunited body and soul together once more in their resurrected bodies. This Divine feast celebrates the beginning of life everlasting, a life that will have no end. Paradise is restored. God, His angels, and all believers are finally together in grand fellowship forever and ever, never to be separated from one another by sin, sickness, or death, for at this feast only holiness, health, and life reign.
14. Jesus anointest our heads with oil; our cups runneth over. Here David describes what eternal life is like. We will be anointed as Yahweh’s chosen and beloved children. There is no shortage at this feast. There is no fasting. The table is overflowing. There is more there than we can ever hope to eat. The pitcher is being poured into our cups, and the wine is running over the brim of the cup, flowing down the table and onto the floor, and Jesus our host keeps pouring the wine! God is not concerned that wine is running onto the floor and out of the door. He is giving us an overabundance of His love and grace. We have this overabundance right now in His Church. Yahweh’s means of grace give us far more mercy and forgiveness than we have sins. God’s grace in Christ Jesus is so overflowing that His grace sweeps away all of our sins like a raging, surging flood that leaves us pure and clean.
15. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives, and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Here David beautifully and poetically summarizes the effect of Jesus’ grace and mercy. He will not withhold from us any good thing. Martin Luther describes God’s goodness and mercy this way in his explanation of the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed: „I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ“ (Luther 17). Let that sink in for a moment.
16. The 23rd Psalm comforts and encourages us throughout our lives: Jesus is our shepherd, and we lack nothing. He provides for our needs. Even if we undergo trials and temptations, we need never fear evil or the devil, for Christ is always with us and He comforts us. Goodness and loving-kindness are ours in this earthly life, and more so in the life to come in heaven, for Christ brings us eternal life and our own resurrection by His righteous life and bodily resurrection from the grave (Psalm 23). Amen.
17. Let us pray. O Jesus, our Risen Christ, You made Yourself known to Your two Emmaus disciples as their Resurrected Lord in the breaking of the bread. At that Easter evening dinner, the three of you shared a foretaste of the eternal, heavenly banquet; teach us, we pray, to understand what it means to have You as our Good Shepherd so that we are comforted by Your precious words, „I know My own and My own know Me.“ Amen.
Christus ist auferstanden! Er ist wahrhaftig auferstanden.
X
All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
Löhe. Wilhelm. A sermon preached in Neuendettelsau, Bavaria, Germany on John 10,12-16. The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind, Tr. © 2011. Luther, Martin. Luther’s Small Catechism. Copyright © 1986 Concordia Publishing House.
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