Fourth Sunday in Easter 2008 - St. Peter Lutheran Church, Norwalk, CT

EASTER 4, A – April 13, 2008

SCRIPTURES – Psalm 23; Acts 2:42-47; 1 Peter 2:19-25; John 10:1-10

Ah, Psalm 23: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” I doubt there is any Psalm, or even any verse of the Bible, that is better known or more loved than this Psalm. I also would guess that many people have a kind of love/hate relationship with this Psalm. On the one hand, we love it. It’s poetry is so beautiful, it’s imagery and teaching so comforting. And yet, when do we usually hear this psalm? At the approach of death; during a funeral; at the grave, the place of loss, separation, and grief. Why is this? Because of the words that are right in the middle of the psalm:

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.” (Psalm 23:4)

I’d like to focus today on these words, for they proclaim the sure hope, the eternal life that we have in Christ.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…” What is this valley? It is not just death itself, or even the near approach of death. This valley of the shadow of death in which we walk is life in this world. After all, we can be traveling along through life, happily going about our daily routine and giving no thought to death, when suddenly it casts it’s shadow upon us and darkens our lives.

Amy and Wendy, I remember sharing this psalm with you a number of years ago, just after Christmas, when you, Amy, were in the hospital. Your leg had been bothering you; it was swollen and hurting. But, you thought it wasn’t that big a deal – until you found out that you had a life-threatening blood clot. As I recall, Amy, you were ready to throw something at me when I read Psalm 23 to you, weren’t you? It wasn’t exactly what you wanted to hear!

We walk in the valley of the shadow of death. It’s shadow can fall upon us, or one we love, very suddenly.

But, death’s shadow falls upon us mostly in other, more hidden, ways. Death’s corruption, the corruption of our sin that leads to death, works within us to cast a shadow upon our faith and make God mysterious and unknown to us. We then doubt God, distrust Him, are afraid of Him, reject Him, and don’t gladly listen to or follow Him.

Like children with their parents. Wendy and Jeremy, you know that you are not going to have to teach Josiah [baptized today] to do wrong. The time will come when he will lie to you, or disobey you and do what he wants instead of what you say. Why? Are you not good parents who love him and want what’s best for him? Sin, death’s shadow within, will keep him from seeing this.

The valley of the shadow of death is far more than just death itself. It is life in this sin-filled, dying world. It was described very well by Plato nearly 2,500 years ago. Plato said that mankind is like men living in a cave, chained in place and unable to see anything except the back wall of the cave. Behind them is the cave’s entrance, where there are plants, where animals pass by, where there is light. But, all the men can see are the shadows of the plants and animals that the light casts on the wall before them. They do not see reality, do not see what is true. They only see colorless, lifeless shadows. This corrupts their understanding of the truth, and of life itself.

Now, we know that we live in God’s world, the world which He made. Even though it is corrupted by our sin and is not now as He created it to be, it is still His world in which He is active. Spring’s bursting forth of life and beauty proclaims God’s presence and goodness! And yet, even with God’s works we only see a shadow. His presence and work is hidden. And so, sadly, many can look at our world and not see God’s presence and work at all. The shadow of our sin and mortality clouds our vision. “Yea, [we] walk through the valley of the shadow of death…”

But, “I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me!” Who is this Thou? It is the Lord God. He is our Shepherd. And then, along comes Jesus, and He says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep… If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture… I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Jesus is the One who controls heaven, for He is the door to heaven. Only God controls heaven, and so Jesus tells us that He is God. He is the Thou of Psalm 23, the Lord who is with us. “I am the Good Shepherd,” He bluntly says. In Jesus, God is with us, and with us with His life!

“I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.” Jesus is with us. This means that sin and death do not determine our lives. He is the God who came to be with us in them and overcome them for us.

Jesus is the One who suffered for us, who “bore our sins in His body on the tree.” The darkness of your sins has been borne by God – intentionally borne, borne for you! He brought them into the darkness of death; not just any death, but the death of the almighty Son of God. Such a death they cannot escape. And so, your sins cast no shadow upon you. Oh, they do here on this earth.

We suffer unjustly because of the sins of others.
Our own sins speak out against us through our guilty consciences and weigh us down.

But, they cast no shadow before God, for the Son of God, “the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls,” has put them to death. And so, we walk through “the valley of the shadow of death” that is this life without being weighed down and cast into darkness by our sins. They cannot condemn you before God. Your God, in whom is the light of life, has put them to death!

And, as far as the end of this life here: yes, it still comes. Death still casts its shadow upon us. But Jesus, the Son of God, “the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls,” died for us and rose from the dead. We are baptized in Him, into His death and resurrection. He brings life eternal to us! Death is a wolf that attacks. But it cannot hold us in its jaws. Jesus has broken its jaws and brought us forth from them. By virtue of our Baptism into Christ, then, we can truly say: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.”

This is our hope; this is our life; this is our joy; this is our confidence as we walk through this life. “Thou art with me” – in hiddenness now, but with you nevertheless, until “the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls” brings you into eternal glory with Him. all glory and praise be to Him forever!