{"id":10715,"date":"2025-05-06T11:20:40","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T18:20:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=10715"},"modified":"2025-05-06T11:25:36","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T18:25:36","slug":"shepherd-sunday-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=10715","title":{"rendered":"Shepherd Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Select here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalm 23, John 10:22-30<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Easter<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Twenty-Third Psalm is full of promises, and as we read it as New Testament Christians, it says what our hope is all about. (Using the RSV which is strongly influenced by the KJV.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He makes me lie down in green pastures.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He leads me beside still waters<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He restores my soul<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name\u2019s sake.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I shall fear no evil<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For thou art with me<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup overflows<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It begins: \u201cThe Lord.\u201d It\u2019s not \u201cOur Lord\u201d or any Lord or some Lord or lordship in general, but \u201cThe Lord.\u201d In the original Hebrew it\u2019s \u201cYahweh,\u201d meaning the one who created heaven and earth, the one who made the covenant, Lord of Lords, King of Kings, he is the Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It reads: \u201cThe Lord is my shepherd.\u201d That\u2019s personal, individual. It reminds us of the preacher\u2019s story of a shepherd boy who hadn\u2019t much schooling, but he had been taught the first line of the Twenty-Third Psalm: \u201cThe Lord is my shepherd.\u201d He had been taught to count out the words on the fingers of his left hand. The poor boy was caught in a blizzard and didn\u2019t make it. When they found him frozen one day after a blizzard, he was hanging on with his right hand to the fourth finger of his left hand. He had died reciting the Twenty-Third Psalm: \u201cThe Lord is my shepherd.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the original Hebrew there are two nouns: \u201cLord\u201d and \u201cmy shepherd.\u201d The second noun becomes an action. \u201cThe Lord shepherds me.\u201d That is, God does it. The Lord is the one who is active and directly involved with you and me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI shall not want.\u201d I shall lack nothing. Then it goes on in the next two verses with four examples: \u201cHe makes me lie down in green pastures.\u201d You\u2019ll recall that the ancient near East is a desert land, dry and barren. Thus the importance of: \u201cHe makes me lie down in green pastures.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe leads me beside still waters.\u201d If you look at the footnote, it says: \u201cHe leads me besides waters of rest.\u201d It is not only water that is not roaring and could be dangerous, but also that I can rest beside this water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe restores my soul.\u201d  It\u2019s the King James Version and it means: He restores my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe leads me in paths of righteousness for his name\u2019s sake.\u201d  Again, the footnote points out that \u201cpaths of righteousness\u201d means that he leads me on right paths. Finally, \u201cfor his name\u2019s sake,\u201d which means he does it to be true to himself. God\u2019s promises are different from ours. They do not fail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then comes the difficult verse: \u201cEven though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil.\u201d There\u2019s a tiny footnote. In the original Hebrew it reads: \u201cEven though I walk through the valley of deep darkness.\u201d Not only death is included but whenever you or I are trapped, depressed, hopeless, or don\u2019t know what to do or where to go \u2013 whatever deep darkness comes, thou art with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThou are with me. Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.\u201d  And here\u2019s the reason the King James is important; we\u2019ve lost the \u201cthee\u2019s\u201d and \u201cthou\u2019s.\u201d They are in the second person singular, not some general \u201cyou,\u201d but the personal Lord: \u201cThy rod and thy staff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalm 46, the basis for the hymn, A Mighty Fortress,<\/em> begins: \u201cGod is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.\u201d This is like the Twenty-Third Psalm: \u201cI fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me\u201d (Psalm 23:4).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This shepherd, the Good Shepherd, goes in front of his sheep and leads them. In the ancient Near East shepherds didn\u2019t have sheep dogs. (They had hunting dogs, but not sheep dogs.) The task of the shepherd was to go ahead and lead. He had a staff with a crook so he could lift a sheep out of a crevice. With his rod he could chase away wild animals. And the sheep learned to trust and to follow the shepherd. He goes before them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a double sense to his \u201cgoing before\u201d us. The tenth chapter of John says three times of the Good Shepherd: \u201cI am the good shepherd, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep\u201d (John 10:11, 15, 17).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does that happen? Where does that happen?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First of all, he has done this on the cross. Romans 14:9 states: \u201cFor this reason Christ died and rose again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.\u201d He has done this and established His Lordship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, he continues now to go before us. In the eighth chapter of Romans, after Paul has summed up the whole of what our faith is all about, he writes: \u201cWhat shall we say to this? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him?\u201d (Romans 8:31-32)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer of course is \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That recalls the promise in Isaiah 40:31: \u201cThey who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the future he is also the Good Shepherd. As Paul writes in Romans 8:37-39: \u201cWe are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is all very wide sweeping and general and we ask:  What about you and me individually?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isaiah 43:1: \u201cI have called you by name; you are mine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ephesians: 1:4: \u201cHe chose us in him before the foundation of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Philippians 3:12: \u201cChrist Jesus has made me his own.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This happens when he comes to us and receives us in Baptism. This is why we remember Romans 6:5: \u201cIf we have been united with him in a death like his (referring to Baptism), we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.\u201d (As we note often, the Greek idiom requires the word \u201ccertainly.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We fall apart. We die. In the Large Catechism Luther writes that in Baptism the Lord \u201csnatches us from the jaws of the devil and makes us his own\u201d in spite of ourselves (LC Baptism 4:83; Tappert 446).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is said well in the hymn, Our Hope is Built on Nothing Less,<\/em> verse 4: We are \u201cclothed in His righteousness alone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salvation doesn\u2019t depend on us; it doesn\u2019t depend on anything \u201cwe are, think, say or do\u201d (Smalcald III\/3\/36; Tappert 309). It depends on him who never fails and whose promises are always kept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The picture in Psalm 23 now changes to a banquet, a huge celebration: \u201cThou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup overflows\u201d (Psalm 23:5)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You get the picture of a joyful banquet with darkness all around. The Lord presides. The evil forces are held back. It says: \u201cThou anointest my head with oil,\u201d which is what one did at that time for honored guests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy cup overflows\u201d means, as it says in verse 1, that \u201cI shall not want.\u201d I shall lack nothing. Remember the image in Luke 6:38 about what the Lord gives to you: \u201cGood measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then in the sixth verse: \u201cSurely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe house\u201d brings to mind that passage we all know in John 14:1-6: \u201cI go to prepare a place for you; in my father\u2019s house are many rooms (mansions).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a place that he has prepared for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our basic Christian faith is: God in Christ truly became one of us. Truly became human. And he remains human for all eternity so that to be in him means to continue as the truly human beings that we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is that like? Scripture helps sort things out. Paul writes: \u201cWhat no eye  has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him\u201d (1 Cor 2:9).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the King James Version puts it in Ephesians 3:20: \u201cExceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That means that heaven is more real than this world, not ethereal and unreal and \u201cspiritual.\u201d  It is more real. There is life together there, forever. There is meaningful, real life together in him and with each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, it says \u201cforever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We return to the tenth chapter of John, the Good Shepherd chapter. John 10:27-29 reads: \u201cMy sheep hear my voice; I know them; they follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall not perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all and no is able to snatch them out of the Father\u2019s hand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore John 14:27: \u201cPeace I leave unto you; my peace I give unto you; not as the world gives do I give unto you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.\u201d Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Psalm 23, John 10:22-30<\/p>\n

A sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Easter<\/p>\n

The Twenty-Third Psalm is full of promises, and as we read it as New Testament Christians, it says what our hope is all about. (Using the RSV which is strongly influenced by the KJV.)
\n
\nThe Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
\nHe makes me lie down in green pastures.
\nHe leads me beside still waters
\nHe restores my soul
\nHe leads me in paths of righteousness for his name\u2019s sake.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Select here<\/a> to read more or here <\/a>for a pdf document.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10715"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10724,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10715\/revisions\/10724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}