Gents,
Here is the sermon I am preaching at the prayer service of one of my
members on Friday
dean
----------------------------------------
+In Nomine Iesu+
Family Service for, BARB INGMAN
Psalm 23
29 February 2008
There is no doubt Psalm 23 is among the best known and loved portions of
Scripture. We hear this Psalm in many contexts – but especially at
funerals. But even though we hear these words frequently, that doesn’t
necessarily mean we fully understand what the psalmist is setting before us.
<>
We begin this evening with verse 4. “Even though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with
me.” Did you notice the tense that verse is written in? It’s present
tense. It isn’t that “if” we walk in the valley of the shadow of death
God will be with us, or when we come to the end of our life and find
ourselves in that valley that God will be with us. Rather, we are being
told that right now we are in the valley of the shadow of death. And,
right now, God is with us. Indeed, from the moment we are born we live
in the valley of the shadow of death. That valley encompasses our entire
life. And, for the entirety of life – from beginning to end – God is
with us. Our problem comes in this – we don’t understand either the
nature of our life, or the nature of how God deals with us in this life.
<>
There is a very interesting incident described in Exodus 33. We read,
“Moses said, ‘Please show me your glory.’ And He (God) said, ‘I will
make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you My
name “The Lord.” . . . ‘But’ He said, ‘you cannot see My face, for man
shall not see Me and live.’ And the Lord said, ‘Behold, there is a place
by Me where you shall stand on the rock, and while My glory passes by I
will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with My hand
until I have passed by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see
My back, but My face shall not be seen.’” “You shall see My back.” That,
my friends, is our life in this world – seeing at the backside of God.
<>
The Gospel for this coming Sunday is from John 9. It is the story of the
man born blind. Jesus says, “It was not that this man sinned, or his
parents, but that the works of the God might be displayed in him.” In
other words, this man had to be born blind in order that the works of
God might be seen in him. We could put it this way, “It was necessary
for this man to be born blind.”
<>
It is at this point that the weakness of our understanding shows itself.
We cannot properly comprehend the “necessity” of God. “Why cancer?” we
might ask in the case of your mother, your sister. In a different
situation someone could ask, “Why the car accident?” Or, “Why the fire?”
“Why the stillborn baby?” “Why?” and any of you can complete the
question. Do you see what we’re faced with? “It was necessary,” God
would say, “so that My work could be displayed.” In situations like this
we are always left with the backside of God. It is God who is at work,
but since we are seeing His backside instead of His face we cannot
comprehend His purpose.
<>
Martin Luther put it this way, “’You shall see My back,’ the Lord says
to Moses when he asked that God’s face be shown to him; that is, ‘After
the fact you will perceive my thinking.’” And this is where we are left.
Waiting until after the fact. Waiting until God reveals His ways to us.
And in the meantime, what we can expect in the valley of the shadow of
death are two things.
<>
We can expect, first, that God will exercise our faith. We can expect
Him to remove one prop after another from our lives. One by one the
things we depend upon will disappear. Instinctively you Christians know
this to be true. Whatever we have come to depend upon – health, job, our
mind, the security of our possessions, money in the bank, physical and
mental ability – one by one these are removed from us. Removed, until at
last we have only one thing left upon which we can depend – God. At the
end we are left totally dependant upon the mercy of God. God exercises
our faith.
<>
But, secondly, God never leaves us without comfort. There are times when
we get brief glimpses of God’s face. Where? In His Church. How? In
preaching, and in God’s sacraments. There God reveals Himself – if only
fleetingly – to us. In Holy Baptism Jesus meets us in the water and
plucks us from the kingdom of Satan, claims us as His own, and places us
into His kingdom. Totally a work of God. Pure mercy. A glimpse of God’s
face. What is it that the psalmist says? “He leads me beside still
waters. He restores my soul.” That’s what he’s referring to in those
words. Holy Baptism.
<>
We are led to confess our sins and what do we hear? God. Speaking
through His pastor God proclaims to be forgiven. The psalmist speaks of
“green pastures” in which our Lord makes us to rest. Sounds an awful lot
like the Sermon on the Mount to me. The Sermon on the Mount where Jesus
gathered His disciples around Him, and taught them. Preached to them.
Preached to them about Himself. We have the same thing when in preaching
God speaks to us through His ministers. His Word – the Bible – is
proclaimed to us. And in that preaching we learn about ourselves –
that’s the preaching of the Law -- -- and we learn about what God has
done for us in Jesus – that’s the preaching of the Gospel. More mercy.
You see? Another glimpse of God’s face.
<>
In the Holy Supper the very Body and Blood of our Savior are placed into
our mouths with His words – “Given and shed for you. For YOU!” Why? For
the forgiveness of your sins. “You prepare a table before me in the
presence of my enemies.” That’s how the psalmist puts it. “you anoint my
head with oil, _my_ _cup_ _overflows_.” Do you see the connection? In
the very presence of Satan and all his hoards God sets His table and
feeds His people. And Satan? All Satan can do is rant and rage. He is
powerless to undo the work of God. More mercy. More face of God.
<>
And there is a time coming, my friends – a time that has now arrived for
Barb – when we will no longer have to gaze only upon the backside of
God. As was the case for her last Sunday, God will say to you, “It has
been long enough.” And at that moment this life will end. As Luther
says, then we will perceive God’s thinking. Then we will see God’s face
plainly. “For now we see in a mirror dimly,” St Paul writes, “but then
_face_ _to_ _face_. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as
I have been fully known.”
<>
I am firmly convinced this is what your mother – your sister – believed.
She may never have put it in quite these words, but she believed in her
Savior’s mercy toward her – His sacrifice for her – His forgiveness for
her. And now? Now she sees fully. The backside of God no longer stands
before her. Now she is held in the very bosom of the Father – fully
seen, and fully seeing. May God in His mercy give each of you a similar
faith. A similar end. And a similar eternity.
Amen
* *
++Consummatum est,, in omne tempus++**
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