The lectionary is the list of scripture readings that are assigned for any given week, and it has lots of purposes. One of them is to be sure that we get a lot of diversity of scripture readings that give us a wide array of Biblical stories and prevents us from focusing in on those favorites of ours. So it is surprising to me, at least, that we were given this psalm today because we just heard this psalm a few weeks ago on the 5th Sunday in Lent. Although it is strange, I think it is really quite appropriate because this is a rather Lenten Easter, isn’t it? We may not be fasting from chocolate anymore, but we are fasting from something so much more important, the Holy Eucharist. We are still walking in the valley of the shadow of death, not just the valley of Lent. With this virus, the valley of the shadow of death seems like an appropriate and powerful image to understand this moment we are living in. Very few of us have been directly touched by this death, and yet the shadow it casts is affecting everybody and disrupting our lives profoundly, perhaps in a permanent way. Things that are happening right now might affect the trajectory of the rest of our lives. This pandemic has a rather far-reaching shadow. So what an appropriate psalm for this moment, for this valley that we are walking in.
Psalm 23 is a beloved psalm of so many, for good reason: those cadences, the language, the beautiful images. Did you know that Psalm 23 is so popular and beloved that the Prayer Book, which has every single psalm in it, includes it in three different translations? It has the Prayer Book translation, which is at the back of the Prayer Book with all the other psalms. It also has the 1928 Prayer Book translation, and the King James version. The phrase, “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil”, is probably one of the most beautiful and profound sentences in the English language. Those images of the green pasture and the still waters can comfort our souls and calm us down when we are anxious. It is such a profound and beautiful psalm and a most appropriate psalm for today on this Good Shepherd Sunday.
What I find really interesting about this psalm is that is a very rich psalm as you go deeper and deeper into it. One of the most interesting things about it is that although we think about it as a shepherding psalm, a pastoral psalm, something changes at the end of it. There is the image of the table being set in the presence of enemies. That is not a shepherding image. One does not lay out a feast in the middle of your enemies when you are a shepherd. This is rather a royal image, along with other parts of the psalm: anointing of the head with oil is what is done for kings. So while the psalm begins with the shepherding image, it ends with a royal image.
There is this one moment in the psalm where it all shifts: the part that says Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. The word rod can have multiple meanings. It is the word that you would use for the shepherd’s club to protect the sheep from the predators, but it is also the same word you would use for the royal scepter. In that moment the psalm shifts from the shepherd image to the royal image. It makes that old classic hymn, The King of Love My Shepherd Is, a profound version of Psalm 23 because it captures right at the beginning the dual imagery of shepherd and royal of this psalm. It is a fascinating juxtaposition of images because shepherds are low down on the scale of social and class status, while kings and queens are right at the top, yet both are taken and put together in this profound way to reveal something so important and valuable about our God. For our God is both: that Shepherd who tends us and cares for us, who knows us by name and whose voice we recognize. It is a very intimate relationship between a shepherd and a sheep, and yet God is also that monarch who has power and control. When we are going through the valley of the shadow of death, it is important to hold up both of those images, both of those truths and realities of our God. Our God is a God who is in control. Our God is a God who has the power to care for us, and our God is a God who loves us and cares for us, not just have the power to do it. Our God knows each one of us by name and is concerned for our well being.
That is the God we have, the God who is both monarch and shepherd. The God who has control in this moment when it feels like everything is out of control. There is our God holding steady, holding that scepter, holding that staff, safe and secure, stable and steady. And our God is that Shepherd, who cares for us, who is protecting us and moving us along with that rod and that staff. Our God is both. So as we walk through this valley of the shadow of death we remember these beautiful words, these profound words of our God who loves us more than we can ask for or imagine, of our God who, in the midst of everything that is changing and seems so uncertain and unstable, is stable and steady in the middle of it.
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 will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
AMEN
