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Sunday Psalm 23 John 9:1-7 |
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Don’t mess with them! Just don’t! Each of us has a favorite hymn, song, poem, prayer, or scripture verse that has particular meaning to us and/or touches our lives in special ways. These word and tunes often become so rote in our memory that despite any new or updated translation or iteration, we favor familiarity over accuracy. As such, these passages are simply not to be altered or adjusted. So, don’t touch them, we determine. Just don’t!
There are 150 Psalms in Hebrew Scripture, yet, around the world, across many faith traditions, Psalm 23 is the best known and the most beloved. These (15) fifteen verses capture our hearts for many reasons, but certainly because they illuminate events which have occurred again and again from the beginning of human existence—and remind us God is the shepherd who cares, guides and sometimes directs us through events like death and loss, trauma and conflict, hopelessness and fear, destruction and desolation. These verses help us know how to live in a dangerous, sometimes unpredictable world.
Augustine once said, “When you first consider your life, it looks like nothing but a bunch of chicken tracks in the mud of a barnyard, going this way and that. But through the eyes of faith, we begin to discern pattern, meaning, direction—providence.” This psalm helps us make sense of life and teaches us how to deal with whatever comes our way. If we are anxious, it gives us courage, when we grieve, it offers comfort, when we are embittered or immersed in conflict, it teaches us how to deal with the situation, when things tend to weigh us down, it tells us God will replenish our soul and if we are obsessed with what we lack, it teaches us gratitude for what we have. Ultimately, these verses show us how to recognize the presence of God at times and in places we might think God is absent. God is, always!
Perhaps like many of you, I learned the 23rd Psalm before I could read. Like the Lord’s Prayer, to this day, I can recite it in my sleep and in my waking without giving it much thought at all. I love its melodic rhythm and I value its meaning—God is with us all throughout life! Each and every day!
I value the updated Biblical interpretations that strengthen the relationship between God and the reader as it makes its meaning more accessible. I also love the interpretations of composers like James Bain in his anthem “Brother James’s Air” or Isaac Watts’ hymn “My Shepherd will Supply My Need”, John Rutter’s “The Lord’s My Shepherd” and Bobby McFerrin’s version dedicated to his mother or for that matter, his 1989 hit, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” Each of these are solid interpretation of this beloved psalm, but if I were honest, I would have to admit, my heart, not my head, seems most wedded to the version written in the King’s English:
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside still waters.
He restoreth my soul: He leadth 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 annointest 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 forever. (KJV)
Every “thy” and “thou”, every ‘th” and “est” makes my heart sing, so don’t mess with the words—just don’t, I determine. Then, here comes Jesus! Here comes Jesus to challenge my thinking and open my eyes. Light forever dawneth!!
John’s gospel tells us that as Jesus was walking down the street, he saw a man who was blind from birth. His disciples stopped and stared, wondering out loud about what sin, what bad thing, he or his parents had done to cause such a thing. Jesus cautioned the disciples about their quickness to judge and then invited them to think again; to ask life-giving questions about what God could do, (was doing) in this man’s life and theirs. Then Jesus bent down and spit in the dust, making a paste. He rubbed it in the blind man’s eyes. He told the man to wash his eyes in the Pool of Siloam. The man went and washed –and saw!!
In the season of Lent, Jesus symbolically puts mud in our eyes, challenging us to reflect upon our learned faith and to let go of some of our long held determined notions and human conclusions so that we might gain greater wisdom, clearer insight into what—in God’s world—is going on. God sent us Jesus, and as long as Jesus is in the world, there is plenty of light for seeing—for knowing—for our awakening to a deeper sense of God’s grace and presence.
Yes, in the forty days we focus on the journey towards the cross, Jesus puts mud in our eyes so that new knowledge and insight might wash over us allowing us to see our way through life more clearly. However, when we remain wedded to words and phrases memorized and determined, we are not always able to pay full attention to the depth of what a sung or read set of words offer us. The living message(s) in Psalm 23 have the power to open us and help us find answers to life’s most challenging and simplest questions. It allows us to experience the kind of healing that opens our eyes to what keeps us from living life to its fullest.
A few weeks ago, my son Jason and I happened upon a going out of business sale at the Bombay store in Downtown Silver Spring. There, I happened upon a small table I thought might work in our still unfurnished living room. While pondering whether to make a purchase or not, a woman walked towards the table seeming very interested. I could feel the adrenaline begin to pump and my heart quicken. That was my table and I wanted her to know, but the right words, or proper manner would not come to me. I soon felt relief remembering the real purpose in being downtown was to grab a quick bite to eat not to purchase furniture. So, I tried to convince the woman to buy the table. We talked for a bit, but she decided no, she needed something in a different color.
She then turned and said, “Actually, I am here because of a class assignment, would you mind talking to me for just one minute?” I said, “Sure.”
She told me her name was Francine and then said, “I am wanting to find a job…”
“Well, do you know what you want to do,” I interrupted.
“That’s the problem,” she said. “I don’t know what I want to do, because I don’t have enough confidence in myself—my lack of confidence keeps me from knowing what it is I want to do.
“Ah shucks!” I thought. “A pastoral moment, do I have time for this?”
I looked at her then said what seemed obvious, “You know, it took a lot of confidence for you to walk up to a stranger and say these words, I pray that same confidence seeps into the core of your being so you can know what a wonderful person you are.”
She said, “wow!, wow…!” and tears welled up in her eyes. There was a long silence, an eye-to-eye gaze. I smiled to myself. I had done something right—pastoral care by the book! At the same moment, I had to reorder my thinking and see things from a different perspective. Once again, light dawneth … This was a God moment that had nothing to do with me. I was humbled, grateful to have had my eyes muddied and opened to something anew.
After a while, she said, “In order for my instructor and class to know I told you my story, I need something to take back to them, might you have something I can take with me?”
I looked down and saw on my jacket pocket, there was a red coma pin. I took it and pinned it on her lapel and said, “In my church, we believe God is still speaking.”
“Oh my” she said. Oh my. Once again, her tears welled. Mine too!
I will never know what event or situation caused Francine to walk through the valley, nor will I know what conflict or trauma caused her to be blinded to the truth of God’s grace, but I will always remember her eyes telling me God had restored her soul. I will also remember how God moved me to walk a right path for God’s sake and not my own. In truth, neither Francine nor I set out that day to find the right piece of furniture, and yet, both of us experienced God’s table.
Our beloved Psalm 23 ought to be embedded in our memory and deeply rooted in our hearts. But, we must remember to see it through the eyes of our souls so that its message continues to live and breathe in us and yes through us. Gracious God, may the light of Jesus come muddy our eyes so we can be washed in your truth. Mess with our lives.
Please do! Amen.
