“I Will Fear No Evil”
Psalm 23:4

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Fifth Sunday in Lent—April 2, 2017

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

“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.” 

The sermon series for our Wednesday evening Lent services this year is, “A Lenten Look at Psalm 23.”  Because I had to be absent for one of the Wednesday evening services, we are having a sermon from that series in our worship this morning: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me.”

“The shadow of death” is a deep, black darkness.  This same Hebrew word is used elsewhere in the Old Testament to describe the frightening, total darkness of a mine shaft, deep underground.

“The VALLEY of the shadow of death” is a deep ravine that has an unusual, eerie darkness even in the middle of the day.  In Arabic this kind of ravine is called a “siq.”  They are formed by rain eroding away soft desert sandstone.  The most famous siq is the dramatic entrance to the mysterious, ancient city of Petra in Jordan, which I have been fortunate to visit, famous for being featured in an “Indiana Jones” movie.

The siq at Petra is over a mile long and hundreds of feet deep, yet at some places it is only five feet wide at the bottom.  It is SO deep and narrow and twisting, that from the bottom you often cannot see the sky.  Someone told me once about the experience of going through the longest train tunnel in the United States; that’s sort of what it’s like walking through such a deep, narrow siq.

You would think that after trudging through the blinding sun of the sweltering desert, sheep would welcome the relief of such a cool, dark ravine.  But, sheep are very easily frightened animals, and when they pass from the overpowering heat and brightness of the desert into the cool darkness of such a valley, they are not relieved, but TERRIFIED, by what we call the “fear of the unknown.”  They are afraid because it is something totally different and they don’t know what to expect.

There is a parallel to that with our experience when we pass from THIS life to ETERNAL life.  Many aspects of life in this world can be compared to a wearying journey, under the blazing sun, through a scorching, oppressive desert.  But, of HEAVEN, Revelation says, “The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. . .  He who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. . .  He will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

You would think that after trudging through the troubles and sufferings of life in this world, we would welcome the bliss of paradise.  But, like sheep entering into a dark valley, at the moment WE HUMANS pass from the this world into the next, it is normal for us to have a fear of the unknown, because death is something totally different, and we don’t know exactly what to expect in the afterlife.

In his book “A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23,” Phillip Keller stresses that a good shepherd never takes his sheep through any place he himself has not been before.  A good shepherd makes himself familiar with the territory, he scouts out the situation, he always goes on ahead to check out the route and look over the country.

At the Last Supper, the night before his suffering, death and burial, Jesus told his disciples: “‘My children, I will be with you only a little longer. . .  Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later. . .  Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.  In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am.  You know the way to the place where I am going.’  Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’  Jesus answered, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life.’”

Your Good Shepherd has gone on ahead, through the territory of death and the grave, to prepare the way for you.  The funeral liturgy spoken at the graveside puts it beautifully: “By his rest in the tomb he made holy the graves of all who trust in him; by his death he destroyed the power of death; and by his resurrection he opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.” 

Because of your Savior’s perfect life, his sacrificial death, and his triumph over the grave on Easter morn, nothing stands between you and heaven.  Your sins are forgiven, and the kingdom of heaven is open to you and all believers.  At that fearful moment when you pass from this life to eternal life, you can be comforted and assured by his promise: “Where I am going . . . you will follow . . .  I am going there to prepare a place for you. . .  I will . . . take you to be with me.”

Notice how the psalm says, “Yea, though I walk THROUGH the valley of the shadow of death.”  Just as a siq is but a gateway you pass through into a large valley, death is not the final end, but a gateway, a door, something you PASS THROUGH, on your way to the green pastures and still waters of eternal life.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”  Martin Luther says of this passage:

“As for me, I am indeed weak, sad, anxious, and surrounded by all kinds of danger and misfortune. Because of my sin, my heart and my conscience are not satisfied either. I experience such horrible terrors of death and hell that I almost despair. Yet though the whole world and also the gates of hell should be against me, that will not dismay me. Yes, I will not be afraid of all the evil and sorrow that they may be able to heap upon me; for the Lord is with me. The Lord is my counselor, comforter, protector, and helper—the Lord, I say, who has created heaven and earth and everything that is in it out of nothing. To Him all creation is subject: angels, devils, men, sin, death.  He has everything in his power. And therefore I fear no evil.”  [Luther’s Works, Volume 12, pages 168-169]

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”

“For Thou art with me.”  A good shepherd always stays with his sheep, even leaving home for months at a time and living in the wilderness with the flock.  Like the shepherds of Bethlehem who were “abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock.”  Our Good Shepherd left his heavenly home to live here with his flock on earth.  And though he is re-ascended on high, even now he is with us, as he promised, “Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am among them. . . Lo, I am with you ALWAYS.”

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me.”

Amen.