Sermon Tone Analysis

Jewish Meditation Literature

Have you ever had that moment when someone asked you how your week was, and you tell them it was a rough week, you explain it a bit and their response is, “Yeah, I know what you mean...” Then they go on to tell you about their week and you struggle to concentrate because they have compared their week to yours, like they really understand.

But, it is clear they do not?

Maybe you have been that person who stepped on someone else’s bad day, when you were not really in the mood to listen, so you didn’t.

One of you walked away thinking “they don’t understand”, and the other walked away thinking “they don’t understand.”

You have stalemated the conversation.

This happens often among people.

There is a simple reason.

We are not living the other persons life.

SLIDE:

And because we are not living it, we are inconsiderate.

Not inconsiderate as in we don’t care, rather we don’t stop to consider it from their perspective.

For some of us, being inconsiderate is not enough.

We like to pile on with a little self-righteousness and a sprinkle of judgement.

Here is how that looks.

You share your week, but at the first chance you have, you talk about that with another person.

A friend, perhaps a coworker or even your spouse.

You utter something like, “well if they had not chosen...”, or “I went through that same thing and you didn’t hear me complain!”.

This happens often with kids.

Maybe you have raised children, and you talk to the new mom.

And she is struggling to juggle her world.

You offer up some platitudes, put on a face of concern, and generally show kindness.

But deep down you know what you are saying is not genuine.

Later, when you get home, you talk to your spouse about this moment, and that is when you say it, “If it were me…you know what they need to do…if they had not married him/her...”, or some equivalent.

The moment we do that, we have shifted from inconsiderate to insulting.

Too quickly we forget what it is or was like to move through terrible moments.

SLIDE:

Our hard times become a hardness around our heart.

Today, we are going to take a look at a well known and perhaps the most popular Psalm, and I think we will be able to find a way to soften our hearts, learn how to walk with God through hard times and walk with others during their struggles as well.

Let’s take a read through this Psalm and see what it might have to say to us today.

SLIDE:

Psalm 23

A Psalm of David.

1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

3 He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Isn’t it amazing how this little Psalm can conjure up images for you?

It is so simple and yet conveys so much.

I can assure you, that is no easy task to accomplish with just words.

Some of you may have never seen or heard this before and perhaps something about it just strikes you as relatable.

Except for that part about preparing a table before me in the presence of my enemies and pouring oil on my head and overfilling my glass, but otherwise, it is pretty cool.

Let’s look just a bit deeper into this text and see if there are any nuggets in here, especially as it relates to how we can be inconsiderate and hard towards others.

SLIDE:

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

We have two characters in this Psalm: Yahweh and a human.

The Psalm is credited to David, and I lean that direction, but in all honestly, we are not 100% sure of the time or setting of this Psalm.

Regardless, it is going to employ this idea that Yahweh is the shepherd, the Good Shepherd.

When an ancient Israelite read this, their mind would be taken back to images of Eden, but more than that, their mind would be taken to their own history.

When Israel was led out of Egypt and through the wilderness.

This would have reminded them of a land flowing with milk and honey.

A time when Yahweh would tell them when to start and when to stop.

When he would lead them to new water sources and would restore their soul.

When he would insist on his people following his laws and commands, to love Yahweh and to love your neighbor, this path of righteousness so that His Name (Hashem) would be well represented in the land.

For us when we read this, it just makes me think of somewhere I want to be, right now.

And the image is so generic in its form, the reader is allowed to insert any image into the text.

In other words, your idea of a green pasture and still waters may not be my idea.

Your conception of Yahweh as shepherd and mine may be very different.

Regardless, your mind has been taken to this place where you are just walking with God, he is doing all the leading, and there is nothing in your life for which you have need or want.

And that is the point of the Psalm.

It is so specifically non-specific, it makes its form and function genius!

But, like all good authors, there is a contrast that is presented, because what if we are chilling out in green pastures, near cool and calm waters?

What if our soul is in anguish and hurting.

What if I find myself walking on the path that is fraught with trouble?

SLIDE:

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,

There are times when we walk in places that do not seem like a stroll through the garden.

This is where things get interesting.

This term, “valley of the shadow of death” has allowed any reader to insert their own valley of the shadow of death into this phrase.

The individual nature of the Psalm makes it just that, individual.

You could have 1,000 people read this and get 1,000 different views on this valley of the shadow of death.

And that is because it is connected to time.

You read this and you might be:

Reflecting on your past, a time when you walked through your own valley, thinking of the decisions and consequences.

When we do that we might say, “you know, I just did not know any better”, or “I was young and made some bad choices.”

But here you are today, you made it through, scars and all.

Thinking about the present, what you are facing right now as you go through the valley, trying to figure out what decisions to make that has the fewest consequences.

You might say, “I am not sure what to do”, or “I think the Lord is leading me too (fill in the blank).”

You are reflecting on the past but also trying to consider the future.

Considering the future, knowing there are things scheduled in your life that you will face.

Children growing up, that surgery coming up, perhaps even your own mortality and what that means for you.

Some valley’s you can see coming, and you know you will walk through them, and it may be painful and frightening.

The valley of the shadow of death is the common ground in this poem.

And because it is unspecific, it becomes a point for which we can be hard hearted.

For instance, lets just mangle the text a bit to see if we can draw this out:

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of laundry, or teenagers, or infants, or drug use, or bullying, divorce, or unemployment, or marital strife, or financial ruin, or depression, or anxiety, or trauma, or physical pain, and on and on and on.

What does the valley of the shadow of death really mean?

It can take on whatever meaning that is relevant to your stage of life.

And that opens up a whole can of worms.

Because your valley of the shadow of death is not my valley of the shadow of death.

When you start to stack all of these together, say the single-mom with the new infant, a toddler and a preschooler, who is holding down a job that does not pay the bills and has no real support system, sees the four year old has emptied their dresser into the laundry basket.

What do you have to do mom?

You wash the whole thing.