Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text (Psalm 23): 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.
Prayer: Lord God, our heavenly Father, enlighten our darkness with the light of your Holy Spirit, so that I may preach well and we all may hear well, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
A shepherd uses his rod to hit things. He uses his rod to chase off wild animals – wolves, lions.
A shepherd uses his staff to draw the sheep closer in when they are running off.
And Jesus says, “I am the Good Shepherd. I lay down my life for the sheep.” I put my life on the line for the sheep. I beat back the wolf – I beat back the lion. I destroy the wolves and the lions.
Even though you may walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you can say, “I will fear no evil, for you are with me: your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
And as we come together today, to lay Toni to rest, we give thanks for the way in which God, our heavenly Father, has worked through her life. We know there were many times of her life that weren’t easy, -- whether it were the war, or early days in Australia, or at other times – but God looked after her and brought her through those times.
God put her in a particular place, at a particular time. And sometimes we might ask the question: why didn’t he put her in an easy place? But then she wouldn’t have been the gift that she was to you. God gave her as a gift to you – in different ways to different people: a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a friend.
Jesus, the Good Shepherd was with her, his rod and staff comforted her. She was protected and strengthened for your sake.
But also, God has placed you in a certain place for other people too, and especially for her. Toni wouldn’t have been who she was without you – God put you in her life for her benefit.
But even though Toni has been taken away from us now for a time, it doesn’t mean that we are not without God. Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil, for you are with us.
We should be strengthened by the way in which God has worked through her life, even amid so many hardships and sufferings, and also we should imitate her where we can, to be like her in her good points. If you are mother, remember what was good about her in that and be like her. Be a friend, like she was a friend.
It’s funny though how suffering and death catches us off guard, though. It’s funny how the death of a person can throw us off balance, and catch us out.
One moment, we are walking along quite nicely, and all of a sudden we find at ourselves at funeral, walking in the valley of the shadow of death. And so, what do we make of all this?
There is no person’s life on this earth without some sort of suffering in it. There is always someone dying, and there are always people mourning. But suffering for Christians is great power, because it draws us closer to the cross of Christ, who suffered for us.
Suffering bears great fruit of patience and endurance. St Paul says, “We rejoice in our sufferings, because suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame.”
But suffering doesn’t just do these things by itself. The blessing of suffering comes through the fact that Jesus Christ suffered on the cross for us.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
Often when people look back at life, they look at a dark time, or a difficult time, and they realise that this was really a time when God helped them through. Often in hindsight people look back and think, “now I am a stronger person because of that.”
But what is amazing about the words of Psalm 23, which we often hear read at funerals, is not that the words are talking about the past, but about the present and the future.
It doesn’t say, “Even though I walked through the shadow of death, you were with me.” It says instead, “Even though I am walking (now) in the shadow of death, I will fear no evil (now), for you are with me (now).” And it is the voice of faith that looks into the future and says, “And even though I may still continue to walk in the valley of the shadow of faith, I’m still not going to fear any evil, because I know that you will still be with me.”
And Jesus Christ, is not with you just because he wants you to show that he cares. He’s not just with you because he wants to sympathise with you. He does, but that’s not the only reason why. The book of Hebrews says: “We have a high-priest who sympathises with us in our weakness.”
But the main reason why Christ wants to be with us, is because he wants to make an exchange. He knows that we are sinners, and he is not one. He knows that we do all sorts of things for bad motives, but he doesn’t. Even in a time of mourning, at the time of a death, we realise that there are all sorts of bad motives, and selfish things that go on.
Christ died for all of that. He suffered in such a way as to pay for it all. And he rose again from the dead to defeat it all: sin, death, the devil, the lot.
In the gospel reading, today, Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, even though he die, shall live.”
He dies, in order to give life to us.
He suffers, in order to bless us with hope in the resurrection when we suffer.
He makes an exchange with us. He is the one who baptises us, and sends the Holy Spirit. He speaks his words to us. He feeds his church in the Lord’s Supper with his body and blood.
He suffers and dies, so that we would have the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.
And so then we can say, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, because you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
You are with me – forgiving me. You are with me – washing me clean. You are with me – raising me from the dead.
Your rod and your staff they comfort me – With your rod, you fight off the wolves, you fight off the lions, you fight off our own sin by forgiving it, you fight off the devil by defeating him, and you fight off death by rising from the dead and promising the resurrection to us. And with your staff, you draw us all in closer to yourself.
Jesus says: “When I am lifted up on the cross, when I am lifted up to heaven, I will draw all people to myself.”
Even through we are still walking in the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil, because you, Jesus Christ, our Good Shepherd, are “with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Amen.
Lord God, heavenly Father, we thank you for Toni’s life, and we thank you for the many blessings that we have received from you through her life. We commend her into your hands with love and gratitude, and we ask that you would strengthen us through this time, and keep us close together to support each other. Send us the Holy Spirit, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen.
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