God With Us

The shepherd, Jesus

During the Advent season, I was asked to officiate a funeral. As for many funerals, Psalm 23 was requested as the scripture. That was doubly interesting because Psalm 23 was probably the most studied and referenced scripture in our church men’s group at the time.

Psalm 23:1–6 (NRSVue)
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 right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I 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
my whole life long.

I started asking myself why Psalm 23 is a favorite scripture for many people in times of sickness, hardship, and death. After all, its themes and images are ancient, hardly relevant for a 21st century technological society. Where do we encounter shepherds and sheep herding in our world? Even the concept of a banquet table with a host and a big spread is rarely experienced in our fast-food society. The dark valley is also largely unknown. If we go out at night in the city or suburb, there are generally streetlamps on every corner.

I finally concluded that even though Psalm 23 speaks in images that were part of an ancient culture, at a deeper level, it speaks profoundly to us about God’s presence.

  • Just as a shepherd is present for the sheep, God is present with us, even when we are unaware of God’s presence.
  • Just as a host is present through the table spread before us, so is God present, even when we don’t see him physically there.
  • Even in the emotional and spiritual darkness in which we live with enemy forces all around us, God is present with us and provides for us.
  • Even during our most dismal days, God’s goodness and mercy follow us.
  • In the presence of a Shepherd God, we find encouragement and hope.

Reflecting on God’s presence led me back to the Advent / Christmas story. Specifically, I thought about the word, “Emmanuel” which means “God with us.” It is another way of saying that God is present in our lives. Yet, what does it mean that God is with us? What does it mean to say that the presence of the supreme God of the Universe is here with us in the nitty-gritty details of our earthly lives as human beings?

The original reference to Immanuel (Emmanuel) occurs in Isaiah 7:10–17 (NRSVue)

10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, 11 “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13 Then Isaiah said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel., 15 He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted. 17 The Lord will bring on you and on your people and on your ancestral house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria.”

This is complex passage that involves multiple layers of Biblical history and prophecy. Yet, the bottom line is that here is a king of Judah, a descendent of David named Ahaz who is threatened by neighboring kingdoms. Ahaz is desperately trying to maneuver out of the mess that his politics have created. The prophet tells him to rely on God, even to ask God for a sign. Ahaz has a seemingly pious reason to refuse. He will not put God to the test. Yet, it is really an excuse to continue on his own path of “real-world” politics to create political alliances that will keep him in power in Jerusalem.

So, Isaiah tells him that God will give him a sign anyway, a sign of a baby named “God is with us.” This baby is a sign of both hope and judgment. That is what God’s presence brings: judgment and hope. In the case of Ahaz, the two kings he dreads will be completely conquered. But the political superpower he is putting his hopes in will eventually bring judgment and conquer the Kingdom of Judah as well. The hope for the larger people of Israel is not in the political fortunes of the moment but rather in a baby who is a sign of “God with us.”

That brings us to the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. Matthew first reviews the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Ahaz appears there in Matthew 1:9 (NRSVue) …9and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah… Thus, the coming of Jesus is set in the context of Israel’s history. It is set in the context of the royal line of David that extends from the unified Kingdom of Israel, to the divided Kingdom of Judah, through the exile to Babylon and back to Joseph and Mary whose origin is Bethlehem, the original land of David.

Then Matthew relates this astounding story about God’s presence coming to Joseph via an angel in a dream.

18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to divorce her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
23 “Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”
which means, “God is with us.”
24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife 25 but had no marital relations with her until she had given birth to a son, and he named him Jesus. Matthew 1:18–25 (NRSVue)

Matthew realizes that despite all of hype about the Messiah being the Savior of Israel and the promised king in David’s line, the real story is not in the politics of Israel but in God’s miraculous work. So, in Matthew’s telling, it is not the male kingly line of Joseph that makes Jesus the Messiah. Joseph doesn’t cause the conception of Jesus in Mary; it is the direct work of God’s Holy Spirit that causes her to conceive a son.

The “young woman” of Isaiah’s prophecy is interpreted in a narrower sense: a virgin. The pregnancy and birth is all about God’s work which completely overshadows the male power to conceive in a woman as well as the power politics of Israel, Judah, Assyria, Babylon, or Rome. “God with us” is not dependent on the macho male, either physically or politically.

Jesus himself makes this clear when he returned to the ancient image that originally made David famous—and, I would say, made Psalm 23 so popular: the shepherd. Jesus harkened back to this psalm of his human ancestor David, Psalm 23.  In so doing, Jesus affirmed that the qualities that made him a true Messiah King like David are not the qualities of a warrior conquering in military battle. Instead, he picked up on the image of David as a shepherd.

Jesus said, 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep…. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. (John 10:11-15 NRSVue)

The image of Godly leadership is the shepherd who cares and leads, not the general who overpowers and conquers. The power politics of the king are rejected. The king is out there on the battlefield where he muscles and manipulates the levers of power to coerce people to do his bidding. That includes violence if he feels it’s necessary.

A shepherd is all about presence, God’s presence. God is with us. A shepherd is about giving up life rather than taking life. God’s presence does not protect us by violent action against our enemy. Jesus is the good shepherd precisely by giving his life for the flock.

It is in Jesus’s death, when all seems hopeless, that God is shown to be with us. The power of the universe goes through the suffering love on the cross. Only through that suffering that looks totally defeated do we get to the resurrection. When God’s presence seems totally absent, we have nothing left but to put all of our hope in a God of Creation and Resurrection.

Finally, through the direct sending of the same Holy Spirit that descended upon Mary, we find God’s presence upon the whole assembly of God’s people at Pentecost. That presence then goes with the believers as they spread out again to share the news: God is with us!

It all starts with Matthew’s interpretation of Isaiah’s word to Ahaz. The Messiah king is actually Emmanuel–God with us. He is born of God’s action, not that of a human being. He is raised up from death to eternal life by God’s power as well. But it is only in giving his life as the good shepherd that Emmanuel also fulfills the name, Jesus (Yahweh saves). The Savior is the one who is present with us.

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