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“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

Alleluia! Jesus Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

᛭ INI ᛭

The Lord is your Shepherd. He’s risen from the dead. He isn’t just with you as “you walk through the Valley of the shadow of death.” He Himself went through death! That’s how He shepherds. It’s how He redeems! He’s the Redeemer from sin and death. He lives!—as Job confessed. On the Last Day Christ will stand as the One who died and rose. He is Resurrection and Life, after all!

Now, that Christ is the died and risen Shepherd isn’t just something David believed and wrote. That Christ is the Redeemer who lives isn’t just something Job believed and confessed. That Christ is really Resurrection and Life isn’t just something that Martha, Mary, and Lazarus believed and experienced. This is something your mom, Angeline, believed and confessed and now experiences. We rejoice that this is so, because we can confess now with Martha, you can confess Ron and Gale, “I know that [she] will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

But that’s not all, when the Lord is your Shepherd. It means something for you, and for your mom. It’s all encapsulated in that last verse of Psalm 23: “Surely goodness and mercy shall FOLLOW me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” Now, when Christ is Your shepherd nothing will truly harm you, nothing will really chase after you that will harm you. Well, actually something will pursue you. Nothing sounds scarier than that for a sheep, right? What, a bear? A lion? Well, when the LORD Christ is your Shepherd it means that “goodness and mercy shall [PURSUE] you all the days of your life.” That’s most literal for that verse. And this is the good news for you, the good news your mom believed about the LORD. This is what we’re truly hear to memorialize and celebrate—all that the LORD Christ has done for you and for your mom. And it’s chiefly this:

THE LORD’S GRACIOUS MERCY CHASES AFTER YOU YOUR WHOLE LIFE.

(I. That looks like Psalm 23:2–3, 5.)

What does it mean, or what does it look like when THE LORD’S GRACIOUS MERCY CHASES AFTER YOU YOUR WHOLE LIFE? It’s simple. It’s the other parts of Psalm 23! Let’s listen again: 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. . . Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. To lead to still waters, to restore the soul, to lead in paths of righteousness, to prepare a table, to anoint, and fill a cup to overflowing, this is THE LORD’S GRACIOUS MERCY CHASING AFTER YOU YOUR WHOLE LIFE. And you know what? That sounds a lot like the Lord’s Word and Gifts!

The Lord giving good gifts your whole life isn’t just the great things your mom was able to give and to receive over her 92 years. (Even unbelievers can experience those 1st Article Gifts.) The LORD’S GRACIOUS MERCY CHASING AFTER YOU is that it’s His redemption in Christ being bestowed over you, and over your mom, too. The Lord brought her to the “still waters” of Holy Baptism. It’s that He constantly restored her soul through the “rod and staff” of His Word. It’s that He sanctified her to be His instrument in her life, leading her in path’s of righteousness, not because she deserved it but because the LORD her Shepherd died for her. He prepared His table before her, running His cup over with forgiveness as He fed her, by means of the blessed bread and wine His body and blood. So it is for you and me. In His Word and Gifts, delivered in the Sheep pen of His Holy Church, THE LORD’S causing HIS GRACIOUS MERCY to CHASE AFTER YOU YOUR WHOLE LIFE.

(II. That also looks like Psalm 23:4.)

But it’s not all gumdrops and roses, is it? THE LORD’S GRACIOUS MERCY CHASING AFTER YOU YOUR WHOLE LIFE also looks like something else. That’s also laid out in Psalm 23:4—“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.” Going through death for the Lord’s sheep who’ve got THE LORD’S GRACIOUS MERCY nipping at their hooves, is just passing through a shadow. Death is a “powerless form” for the Christian because the LORD Christ Himself has gone through it. He died that we might not die eternally. He rose that we might live forever innocent of our sins before God. “I AM the Resurrection and the Life,” says the Lord, “He who believes in Me will live even though He dies and whoever lives and believe in Me will never die.”

But we still must go through it, but event there the Lord’s Word and promise, “HIS GRACIOUS MERCY is chasing us.” He won’t let death devour us or cause us to despair in darkness. There His resurrection looms large. There His baptismal promise breaks forth: “If we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.” So, today the Paschal candle, the Easter Candle, burns bright! Christ is risen and Angeline was baptized into that. You were, too. When you’re on death’s doorstep, the promise of the Lord’s Supper overflows with joy and peace: “This is My body; this is My blood” and “whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will resurrect Him on the Last Day.”

And whoever trusts Christ and believes His Word receives what He promises, for THE LORD’S GRACIOUS MERCY is CHASING AFTER that believer.

(III. Conclusion. That finally looks like Psalm 23:6b.)

And so we come to the final promise, the final good news of Psalm 23 for today. THE LORD’S GRACIOUS MERCY CHASING AFTER YOU YOUR WHOLE LIFE also looks the last half of the last verse: “I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” That promise is already reality for Angeline. She has, to use St. Paul’s inspired words, “Departed to be with Christ.”

We who trust in the LORD Christ are on that path, too. THE LORD’S GRACIOUS MERCY CHASES AFTER YOU YOUR WHOLE LIFE, after all. And we unite with Angeline each time we gather in the Lord’s sheep pen. For, when we gather we “come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.” (Heb 12) Or to put it more simply: “with angels, archangels, the whole company of heaven,” that is, those who are right now “dwell[ing] in the hose of the LORD” Christ “forever.” Because, after all, THE LORD’S GRACIOUS MERCY CHASES AFTER YOU YOUR WHOLE LIFE.

Alleluia! Jesus Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

᛭ INI ᛭