Scripture Reflections

You shall show me the path of life; in your presence is the fullness of joy, and at your right hand there is pleasure for evermore.

Our Shepherd takes us on paths of righteousness, for his name’s sake! As Jesus did for his disciples and the crowds, he makes us sit in the green grass and feeds us abundantly—even our Savior’s own body and blood. As we walk the path through the shadow of death, we are following our Lord to the cross and he comforts us there. These paths of righteousness, this path of life through death—daily death to our own desires and inclinations, the death and decay we experience in this fallen world all around us, and someday our own physical death—as we walk these paths with our Shepherd, he leads us to himself, into his presence. And with him there is fullness of life and joy, and goodness, boundless goodness forevermore!

How do we walk with our Lord? In the Old Testament reading on Sunday, Joshua warns the people of Israel that they cannot serve Yahweh, because they have other gods in their midst; with their words they choose Yahweh but in their daily lives they choose the gods of Egypt and of Canaan (Joshua 24:14-25). As Jesus says to his disciples in the Gospel reading, “the flesh is of no avail” (John 6:63). We cannot walk with the Lord in our flesh or by our own strength. This seems hopeless, and with Paul we might ask, “Who will rescue us from this body of death?”

His answer comes immediately: “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” In the victory given by Jesus, we can walk with the Lord. With David we can take refuge in our Lord, turning from all else that promises safety and looking to him for all we need; “You are my Lord, I have no good apart from you” (Psalm 16:2). Jesus tells his disciples, tells us: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” Through the Spirit, as we feed daily on our Bread of Life in his Word and come together weekly to share in his body and blood, in this way we are made into his body and share with him in his life, and so can walk with him.

Let us, like Peter, cling to Jesus! “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:68-69) Or as John later says in 1 John 4:16, “[W]e have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.” In the victory of Jesus, through the Spirit, we can walk with the Lord! Our Shepherd loves us; we shall not want.

Rebekah