Scripture/Sermon of the Day.  May 18, 2025

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.

3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.

4 Yea, 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 runs over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.

Reflection/Sermon:

I.      There’s a song from 1978 by Gerry Rafferty called Baker Street (221B Baker Street — Sherlock Holmes’ address).  It’s a modern psalm that that uses the word “soul” and speaks of redemption — the possibility of being saved from sin and evil.  The song begins like this:

Winding your way down on Baker Street

Light in your head and dead on your feet

Well, another crazy day, you'll drink the night away

And forget about everything

This city desert makes you feel so cold

It's got so MANY PEOPLE, BUT it's got NO SOUL

And it's taken you so long to find out you were wrong

When you thought it held everything

II.     The song continues — even though the city has no soul, the singer still believes happiness is possible. 

He says:

Another year and then you'd be happy

Just one more year and then you'd be happy

But you're cryin', you're cryin' now.

III.    There’s something painful about this modern psalm — Baker Street.  The singer knows the city has no soul — and knows he was wrong when he thought it held everything.  But instead of moving on and trying a different path to find his happiness  — he keeps doing the same thing — he just tries harder.  He says, “Another year — and I’ll be happy — another year….”

IV.     He sounds like a man with a gambling addiction saying — “One more roll of the dice and I’ll win — one more spin of the roulette wheel and I’ll win.”

And now, Rafferty says, “He’s crying.  He’s crying now.”

V.      Too bad he couldn’t have been more like King David.  Some Bibles say David wrote the psalms, including this one.  If he did — something doesn’t make sense.  If David wrote that first line,

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want” — then why did he steal another man’s wife, then have the man killed so he could marry her?

Why didn’t David say, “The Lord is my shepherd — but I’m king and can have whatever I want!”

VI.     Or — maybe David wrote the psalm after this incident with Bathsheba.  And NOW he doesn’t want.  He sounds like that addict in Rafferty’s song.  “The Lord is my shepherd — and now I shall not want.  Until I do….”

Now I know why this psalm — 23 — is read at funerals —  because the only time we don’t want anything is when we’re dead!

VII.    But there is a miracle in the Bible — only in the gospel of Luke.  I think it’s the greatest miracle Jesus worked.  What would you say is Jesus’ greatest miracle?  Lazarus?  Dead three days and brought back to life.  The Pharisee Jairus’ daughter, also dead and brought back to life.  Or Jesus feeding over 5000 men, women, children with five loaves of bread and two fish?

No — Zacchaeus is Jesus’ greatest miracle because his healing was was on the inside.  HE WAS A HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL THIEF.  BUT WHEN JESUS CAME TO HIS HOUSE, HIS SOUL WAS RESTORED.  Now he wanted to give half his possessions to the poor and give back — 4 times — what he stole from people.

VIII.   Jesus came to Zacchaeus’ house — and Zacchaeus’ soul was restored.  And today Jesus comes to our house.  Like the psalmist, we can say “I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever "— because we know he lives in us.