Loving God, you open to us the way of righteousness through your Son, Jesus Christ, empowering us by your Spirit to live in you.  Help us to trust you in all things and to discover life in all its fulness; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    As we’ll discover over the next few weeks, each Psalm is a little bit different.  There are different types of Psalms – today’s is what you would call a wisdom Psalm or an instructional Psalm.  As well, most of the Psalms are poetry, or at the very least, poetic in nature.  They were also intended to be sung, and in that sense, each one is part of Israel’s hymn book.

    Today’s Psalm - at least at first - seems very straightforward.  There is the way of the wicked and the way of the righteous, and a tree.  However, as with any biblical text, it is helpful to ask where you are in this Psalm.  Which of the two ways are you traveling, and what does your tree look like?

    First, there is the path that is described as the way of the wicked.  However, once you start delving into it, it may not sound very wicked at all.  This particular path belongs to those who prefer to depend on themselves rather than God.  It belongs to those who rely on their own strength and who put their trust in humanly created things.  It belongs to those whose hearts are not set on God, but on other things.  It belongs to those who rebel against God and who don’t mind looking out for number one.  It belongs to those who mock God - who pretend to worship and pretend to believe, but really have their hearts somewhere else.  Does any of this sound like you so far?...

    Of course, then there is the other path - the one that is called the way of the righteous.  This path belongs to God and not human beings, for God watches over all those who travel it.  Those who walk this path delight in God’s law and meditate on it day and night.  They trust in God rather than in their own strength, and do not fear when difficulties show up in their lives.  They do not get anxious when it seems as though God has forgotten about them.  Those who walk this path just keep on praying and keep on drinking deeply from God’s Word and keep on bearing fruit.  So does any of this sound like you?...

    Some of you might actually feel as if you aren’t on either one of these paths.  Maybe your life has a little bit of both in it.  Or maybe you want to be on the way of the righteous, but just can’t quite seem to do it.  A related question, of course, is what your tree looks like.

    There is a passage in Jeremiah that is very similar to this Psalm, but adds a few more details (17:5-8).  In Jeremiah’s case, he describes two different trees.  There is the tree that is pretty much the same as in the Psalm – the one planted by streams of water that bears fruit even in the middle of a drought because its roots are so close to the stream.  However, Jeremiah also describes a tree that represents those who trust in human beings rather than God.  In this case, they are “like a shrub in the desert” – a shrub that lives “in the parched places of the wilderness” and “in an uninhabited salt land.”

    So which tree sounds closer to what you feel like these days?  Has your soul been drinking deeply of the Spirit of God, or are you all dried up, like a shrub in the desert?  Once again, my guess would be that most of us are probably somewhere in between.  Most of us probably want to be like the tree planted near streams of water, but in reality we all go through dry periods.

    The thing about a Psalm like this that only presents two options is that it is likely to make most of us feel inadequate.  After all, how many of us can truthfully say that we meditate on God’s law day and night or that we are always drinking deeply from God’s Word and bearing fruit?  While we most likely want to be on the path where God is watching over us and where we do what is right, most of us are aware that there are times when we are walking that other path.  And so today, I’d like to suggest a third way.

    This is the way that was lifted up in our reading today from the Gospel of John.  This is the way of Jesus.  It is a way where we know that we are saints and sinners all at the same time.  It is a way where we know that we have already stood in the judgment because we belong to Christ.  It is the way of Jesus, who is our salvation and our strength and the source of living water.

    It is no accident that Jesus used many of the same images in his teaching.  He talked about the wide road that leads to destruction and the narrow road that leads to life (Mt. 7:13-14).  He spoke about the Holy Spirit as “rivers of living water” flowing out of the hearts of believers (Jn. 7:38-39).  He spoke about himself as the vine and us as the branches (Jn. 15:5).  He talked about how we need to stay attached to that vine, drinking deeply of the Holy Spirit so that we can bear much fruit.

    And so, during those times when we are feeling more like a shrub in the desert, or when we know that we have strayed and have not been putting our trust in God, we know that it is not all up to us to get ourselves turned around and headed down the right path.  Jesus has promised to be with us.  Jesus has promised that we can come before God in prayer.  Jesus promised the coming of the Holy Spirit, who continues to pray for us, to intercede for us, and to empower us so that we can bear good fruit.

    In spite of the fact that we sometimes feel unacceptable, God has made us acceptable through our baptism into Christ.  God has healed us, restored us, and forgiven us, and God continues to empower us through the Holy Spirit.  Let us then follow the one who is the Way and the Truth and the Life, drinking deeply of the living water that he offers in order to continue to grow up into Christ.  Amen.

Holy Trinity (NL Summer)                                Psalm 1
May 31, 2015                                    John 14:1-6
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2015 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved