Pastor Tom Johnson, March 13, 2022
Today I’d like for us to ponder the words of Psalm 27. It’s written by King David. His song and prayer is mostly in the first person singular—that is to say, Psalm 27 is mostly about me, myself, and I. In other words David talks about and to himself. And yet, we as God’s people collectively sing these beautiful and powerful words. Together, we pray for our individual selves, talk to ourselves, and even encourage ourselves. It is not until the very last verse that we tell each other to be patient, be strong, and wait for the Lord to comfort our hearts.
In the church we often talk about evangelization. First Saint Paul’s has a board of evangelism and outreach. It’s very important for us pray for those outside the fold and find creative ways to get the message of the good news of Jesus Christ. On the back of your bulletin you’ll find our mission statement. The first part of our mission is to proclaim Christ. We preach. We declare. We reach out to the community and pray that others will be brought to faith. What I love about Psalm 27 is that David models how I should preach good news to myself, proclaim God’s love to myself, and reach out to my inner child and tenderly bring myself the assurance of God’s grace, forgiveness, and eternal life. You could say that this Psalm is self-evangelization.
Psalm 27 an interior monologue compassionately calling ourselves to the warm embrace of our Heavenly Father. How many of you talk to yourselves in the privacy of your homes, cars, and in your heads. I suspect that most of us are pretty hard on ourselves. We routinely beat ourselves up. We hardly need the assistance of bullies or the devil. We often do a sufficient job giving ourselves a kick in the pants and a black eye. “Where did you put those keys, you dummy!” If we struggle with a poor self-image, I suspect that we might even say even more cruel things to ourselves. Remember the royal law and golden rule: to love your neighbor as yourself. Psalm 27 reminds us not to forget about yourself. The Scriptures teach us that you and I—the baptized in Christ—are simul justus et peccator. That is to say, we are simultaneously justified and sinners. We are sinners and saints. The holy you can reach out to the fallen you.
Psychologists will tell you that most of our psychological wounds come from early childhood. Even those of us who were blessed with loving parents may still be trapped in a cycle of self-loathing, guilt, and shame. King David was no exception. You’ll remember that when the prophet Samuel was looking for God’s choice to become King of Israel he came to Jesse’s house. Jesse introduces seven of his sons to Samuel. Samuel has to ask, “Is this all your sons?” Jesse responds, “No, there is one more. He is the youngest but he is out in the fields tending the sheep.” Were it not for God’s leading and Samuel’s question, Jesse appears willing to forsake his last born. Some theologians speculate that David was illegitimately born. David himself says in Psalm 51, “In sin did my mother conceive me.” There is no mention of David’s mother in Scripture. It may be that David was abandoned by his mother. It seems that he was simply tolerated by his father Jesse and his half-brothers. David experienced rejection and abuse from his brothers. Saul, the king before him, tried to kill David numerous times. Even David’s son Absalom tries to kill him. It seems clear by all the psalms that David carried deep psychological wounds. Some scholars believe Psalm 86 verse 16 is David longing for unconditional, parental love. He writes, “Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant; save the child of your serving girl.”
Sadly, not all of us had loving parents. All of us have flawed parents. That’s why it’s so powerful when David preaches the good news to himself: “Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me in.” Do not let the abuse or neglect in your past—even by your own family—determine your worth before God. Sometimes we need to love ourselves by rejecting the lies of the world and the devil. Like great blues artist BB King sang, “Nobody loves me but my mother and she may be jiving too.” No. We preach to ourselves, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” “If God is for us, who is against us?” “We are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” The Apostle Paul preaches the Gospel to himself in Romans chapter 8: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
In our Gospel reading, Jesus gives us words to preach the Gospel to ourselves. He says he is the mother hen who desperately wants to gather her chickens under her protective wings—even though they are not willing. Did you catch that? Mother hen reaches out to her chicks even though they run away from her protection. We are those foolish and disobedient chicks. We fail to understand how passionate God’s protective love is for us. Our worth is not found in ourselves but grounded in God’s character and unconditional love for us. And so Jesus the mother hen spreads his wings on the cross to shield and deliver us from evil, our sin, and death itself. Mother hen Jesus overcomes our unwillingness by his relentless love. So that by his resurrection we can say with the psalmist, “I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”
Jesus loves me, this I know,
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to him belong.
They are weak.
He is strong.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
The Bible tells me so.
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