Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Psalm 22:1; 23:1 "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" . . . The LORD is my shepherd.
THE SHEPHERD SUBSTITUTE
In Psalm 23 God's sheep boast in the fact that their Shepherd is the LORD! But back up. Consider Psalm 22! That Psalm tells us how we came to live in the pastures of the Good Shepherd in the first place. It speaks to us of the incredible price God had to pay to make us His own sheep.
As straying sheep, we had no loyalty to the LORD. We were His very enemies. Our sin earned us a one-way ticket to hell. In living color, however, the prophetic Psalm pictures someone else being damned in our place. Our Substitute is the Shepherd of Psalm 23, the LORD Himself. In deepest anguish He cries to His Father, "My God, My God, Why have you forsaken Me?" The Holy Shepherd God becomes "the Worm", as all the stink and stench of the entire human race is flung upon Him.
Look closely. See your personal sin slithering all over Him as well. See Him shed His blood to pay the full ransom price. He has redeemed you a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won you from all sin, from death and from the power of the devil.
The Maker of Heaven and Earth takes on our flesh and is cursed with our sin. Why? Turn the page! Go forward to Psalm 23. The LORD became our sin because He wanted to be your Shepherd! He wanted to lead you everyday into the quiet and peace of His Word and Sacrament. He wanted to guide you into a life which honors His name! He wanted you to be fearless as you walk with Him in the dark valleys. Finally He wanted you to dwell with Him in His house forever!
What punishment so strange is suffered yonder!
The Shepherd dies for sheep that loved to wander.
The sinless Son of God must die in sadness;
The sinful child of man may live in gladness.
(TLH 143)
