Psalm 23: Part IV – Come To the Banquet Table

Where has our flock been as we journey through the 23^rd Psalm?

The Lord Is my Shepherd.  I lack nothing.  The Lord is our Shepherd, we lack nothing.  We have all that we need.  We may not have everything we want, we may not have everything we desire, there may be some items left of that wish list, but our Great Shepherd has and will continue to ensure that we have everything we need.  In fact, the Shepherd knows those needs before we even ask—but He invites us to seek first His Kingdom, His Righteousness, and then ask, seek, and knock in accordance with His Will, we will find, or perhaps just realize, that blessing upon blessing is being poured out upon us.

One of the most important things that the Shepherd provides that we need is an opportunity for rest and renewal…God leads us along whatever grassy meadows and tranquil waters bring us peace.  He invites us to lay our burdens down, not just lay them down, but to cast them upon Him meaning we aren’t to take them back up again.  God’s desire is to restore us from whatever trials and tribulations have worn us down.  Yet, I will remind us again, that there is no retirement plan in God’s family, there is only transition from one labor to the next.  So we are led by God to a Sabbath break, an oasis in the desert of life.  Then rested and strengthened, according to the Psalmist, God sets on the paths of righteousness, on the paths of His saving justice, for His Name’s sake—in order that He be given the honor and the glory in His restored Creation.

Then the Shepherd leads us through the darkest of valleys.  Refreshed and renewed in the oasis, we begin walking through the desert once more and there, we encounter the dark valleys—those places that in the day time of our lives, seem to be constantly reeled with shadows; and that in the evening hours of our lives, seem black and forbidding.  Places of disease and death, of loss and limitations…places that given a choice we would avoid at all cost.  Yet we are led to enter them as we journey in the name of God.  What casts light into that darkness is the assurance from God that is with us…not only is He with us, with His rod and His staff, He protects us from enemies and then draws us closer to Himself and one another and away from places of danger.  The Shepherd, though, brings us completely through the valley.

Tonight, we encounter the Shepherd doing something completely unexpected.

Imagine that we’re on a battlefield.  We are soldiers sent by the king to engage the enemy in battle.  We come to the battlefield and glimpse the sizable enemy on the other side.  It’s late at night and both armies decided to encamp and prepare for battle the next day.  Then, settling in, as we are opening our packs to pick out our meager rations to eat, the king and his entourage come in and set up a huge tent, unload and set in place banquet tables, and then set out a unbelievable meal.  The battle is the next day and the king has already prepared a victory banquet.  With that action, the king is declaring victory!

What is our response?

Do we just stare in unbelief, shocked by the gall of our king to set up this banquet right there in the face of our enemy?  I mean, that’s like walking up to a five-star general, slapping him in the face, and walking off, daring him to do something about it.

Do we join in the festivities amazed at the confidence of our king? 

Do we wake the next morning, fearful of how this celebration might have riled up our enemies as our king threw down the gauntlet—afraid it might have given them a determination they didn’t have?

Do we jump out of our tents, ready to head out, inspired by our leader, knowing that with his presence we will be able to take down the enemy?

You see, my brothers and sisters, that is just how, our Shepherd, our God, our King works.  It may not seem like it at the time, but God is all about setting up a victory banquet even before the battle happens.

Consider the first Passover meal.  While we may not see it as a major banquet, it was a meal of celebration set in place while the Hebrew people were still enslaved in Egypt.  Practicing Jews of today still gather at Passover, sharing a meal of roasted lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs.  As they share the meal, they remember and celebrate the victory that God brought them over Pharaoh and his army.

From that Passover celebration we get another of God’s victory banquets.  A group of thirteen Hebrew men, and possibly some others, gathered in an upper room to celebrate the Passover.  While they were eating, one of the men, Jesus, took the bread, gave thanks to God, broke the bread, and said, “‘This is my body which is given for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.’”  Toward the end of the Passover meal, at the time of the passing of the final cup, Jesus held up the cup, gave thanks to God, and said, “’Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for man for the forgiveness of sins.”.

Little did the other men and their friends know, they were partaking of God’s new victory banquet—for that night Jesus would be arrested, the next day tried and hung upon a cross, and then on the first day of the week, the Father would raise Him up, conquering both sin and death—enemies even greater than Pharaoh and his army, even greater than the Emperor and Roman Empire that the Jewish people sought to be delivered from.

Just as those of the Jewish faith continue to celebrate their victory banquet and remember their deliverance, so to do we, who follow Christ, celebrate the victory meal that Jesus began before his death and resurrection…we gather and share the bread and the cup and in doing so declare God’s victory over sin and death.

In fact, tonight we are going to be celebrating this meal…we are gathering at the table that God has prepared for us in the presence of our enemies…and as we partake of bread and the cup, we are declaring God’s victory over every enemy that we are facing.

We come to this table declaring God’s victory of hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and fires with damaged and destroyed homes and places of worship.

We come to this table declaring God’s victory over the depression.

We come to this table declaring God’s victory over the grief.

We come to this table declaring God’s victory over broken relationships.

We come to this table declaring God’s victory over chronic pain.

We come to this table declaring God’s victory over cancer.

We come to this table declaring God’s victory over addictions.

We come to this table declaring God’s victory over temptations.

We come to this table declaring God’s victory over racism, over regionalism, over ageism, over sexism, over political-partyism, over nationalism, and every other –ism which we let the world label and divide the body of Christ and all those that God has given life.

We come to this table declaring God’s victory over violence.

We come to this table declaring God’s victory over hunger and poverty.

We come to this table declaring God’s victory over fear.

We come to this table declaring once more, God’s victory over death itself.

And just as Moses and the Hebrew people of his day still had to face Pharaoh and the soldiers after their victory banquet, and just as Jesus had to face the cross after their victory banquet, there are still battles to be endured after we celebrate this meal today—but we feast together, at this table that God has prepared for us in the presence of our enemies, and declare that the victory is assured.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…Amen.