“The Shepherd Who Leads Us On Right Paths”
Jesus, the Good Shepherd: Part 3
(Psalms 23:3 and Selected Scriptures)
The Greenhouse ~ 21st Sunday after Trinity
One of America’s best-known and most-loved poems, “The Road Not Taken,” was written by Robert Frost in 1915. He writes:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Sometimes life presents us with two paths of apparently equal worth. In Frost’s poem, the two roads look just as fair, and he is sorry he cannot travel both. Sometimes, however, one path is easy and another hard. Or sometimes one looks exciting or another boring. Sometimes paths (metaphorical paths—decisions we might say) have moral implications—we could select a path to morality and the good or a path toward immorality and the evil.
In Psalms 23:3, the psalmist will speak about right paths. We will spend most of our time talking about this path, but there is one line to explore before we get there: “He renews my life,” or in some translations, “He restores my soul.” Just as the provision of verse 1 led into the provision of food, safety, and peace in verse 2, so also the peace of verse 2 continues into verse 3 with “renew my life” before focusing on the right path. As we explored last week, the Good Shepherd provides us with peace. We see yet another way that He provides peace here in verse 3: the rest and safety that were the foundation of peace in verse 2 extends to verse 3 and the renewing of our lives and the restoration of our souls. Last week we explored how Jesus says He gives us this peace in the gift of the Holy Spirit, and that peace, which here renews our lives, will be necessary for the challenge that follows.
Why, if he goes on to talk about right paths for God’s name, however, do I say what follows is a challenge? First, the psalm itself will suggest this idea to us in verses 4-5, when the peace of verses 2-3 transitions into dark valleys and the presence of enemies. But second, we also see how the right path for God’s people is, because of the sin of the world, a difficult path. In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, He tells His listeners “Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it” (Matt 7:13-14). The wide and broad road, the one that may appear the easier path to walk, is the road that leads to destruction. The narrow way, the difficult road, on the other hand, is the one that leads to life. Notice also another parallel with a text we read in John 10. In Matthew 7, Jesus says we enter that difficult road to life through the narrow gate. In John 10, Jesus says He is the door of the sheepgate. Those who try to enter by another way are thieves and robbers. The only way into good pastures is the way of the gate which is opened by the Shepherd. He opens that gate for His sheep, and His sheep know His voice and follow Him. This truth becomes key in the gospels as well because the voice of the Shepherd is clear about the path—the path to life is the path of the cross. Jesus says, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Matt 16:24).
We have before us two roads, but unlike Robert Frost, they are not equally fair. One is broad and easy, enticing us to take it. But it is the road often taken, the road that many tread, the road that leads to destruction. Meanwhile, there is another road, a difficult road, a narrow, dangerous, and difficult road that leads to the cross. Few take it, but it is paradoxically the way to life. The Good Shepherd leads us in right paths, but the right path is not the one we will be predisposed to take. We may, like the thieves and robbers in John 10, try to take the easy path and then climb over the wall later on, but there is no entering by that way. We must enter by the gate, through the Shepherd, and we find the way through that gate by following His voice to the cross.
The Christian life is full of such apparent paradoxes. The last shall be first, and the first shall be last. He who seeks to save his life will lose it; but he who will lose his life for Jesus’ sake will find it. The way of humility is the way of exaltation. The broad, easy path leads to death; the path to the cross is the path of life. The way the Shepherd renews our lives is by giving His life; the way He restores our souls is by leading us to the cross as well, perhaps not to give up our physical lives, but to give up those things that we cling to instead of the Shepherd. Jesus leads us in right paths; that is the promise of Psalms 23:3, Matthew 7:14, and John 10:9-10. But the right path is not the easy path.
As I close, I made an attempt at rewriting Frost’s poem in light of the Shepherd who leads us in right paths. I am under no mistaken pretenses that my poetry here does justice to Frost’s, but I do hope the message does justice to the truth and force of Jesus’ message in Scripture that the way of the cross is the right path.
“The Road Not Taken—Jesus Remix”
Two roads diverged in a metaphorical wood,
And we cannot choose to travel both.
We have but one life, to choose the good,
And without the Shepherd we never could
Choose the difficult path that others loathe.
We must choose the path that’s much less fair
Though it proves o’er time to have the better claim.
Though the other path shows signs of wear
From many multitudes who pass through there,
Take the path where the Shepherd calls our name.
Each morning two paths before us lay,
A chance to follow the path of light or darkness black.
And we must choose light for each new day,
For knowing how way leads on to way,
Our choice may make it difficult to turn back.
I shall be telling this on high
With God in ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Amen.
Discussion Questions
How have you experienced the leading of Jesus in your life?
What is a situation where you have been confronted with multiple paths and you didn’t know which path to take? What is a situation where you knew a path was a wrong path, but it was still a temptation?
How do we learn to discern Jesus’ voice so we may follow Him on the right path?
What does it mean to take a path to the cross?
Feature Photo by Jens Lelie on Unsplash
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