“The Path of Life” (Psalm 16:8-11)
This
is the time of year when you hear motivational phrases like these:
“This is the first day of the rest of your life” … “Carpe
diem (Seize the day)” … “The sky’s the limit” … “The
world is your oyster.” This is the time of year when you hear
graduation speeches.
Maybe
graduates will also listen to speeches which mention all the paths
ahead of them. Each day they will be faced with many choices. How
they respond to certain choices will determine what direction their
life takes. Whether you have a Big Mac or a Quarter Pounder is not a
very earth-shattering decision. Deciding who to marry … now that’s
a life-changing choice.
While
Confirmation Day feels like a graduation, remember what you always
hear from me: “Confirmation is NOT graduation.” This is one step
along the way in your ongoing growth in your life of faith in Jesus.
And for each one of you … whether confirmand or graduate, youth or
adult, there really are only two paths from which to choose: the
“Path of Life” and the “Path of Death.” The Path of Life is
trusting in God and walking in his ways and leads to eternal life.
The Path of Death is turning away from God and his ways and leads to
eternal death. The Path of Death is the one we naturally choose.
It’s very easy to find. “The gate is wide and the way is easy
that leads to destruction,” Jesus said (Matt. 7:13), “and those
who enter by it are many” (Matt. 7:13). The Path of Life on the
other hand, is not so easy to find. “The gate is narrow and the
way is hard that leads to eternal life, and those who find it are
few” (Matt. 7:14). Thankfully, God has revealed this path to us in
the Holy Scriptures. Psalm 16:11 from today’s Introit says, “You
make known to me the path of life.”
Knowing
Your True Identity on the Path
Along
this path of life, it’s important to know your true identity.
Sometimes college students will take some time off and travel in
order to “find themselves.” They have a major. They have an
idea what career options are before them. But they’re not sure
that’s what they want to do with the rest of their life. So they
take a trip away from home … maybe Europe … or someplace exotic,
like Nepal. They journal. They meet new people. They contemplate
who they are and what’s really important to them.
“Finding
yourself” is not unique to college students. Teenagers do this,
too. They experiment with their own personal style … with clothes,
hairstyle, music, and so on. They are developing deeper
relationships. They wonder how they fit in to all the different
subgroups at school. When I was in school, there were the jocks, the
preppies, the punks, the stoners, the surfers, the nerds, just to
name a few. I’ll let you guess what group I was in. I don’t
know what labels are out there now. Maybe you feel like you don’t
fit in anywhere. You’re still trying to find your place in the
world.
Some
adults even struggle with knowing who they are. Certain men my age
may have what is called a “mid-life crisis.” They look back on
their life and judge their accomplishments (or lack thereof) and
think to themselves, “I’m bored with my life. I need a change.
I haven’t done what I wanted to. I haven’t achieved the goals I
set out for myself.” At best, they go out and buy a motorcycle or
a sports car. At worst, they abandon their families and begin to
live selfishly and recklessly.
But
you don’t have to wonder who you are. You already have an
identity. You are a creation of the Holy Trinity. The same God who
began to create with the words “Let there be light” (Gen. 1:3) is
the God who made you. This world did not come into being by chance.
Neither did you. You are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps.
139:14). The Lord “formed [your] inward parts” and “knitted
[you] together in [your] mother’s womb” (Ps. 139:13). The same
God who numbers the stars also knows how many hairs you have on your
head (Ps. 147:4; Matt. 10:30). He takes a personal interest in you
and continues to care for you.
You
are also a new creation in the waters of Holy Baptism. You were
baptized into the name of the Holy Trinity … Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. Your sins were washed away. You were brought into his
kingdom. You were marked with the seal of ownership. You belong to
God as his own precious, redeemed child. You are an heir of all that
Jesus earned for you at the cross … eternal life and the promise of
resurrection on the Last Day.
And
because you are baptized, this makes you a disciple of Jesus. Jesus
sends his Church into the world to “make disciples of all nations
by baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you”
(Matt. 28:19-20). This is how disciples are made. By baptizing and
teaching. You become a life-long learner from Jesus and his Word.
Led by his Spirit working through that Word, you receive help to make
choices along the way on this path of life.
Your
Travelling Partner on the Path
Along
this path, you also have a travelling partner. King David said, “I
have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I
shall not be shaken” (Ps. 16:8). In royal jargon, the right hand
is the place of privilege and honor. The right hand is the one that
acts and serves and fights. So when David says, “I have set the
Lord always before me,” it doesn’t mean that he’s somehow
manipulating God. Instead, David is recognizing the Lord’s
constant nearness as the one who acts on David’s behalf, who serves
David, and goes before him to fight his battles.
Is
this how you and I go about our day? Setting the Lord always before
us? Trusting that he is at our right hand? Not usually. Instead,
we’re focused on our tasks at hand, the problems we face, anxious,
worried, fretting over how we are going to make it through the day
because our finances are in a shambles, our health is failing, our
job is in jeopardy.
Repent
of your sinful worry. Listen to David again: “because [the Lord]
is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.” The Lord is with you.
He holds your hand as a Father holds his child’s hand and walks
with you, stands beside you, and cares for you. Listen to Jesus who
promises: “I am with you always” (Matt. 28:20).
Set
the Lord before you as your travelling partner. Recognize that he
has already promised to be with you along this path of life at your
right hand.
Your
Destination at the End of the Path
You
are God’s creation and new creation in Baptism. The Lord is your
travelling partner. Now let’s talk about your destination at the
end of the path.
The
end of the path of life is not death. Death is not the end. David
acknowledged this when he said, “For you will not abandon my soul
to Sheol or let your holy one see corruption” (Ps. 16:10). In
death, God does not abandon you. When you depart this life, you will
be with the Lord, and the promise of resurrection awaits you.
What’s
more, St. Peter explains that in that verse, David was actually
prophesying our Lord’s own resurrection here. Peter quotes Psalm
16 in today’s reading from Acts 2 and says that David “foresaw
and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not
abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God
raised up, and of that we all are witnesses” (Acts 2:31-32). And
remember the words of Jesus, “I am the resurrection and the life.
Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John
11:25).
The
joys of eternity await you at the end of the path. “In your
presence there is fullness of joy, at your right hand are pleasures
forevermore,” David says. And you receive a foretaste of eternity
right here at this altar. Jesus has ascended to the right hand of
the Father. In his Holy Supper, his right hand reaches down from
heaven and offers you his very own body and blood, the very body and
blood that earned for you the forgiveness of all your sins. Here at
the altar, you are ushered to the Lord’s right hand. He invites
you to eat and drink with him and gives you the place of privilege
and honor. Here at the altar there is fullness of joy. Here there
are pleasures forevermore. Here you are prepared for a blessed death
so you may then partake of pleasures forevermore at God’s right
hand, no longer hindered by sin or sickness or sorrow.
Above
all else, remember that Jesus already walked the path of life for
you. His path took him from heaven to the womb of his mother Mary,
to the manger, to Egypt, to Nazareth, to the shores of Galilee, to
the temple in Jerusalem, to the cross of Calvary, to the Garden Tomb,
and back to the right hand of the Father. But this journey that
Jesus took was not to find himself. It was to find you … to rescue
you from the path of death you were on and put you on the path of
life.
Your
path of life now leads you to the altar, back out to the world to
invite others onto “The Path of Life,” and on into eternity.
Travel
this path knowing who you are. You are God’s creation. You are
God’s new creation in Baptism. You are marked with the seal of
forgiveness. You belong to him. You are a disciple … a life-long
learner and hearer of God’s Word and recipient of all his gracious
gifts in Word and Sacrament.
Travel
this path knowing the Lord is your travelling partner. He is at your
right hand to strengthen you, to uphold you, to care for you.
And
travel this path knowing your destination … fullness of joy and
pleasures forevermore at the Lord’s right hand … now in his
Supper … then in the resurrection on the Last Day.
Amen.
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