Getting Our “Nephesh” Back

April 25, 2010

Psalm 23 and John 10:22-30

Bonnie: in the pulpit, reads scripture, then begins. Jim: seated, ready to listen.

B Hey, Jim!

J Yes?

B I have a question.

J Aren’t you supposed to be preaching now?

B I’m getting started. It’ll make sense later.

J Ah, okay. What’s up?

B How’s your nephesh?

J He’s fine.

B Your nephesh?

J Yeah. Thanks for asking. He just had a birthday, and he’s finishing his first year of college.

B Not your nephew, your nephesh!

J Oh, you mean on Sarah’s side of the family?

B No! Nephesh! How … Is … Your … NEPHESH?

J Oh. Thaaat! … I don’t know.

B Why not?

J I didn’t know I had a NE … NEH … What’s the word?

B (Blurted out like a sneeze, but frustrated!) NEPHESH!

J Gesundheit! Need a Kleenex? (Walks up beside her with a box of tissues.)

B That wasn’t a sneeze. I was saying the word.

J Nephesh?

B Yes. Nephesh.

J Bless you! … So what IS a nephesh?

B You went to seminary. You learned Hebrew, just like I did.

J I did better in Greek.

B Your nephesh is in Psalm 23.

J Oh! My bookmark? I left my nephesh in there?

B No. That’s not what I mean.

J My bad. You said it’s in Psalm 23. Did I put it down in green pastures, or lose it by the still waters?

B Not exactly. But you might find it there.

J You don’t mean …? I couldn’t have! I wouldn’t have taken it there! Not in the valley of the shadow of death? If that’s where I dropped it, somebody will have to go get it back for me.

B Somebody has gone there to get it back for you.

J Then what? Did my enemies steal it? God made a place for them at the table with me. I knew that was trouble. I didn’t invite them. All of a sudden, my cup “ranneth” over. I bet my enemies stole my nephesh while I was cleaning up the mess.

B Come on! They didn’t take it from you. Your nephesh is still in Psalm 23. Listen:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me lie down in green pastures,

He leadeth me beside still waters, He restoreth my nephesh.

J I knew that. Hey! Wait a minute. God doesn’t restoreth my nephesh. God restoreth my soul.

B Same thing. Nephesh is the Hebrew word for “soul.”

J I still say you’re trying to trick me. Nobody believes in the “soul” any more. We’re too scientific. Have you ever heard of a person having surgery on their nephesh? Heart, lungs, brain, liver – maybe. But not the nephesh.

B You’re right. But just because surgeons can’t see it doesn’t mean you don’t have it. Nephesh isn’t just you “soul” in the spiritual sense. It’s you’re whole life, your whole being.

J How do you know all this?

B I paid attention in seminary.

J So you’re saying that God “restoreth my life?”

B Yes.

J Thanks for telling me. Because it’s been crazy lately. Weddings, funerals, newsletters, moving … My muffler fell off my car. Then I got a flat tire …

B (Interrupting) Wait a minute! Psalm 23 is talking about another part of your life. Not the external part, but the core of your being. The very essence of who you are, and who you are meant to be. Your nephesh is what makes you YOU – and nobody else.

J And God restoreth it?

B (Aside, to congregation, pointing to him) I think he’s starting to get it.

J But I don’t remember ever losing it.

B No problem. We’re only talking about getting it back.

J How?

B Having a little down time doesn’t hurt. A little time to “stop and smell the flowers,” as they say. Earth Day was last week. Paying attention to the earth can be good for your nephesh too. Like the psalm says, you could “lie down in a green pasture” some sunny afternoon.

J Or play ball in green meadows?

B I suppose. Take a walk “by still waters” …

J Or ride my bike by the water and then go for a swim?!

B If it’s good for your soul.

J Hey, aren’t you forgetting the sermon?

B Don’t worry. They’re listening (motion to congregation). And I am preaching, by the way … TO YOU.

J Well what about the Protestant Work Ethic? How does lying in the grass go with that?

B Would you rather be defined by your work or by God? God gave us the Sabbath, right? And God told us to keep it. Our nephesh is not defined by how much work we accomplish. To have a strong and healthy soul, we need to be connected to the people and world around us in ways that make us glad to be alive – not disconnected or distracted. Nobody on their death bed ever said, “I wish I spent more time at the office.”

J So I’ve heard. It’s just that every year seems to go faster and faster. You know, I figure I only have so much time to get everything done. And in the last couple of years there are all these aches and pains I never felt before.

B Jim, I hate to say it, but it almost sounds like your walks lately haven’t been by still waters, but in the “darkest valley” – the proverbial valley of the shadow of death. Do we need to worry about you?

J No. I figure God put me on earth to accomplish a certain number of things. And right now I’m so far behind, I’ll never die. So why worry?

B Wishful thinking. It’s okay to walk in that valley. We all do, sooner or later. But for the sake of our nephesh, we don’t need to pretend we’ll never die. We only need to know God is with us, even there. There’s no evil that will harm you. Nothing to fear. God will comfort you always. And guide you. Even in that dark valley. Like the Apostle Paul says, “Nothing in all creation will ever separate us from God’s love.”

J Bonnie, I really appreciate you talking to me like this. I’m starting to believe that goodness and mercy might actually follow me all the days of my life.

B That’s what I’m here for! It’s what we’re all here for. It’s what the church does. And it sounds like God is starting to restore your nephesh.

J There’s just one thing …

B What’s that?

J You still haven’t talked about today’s Gospel reading. How is that related?

B Believe it or not, there’s nephesh there too.

J Oh? The one in college?

B No! I didn’t say nephew. The people gathered around Jesus and said, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

J (doubtfully) Yeah? I don’t hear anything about the soul.

B Well, they didn’t actually say, “How long will you keep us in suspense?” That’s how the translator re-wrote it. They really said, “How long will you take away our soul – our nephesh?”

J Kind of like saying, “How long will you keep us holding our breath – till we turn blue in the face?”

B Exactly. They thought he was robbing them of their souls by not giving them the quick answers they wanted. But faith isn’t like that. It isn’t about quick, easy answers. It’s about getting our lives back together, body and soul, with God’s help. Jesus doesn’t take away our nephesh. He restores it. He came to help us get our nephesh back … to show us the way. That’s what God does in the psalm. And Jesus and God are one and the same. The people who wanted quick answers only thought Jesus was stealing their nephesh because they refused to believe the message he offers.

J But, in reality, to those who hear his voice and follow, he says, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.” Right?

B Right!

J Their nephesh will never be taken away.

B Did you just say what I think you said?

J Nephesh?

B God bless you. (Hands him the tissue box.)