Our shepherd

Psalm 23

The Divine Shepherd

A Psalm of David.
¹ The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
²   He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
³   he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths
   for his name’s sake. 

⁴ Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
   I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
   your rod and your staff—
   they comfort me. 

⁵ You prepare a table before me
   in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
   my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
   all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
   my whole life long.

John 10.11-18 (NRSV)

¹¹“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹²The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. ¹³The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. ¹⁴I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, ¹⁵just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.¹⁶I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. ¹⁷For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. ¹⁸No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”

My text this morning is written in Psalm 23.6

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
   all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
   my whole life long.

My generation and those that came before me memorised this beautiful Psalm along with the Lord’s Prayer. Arnold Rhodes captures our experience, but sadly not that of present generations in this country, much to their loss:

Tiny tot memorises it before they can read, and the old man dies with it upon his lips. It is a personal confession of faith in the God who cares.

The most prized gifts normally come in small packages! What I want to share with you is the smallest of words in the Psalm, but one that brings the most amazing blessing. It is the word ‘my’ … “The Lord is my shepherd …” It is not even a whole word in Hebrew, it is only a suffix.

As a philosophy teacher, I spend all my time asking the Big Questions. This week, in lessons we will be thinking about the meaning of life! In the process, we also often look at the Universe, its existence and its being and we are often drawn back to the thought that it simply could not have happened by chance. Even the most ardent of sceptics, eventually acknowledge the possibility of a deity that kicked things off (Deism). We Theists hold to the idea of a personal God, because contingent things – those things that exist that do not have to exist, i.e. everything – must have been a result of a decision having been made, and making decisions is a personal attribute. Christians refer to this creator God (in the Psalmist’s words) as a shepherd in the way that he relates to His creation. Most of the time, this image is used when speaking of the covenant relationship God has with His people and the image was also meant to be a type for the way kings ought to relate to the people.

Here the Psalmist introduced a notion that is as radical as it is beautiful: this great creator God is my shepherd.

God cares for me; he cares for those that I love. I can bring my everyday needs before him, I do not need to feel that I have no right to do so, because God has given me the right through His Son Jesus, to bring all our needs before him.

The Psalmist continues: “I shall not lack any thing that the Shepherd knows that I need.”

Oriental shepherds find green pastures for their sheep. This is difficult but he perseveres. He leads them besides waters of rest and through this rest and life-giving water he restores the sheep’s life (the human soul).

Arnold Rhodes comments:

“As God’s people we have our green pastures and still waters: the daily bread, family prayers and Bible Study, worship in the sanctuary, service in the market place, in fact, all the blessings of God. God’s blessings, material and spiritual – bring renewed vitality for the tasks ahead. He leads each of us in paths of righteousness.”

G A F Knight reminds us of what used to be an oft-told story coming from the last century. Two ministers went on holiday walking through the Welsh hills. High on the moors they met a shepherd lad and stopped to speak with him. They discovered that this boy had never been to school and knew nothing of the Christian faith. They explained things to him as best they could and then shared the 23^rd Psalm with him. To help him discover this personal faith, they got him to repeat the words “The Lord is my shepherd”. The following year they returned to the hills. They called in at a cottage to purchase a drink of milk. The lady of the house noticed them looking at a picture on the mantelpiece. “Yes,” she said, “that was my son. He died last winter in a snow storm while tending his sheep. But there was a curious thing about him, his right hand was clutching the fourth finger of his left hand.”

The ministers explained: “We met your boy last year. In fact, since he was a shepherd boy, we taught him to repeat the first line of the 23^rd Psalm to himself, to pause at the fourth word, and think ‘This Psalm was meant for me.’”

This Psalm was meant for me too … and you … The Lord is my Shepherd. Close your eyes briefly and say it to yourself: “The Lord is my Shepherd.”

St John clearly identifies Jesus as the Messiah by using this beautiful pastoral image of a shepherd caring for his sheep. His love and care for his sheep goes so far that he is willing to lay down his life for them. It is in this way that Jesus is different to any hired hand, who are often those who think only of their own interests and the pay he will receive. When a hired hand sees danger – a wolf – he thinks only of his own safety and he flees for his life. On the other hand, the relationship between Jesus and his followers is comparable to the relationship between Jesus and God the Father, as Jesus explains in verse 15: “…¹⁵just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.”

McPolin reminds us that Jesus refers to himself as the ‘good’ shepherd because he ‘knows’ his sheep – his disciples know him and he knows them. ‘… This knowledge is not a mere intellectual understanding of a relationship; for the Hebrews to “know” a person meant to experience them through knowledge and love.’ It is a sharing in each other’s life in a deep and personal way and in the process we are deeply united with the love that is God.  McPolin continues: ‘As the Son knows and receives life from his Father, so those who know the Son know the Father and share in the gift of their life.’

All those who experience this life are united together in this love. This is what unites us as Jesus refers to in verse 16. Jesus said:

¹⁶I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

One of the hardest things for the world to unlearn is exclusiveness. Once people get the idea that they are right, they find it difficult to accept that they might not be, or that others might also be right but in a different way. This is what some of the Jews in Jesus’ day did not get; that they were not the only special people in the eyes of God.

But we need to listen to the voice of Christ. This implies reading, praying, discussing with others, trying to discern what Jesus is saying to us where we are. It is sadly becoming increasingly prevalent that some Christians are opting for a simplistic literalism in their reading of Scripture, suggesting that this is all that is required. The Church has always known that this is never what was intended by the authors of the books, and those that put together the collection or Canon that we refer to as today’s Bible. Philo of Alexandria dealing with the Old Testament at the time of Jesus saw the many contradictions (for there are many) as a sign to look for some deeper meaning than the mere literal. And since then the early Church and then throughout the ages has always taught to look beyond the literal, to seek the mind of God as they listen together to hear what Jesus is saying to us now.

There is a lovely story of a missionary to the indigenous Americans, people who were once referred to as Indians.  Barclay records how the missionary, Egerton Young, told them of the love of God. The aging chief responded:

“When you spoke of the Great Spirit just now, did I hear you say, ‘Our Father’?” “Yes” said Young. “That is very new and sweet to me,” said the chief. “We never thought of the great Spirit as Father. We heard him in the thunder; we saw him in the lightening, the tempest and the blizzard, and we were afraid. So when you tell us that the Great Spirit is our Father that is very beautiful to us.” … “Missionary, did you say that the Great Spirit is your Father?” “Yes” responded Young. The chief continued; “And did you say that he is the Indian’s Father?” “I did” replied Young. “Then you and I are brothers,” said the old chief.

We are indeed one, because God loves all of us – we can really be one in Christ Jesus our Lord – as Paul states so explicitly and beautifully in Galatians 3.28. And this is a dream that we can all help our Lord to make a reality. We can so share the love of Jesus with others, most importantly by the holy loving loves we live, more than the words we speak, that others might be drawn to Him. I love the advice St Francis to his brothers as they went out into the world: “Preach the Gospel everywhere, and when necessary use words.”

Both the Psalmist and John emphasise that the life of the Christian is not always easy. The Psalmist speaks of walking through the darkest valley. Jesus spoke of laying down his life. Difficult times. But not times that have no meaning and never times when we are left alone. For Jesus is always with us, his rod and staff guiding and protecting and comforting. Our cups can overflow even in the darkest places for goodness and mercy follows us all the days of our lives as we dwell in the presence of God’s love and care.

Jesus knew what God wanted of him but he also knew that the Father would never abandon him. Jesus needed to pay a price, but it was worth it. Jesus willingly gave his life for us because with it he has given us the gift of God’s love. Jesus could have refused, turned back and saved his own life, but he did not lose his life, he gave it.

And all this is for me, and for you, and for all those who accept it; it can become a present reality now. And this is how we find peace, contentment even fulfilment, no matter what are circumstances are from joy and even in the valley of the shadow of death. For we can testify as reality that – as the Psalmist was able to say …

 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
   all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
   my whole life long.

Amen.