Sermon 5/2/04
A Few of My Favorite Things - Psalm 23
(view lectionary notes for this text)
Aside from John 3:16, the 23rd Psalm is probably one of the most memorized verses of scripture. It is also probably one of the most loved. Well-loved scripture passages always put me on guard, because I have to wonder why we like certain passages so much. Do we love the ones that are most challenging? The hardest to understand? Most difficult to follow? No, we usually love the ones that are the most comforting and/or the most beautiful. The 23rd Psalm is both - poetically beautiful - one of the few passages most people still prefer to hear and read in the flowery King James Version. And it is certainly comforting, often finding a place in funeral liturgies, bringing peaceful images of rest and care in God's presence even in times of "the valley of the shadow of death." This psalm is beautiful and comforting. Is it more than that?
Actually, I find it thought-provoking that this Psalm is one of our favorites. After all, it is from the Old Testament, not the more-liked New Testament. It reminds us of our own mortality, bringing up the usually avoided issue of our own inevitable death. The 23rd Psalm isn't about Jesus, though we can certainly relate it to the images Jesus uses of himself as shepherd in the gospel, even in today's gospel lesson, for example. But Jesus is building on an already existing metaphor of God as shepherd. We love this imagery, but that too is a puzzle to me. What, really, do we know about sheep and shepherding? Perhaps some of you are knowledgeable on the topic, but I had to do research to get what it's all about. Our typical thoughts of shepherds might be of our children in bathrobes and belts tied around heads for Christmas pageants. This is personally as close to a shepherd I've ever been. Visions of sheep are of fluffy, harmless, happy little creatures, but we might have to dig back a few years to think of the last time we actually came face to face with a sheep. And yet, we love to think about Jesus, about God, as our shepherd, The Good Shepherd.
We even speak of shepherding as a path we too can follow. In our Covenant Discipleship Group, we recently talked about spiritual gifts, (something I hope sounds familiar to those of you who were around here earlier this year), and one of the spiritual gifts we discussed was shepherding. Shepherding, our textbook told us, "is the gift of guidance. Shepherds nurture other Christians in the faith and provide a mentoring relationship to those who are new to the faith. Displaying an unusual spiritual maturity, shepherds share from their experience and learning to facilitate the spiritual growth and development of others. Shepherds take individuals under their care and walk with them on their spiritual journeys. Many shepherds provide spiritual direction and guidance to a wide variety of believers. (1)
So just what did it mean to be a shepherd? Well, (2) a shepherd would carry two weapons for protection against predators and enemies - a sling shot, like David used against Goliath, and the crook, like you would envision, as described by the synonyms rod and staff in the Psalm. One end would have the big hook for sheep that were wandering away, the other would have a hard round knob, to be used like a club against attacking animals. The shepherd would call the sheep out of the gated area in the morning, and individual herds of sheep could tell which call was the call of their master. The shepherd would lead them to a place good to eat, with water to drink, sometimes from in front, sometime prodding and guiding from behind. At the end of the day, the shepherd would lead them back to the safety of the pen, counting to ensure they were all there. It was not a glamorous life - shepherds were pretty low on the totem pole. But their service was invaluable, and obviously inspiring, considering the many and varied comparisons to sheep and shepherding we find in both the Old and New Testaments.
Do these facts and details enlighten this text for us? I hope they give us some insight, some background at least. But still, we must dig deeper to really let this Psalm have deeper meaning for us. Rather than saving it for times of loss and mourning only, this Psalm can have even more meaning for us if we let it permeate our living days as well. Perhaps that is why it is one of a few scriptures that shows up in the 3-year lectionary cycle every year, always during the season of Easter, a season when we celebrate life's power over death, a season of growing, a season of new life. The psalm is a living and breathing message to us, speaking of our deepest desires to be comforted, guided, led, protected.
And that's just it: Perhaps where the challenge is in this text is that we've somehow convinced ourselves that we'd like to be shepherded, led, into the wonderful scenes described in this psalm. Wouldn't it be great if someone would take us to the still waters, the green pastures. Wouldn't we like to have God fill our cup to overflowing, and wouldn't we like to dwell with God all the days of our lives? Wouldn't we like to have someone who would guide us through the darkest times of life, and protect us in the presence of our enemies? Yes, we cry, give us this shepherd, give us the Good Shepherd. Please, God, guide us! Isn't that what we're saying?
At last, I think, we've found the challenge. Perhaps why shepherding is seen as a spiritual gift is because of taking into account those who are to be shepherded. One thing I did discover in my 'sheep research' is that sheep are not always the brightest animals. (3) They don't always seem to make the best choices, and a shepherd can help literally to save their lives: by finding them food, by keeping them from predators, by setting them in the right direction, by rescuing them from thickets.
We humans don't always seem so bright ourselves. We wander into thickets of a different kind, but we certainly seem to get stuck in our own messy situations, we get headed the wrong direction, we get caught up by those who would harm us, and we find ourselves spiritually starving. Anyone who would lead us has a big task at hand. But our need of shepherding is more than that - we need shepherding most, perhaps, because of how much we insist we don't need it.
Here's where we differ from the sheep at least. Sheep usually come to love and recognize their masters, and as Jesus suggests in our gospel reading, they recognize the voice of the shepherd. But we humans, despite our outward insistence, are not actually so keen on having someone direct our lives. Perhaps especially here in the United States, we have come to love our independence. It is our nation's pride, and indeed we ought to be thankful for our individual, personal, human right with which we are blessed in this country. But sometimes I wonder if all of our independence in matters of law and society haven't made it harder for us to see areas of our lives where it's better, so much better, if we don't try to do it on our own.
In the end, despite our love of pretty images, we certainly act as if we know what is best for our lives, and not the God who created us, shaped us, and blessed us. We want to be guided and protected, only if we can lay out the parameters where God is allowed to lead us. We want to see the still waters and green pastures, but only of a certain variety that sound good to us. We want the benefits of being led, but the power of being our own shepherd, without any of the consequences of the crazy choices we make for ourselves.
So, it turns out, being a sheep is harder than it looks. It's hard to admit we don't always know what is best for ourselves. It's humbling to have someone else guide our lives, urge us and prod us into doing what we don't want to do. It's hard to be part of a flock, one of many cared for and loved sheep, all of whom the shepherd looks out for just as much as the shepherd looks out for us.
But God promises that the challenge is worth our effort. Protected, nourished, counted as precious. These are the gifts that come from being part of God's fold. Jesus offers to lead us - we just have to follow. Jesus offers to love us - we just have to let ourselves be loved. God promises to care for us - we just need to have the faith that God the Good Shepherd knows the path.
"Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of God forever." Amen.
(1) Companions in Christ, Participant Book, pg. 220
(2) http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=94404 is the site for most of this paragraph's info, though I had looked at several websites, so I had a hard time remembering where I read what. This had the bulk of my info in it.
(3) http://www.ics.uci.edu/~pazzani/4H/Sheep.html