The Good Shepherd

Psalm 23

Psalm 23:1: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

[Prayer]

Near the middle of John's Gospel, Jesus refers to himself as the Good Shepherd. In Luke's Gospel, God is portrayed as the loving shepherd who goes out to rescue and return his lost sheep. In Psalm 95, God's people are referred to as the sheep of his pasture. In Ezekiel 34, God tells the prophet that he himself will shepherd his lost and scattered sheep. Near the end of John's Gospel, the resurrected Jesus admonishes Peter three times to feed his sheep. In today's Scripture lesson, Psalm 23, the writer refers to the Lord as his shepherd.

The Bible uses a lot of shepherd and sheep symbolism to describe the Lord God's relationship with his people. We are the sheep of his pasture who get lost, go astray, and find ourselves scattered. Our Lord God, incarnate in Christ Jesus, is the Good Shepherd who finds us, tends us, binds up our wounds, feeds us, and guides us through both the perilous and prosperous seasons of our lives. The Lord is our shepherd... his rod and his staff do guide us along the paths of righteousness and into places of peace and restoration... he walks with us and leads us through even life's most dark and dangerous places... he goes with us through all our experiences, including that ultimate human experience we know as death.

But our Lord is more than just a shepherd. He is also a gracious and protective host. Within his house - within the sanctuary of worship - we are fed, comforted, honored, and protected from every enemy, including that age-old enemy of God we know as the Devil, Satan, the Evil One, or simply as THE ENEMY. Within the circle of God's grace, nothing can ultimately get to us. Even the devil himself can only stand watching in frustration as God our host feeds us on the bread of life and gives us living water to drink. The shepherd who guides, protects, and comforts us along the way of life is also the host who welcomes, protects, and comforts us within the context of Christ's Church.

Shepherd... Host... Guide... Protector... Friend... Savior. The Lord who is our shepherd is all these things to us, and much, much more. He is our ultimate security in an insecure world, a dependable presence in a life that is full of uncertainties.

And today's text, the 23rd Psalm, is a song of hope and comfort when life's insecurities and uncertainties threaten to overwhelm us. It is a hymn of victory in the face of death, darkness, and defeat. It is a word of life that we fling in the face of those powers, principalities, and dark forces that would rob us of all hope, joy, and peace. It is a text not only appropriate for the graveside of the dead or for the bedside of the dying, but for all of life, especially life in Christ.

It is an appropriate Scripture for the man or woman who has lost a child, parent, loved one, or friend to death... for the husband or wife whose marriage has been shattered by betrayal, desertion, separation, or divorce... for the mother or father whose child is off in some far land of sinfulness acting out the parable of the Prodigal Son, and for their lost and prodigal child who doesn't know how to turn for home.... for the wage earner whose job has been down-sized out of existence... for the business owner done in by the cruel variables of the economic cycle... for the teenager or college student who is ostracized for not going along with the crowd... for the church whose existence is threatened by factors beyond its control... for the Christian of any time or place whose faith brings him or her into bitter conflict with culture. Whenever, wherever, however we find ourselves overwhelmed by loss, grief, fear, or frustration, the 23rd Psalm is a text that lets us know we are not alone, we are not forsaken, we have an eternal friend, and, within the church, we have a place of comfort, solace, and refuge.

The 23rd Psalm is a comforting text in the face of temptation, reminding us that we do have a shepherd to guide where we need to go, an eternal presence who wants to lead us to places of safety, health, and wholeness, a Lord whose will for us is good and not evil. It is a reassuring text when we have strayed far off the paths of righteousness, a reminder that our Lord is a God who will work to bring us back into his fold. It is a helpful text when we feel out of step with the world, letting us know that there is a place where we do belong. It is a comforting word to us in those moments when we feel torn apart by our deepest, darkest guilts and anxieties, when we feel smothered by the heavy darkness of depression, for in such moments it reminds us that our Shepherd is there to protect us even from ourselves, to keep us safe from all enemies, even those which reside within us.

It is the Word of God which the church must speak to victims of abuse, neglect, and abandonment... and share with the emotionally and sometimes physically battered spouses and children of alcoholics, addicts, and those driven to violence... and especially communicate to the man or woman lost in the bottom of a bottle, dying at the end of a needle, committing slow suicide with a fork and spoon, emotionally and spiritually consumed by the pursuit of another sexual high or romantic conquest, or driven by insane rages which cause them to lash out at their loved ones in horrible ways.

All around us there are people who need to know, that even in those deep, dark valleys of death and destruction that alcoholism, addiction, unhealthy sexual behaviors, and unchecked rage are to their active practitioners - and their innocent victims: even there the Good Shepherd is willing to walk, his ever ready rod and staff at hand to guide them out of the darkness. They need to know that his Church is a place of refuge and healing, that his Spirit is a powerful and active foe to any and every demonic threat to human health, wholeness, and goodness.

The 23rd Psalm is not some romantic, sentimental puff piece of biblical poetry. It's more than just a series of verses to be memorized as a child and then stashed away on some far back burner of our consciousness. The 23rd Psalm is the living and powerful Word of God to every human being. It is a word of comfort to Christians seeking to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, footsteps that sometimes lead us to some very dark and dangerous places. It's God's Word of hope and salvation to all who are outside the church, living in the dark, deadly valleys of sin and human despair. It's God's Word in the face of life's every trial, temptation, and terrifying threat. It's a reminder that God is our God and we are - each of us - his people, his creation: a reminder that the Lord is our Shepherd and we are indeed the sheep of his pastures.

The Lord is [our] shepherd, [we] shall not want. He makes [us] lie down in green pastures; he leads [us] beside still waters; he restores [our] soul. He leads [us] in right paths for his name's sake. Even though [we] walk through the darkest valley, [we need] fear no evil; for [our shepherd] is with [us]; [his] rod and [his] staff - they comfort [us]. [Our Lord God prepares] a table before [us] in the presence of [our ENEMY]; [he anoints our heads] with oil; [our cups overflow]. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow [us] all the days of [our lives], and [we] shall dwell in the house of the Lord [our] whole life long."

The Lord is Our Shepherd. Amen.