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Good Shepherd Sunday |
Psalm 23, John 10: 1-10
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© John Ewing Roberts |
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PICTURES ON SCREEN 1. Shepherd with sheep in Shepherd's Field, Bethlehem, Israel 2. Bronze statuette of a man carrying a ram on his shoulders (Crete, 7th century BCE) (Berlin, Staatlich Museen) 3. Bronze statuette of a shepherd with a lamb (Greek, 6th century BCE) (Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, 1974 building) 4. Calf-bearer (Athens, Acropolis Museum, c. 570 BCE) 5. The Good Shepherd (Fresco from catacomb of St. Priscilla, Rome, c. 250 C. E.) 6. Thomas Hart Benton, The Lord Is My Shepherd (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1926) (used in Imaging the Word: An Arts and Lectionary Resource, Kenneth T. Lawrence, editor, Vol. I [Cleveland, Ohio: United Church Press] 1994, p. 199) 7. Luke, Smiling Shepherd, in JoAnne Taylor, Innocent Wisdom: Children as Spiritual Guides (New York: Pilgrim Press, 1989, illustration #6) (used in Imaging the Word, op. cit., p. 198) The pictures trace the persistent image of the shepherd, either carrying a sheep he has rescued or bearing a sacrifice to the temple. Early Christian art took this image for Christ as the Good Shepherd. In the Benton painting we see an elderly couple at a bare table. On the wall is a placard, "The Lord Is My Shepherd." We know the next line, "I shall not want," but they have very little food and appear at first glance to be in want. But the woman is looking to the man, her hand about to touch his; he looks to something beyond their immediate circumstances. In intimacy and transcendence and companionship there is something supplied beyond material wants. The last picture is a drawing by an 11 year old boy who repeats the old image of the shepherd with the sheep on his shoulder, going back over 2,000 years. The artist explained that God has the world on his heart, so the shepherd should have the world on his T-shirt. The smiling shepherd has his sleeves rolled up to work because He cares.[1] SPRING Baltimore is so wonderful in spring - first the daffodils, then flowering trees, now the tulips, with emerging dogwood trees and azaleas. Baltimore in spring...if only we had a baseball team! Baseball is associated with spring, spring training, opening day, and a playing field of lush green grass. The late Bart Giametti, professor of renaissance literature and president of Yale University before being "promoted" to Commissioner of Baseball, liked to point out that the word "paradise" had its origins in ancient Persia where it was associated with lush, green walled gardens, an easy jump to the expansive green outfield in the friendly confines of the old ball park. No less a theologian than George Carlin has reminded us of the superiority of baseball to football. Remember? Baseball is played in a park - a ball park. Football is played in a stadium, often called Soldier's Field or War Memorial Stadium. Baseball begins in the spring, the season of new life. Football begins in the fall, when everything is dying. Football is concerned with downs. "What down is it?" Baseball is concerned with ups. "I'm not up. Is he up? You're up!" In football, you receive a penalty. In baseball, you make an error. Oops! In football, the specialist comes in to kick something. In baseball, the specialist comes in to relieve someone. Football has hitting, clipping, piling on, spearing, personal fouls and unnecessary roughness. Baseball has the sacrifice. In football a tie scores forces you into sudden death. In baseball a tie scores give you extra innings. In football the objective is for the quarterback, sometimes called the field general, to be on target with his aerial assault, riddling the defence, hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy, in spite of the blitz, even if he has to use the shotgun; with short bullet passes and long bombs, he marches his troops into enemy territory, balancing his aerial attack with a sustained ground attack, which punches holes in the line of defense. In baseball the objective is go home and be safe.[2] Whether we visualize our gardens and neighborhoods, Camden Yard or the Little League field, we feel good about these same images that crop up in Psalm 23 - green pastures - safety - home - spring. The poet Robert Browning had this to say about spring. "The year's at the spring And day's at the morn; Morning's at seven; The hillside's dew-pearled; The lark's on the wing; The snail's on the thorn: God's in his heaven - All's right with the world."[3] WE NEED A SHEPHERD But of course all's not right with the world. There's Kosovo and Colorado and whatever darkness you tried to leave at home or at work or at school. Psalm 23 is by someone who had been "through the valley of the shadow the way one way or another you and I have walked there too. He says so himself. He believed that God was in his Heaven despite the fact that he knew as well as we do that all was far from right with the world. And he believed that God was like a shepherd."[4] "The Lord is my shepherd..." "arguably the most memorize, the most quoted, the most cherished piece of Scripture...even the most biblically impaired have heard somewhere, sometime, `The Lord is my shepherd.'"[5] "...if God is like a shepherd, there are more than just a few ways...that people like you and me are like sheep. Being timid, greedy, foolish, and half holy is only part of it. Sheep can also recognize a shepherd's voice, obey and follow. "Like sheep we get hungry, and hungry for more than just food. We get thirsty for more than just drink. Our souls get hungry and thirsty; in fact it is often that sense of inner emptiness that makes us know that we have souls in the first place... "...once in a while that inner emptiness is filled...That is part of what the psalm means by saying that God is like a shepherd...He feeds that part of us which is hungriest and most in need of feeding."[6] The shepherd looks for the sheep. If the Lord is the shepherd, and we are the sheep, then this means that we do not have to look for him so much as he is looking for us. "He has followed us into our own darkness; there where we thought finally to escape him, we run straight into his arms...Our hope is in his determination to save us. And he will not give up!"[7] AN OLD FRIEND Psalm 23 is an old friend. We memorize it as children. We scarcely refer to the printed page when it is the responsive reading except to know where our part begins and ends. Psalm 23 radiates trust in God's goodness. It breaths a spirit of calm assurance, deep peace, and profound serenity - not even the thought of the shadow of death can trouble such a spirit.[8] In quaint Victorian language the 19th century British Baptist pulpit giant Charles Spurgeon wrote that Psalm 23 "needs no other key than that which every Christian may find in his (sic) own bosom." He called it "a surpassing ode, which none of the daughters of music can excel."[9] In our time Samuel Terrien wrote that Psalm 23 presents "a state of spiritual equilibrium and of satisfaction without smugness" pointing "to the unwavering, unruffled steadiness of complete trust" in a sufficient God.[10] More recently Walter Bruggemann wrote that "it is almost pretentious to comment on the psalm...It is such a simple statement that it can bear its own witness without comment."[11] Since he then goes on to comment anyway, I too have decided to rush in where angels fear to tread. Join in revisiting Psalm 23. I promise not to repeat the obvious unless it is important to remember. I hope to offer something fresh as well. THE IMAGE OF THE SHEPHERD With whatever grandiose words you speak of God... - omniscient, - omnipotent, - omnipresent; with whatever philosophical and theological abstractions you conceptualize God... - the unmoved mover, - thought thinking thought, - the uncaused cause, - the ground of being, - creator, judge, redeemer, you cannot come close to the remarkably accessible pictures of God as a shepherd in a pasture and a host at a meal. It has become commonplace to observe that in modern urban culture few of us know much about shepherds aside from a fleeting moment at a petting zoo or an experience during a live nativity production. My wife, Marylynn, likes the way a Moravian missionary to India translated the image of Lord as a shepherd to people who had never seen any sheep. He turned to the image of the most protective and nurturing creature they knew and rendered Psalm 23 as "The Lord is like a mother water buffalo." The word picture of God or a ruler as a shepherd is found throughout the ancient world - Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome and Israel.[12] We are all familiar with pictures of Egyptian statues and mummy cases with Pharaoh holding in his crossed hands the shepherd's crook and the master's flail. Incidentally, the shepherd's rod and crook were used to protect the sheep or to correct them with a nudge in the right direction. Those who would condone corporal punishment of children on religious grounds will find no real support for their violence here. My mother with a mischievous glint in her eye would look at me and quote Proverbs 23: 13-14 from the King James Version. "Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you beat him with rod, he will not die. If you beat him with the rod, you will save his life from hell." I survived! As an adult for Christmas one year I gave her the New English Bible, partly because it has a different translation for Proverbs 23: 13. "Take the stick to him and save him from death." This reading is consistent with the idea that the shepherd used his rod to prod the sheep toward safety, not to beat the sheep to within an inch of his life. Whether you go with the King James Version or the New English Bible on Proverbs 23: 13-14, remember that no shepherd ever beat a sheep with his rod. But mark this well - the sheep could take comfort and find security in the knowledge that the shepherd would always give them a nudge in the right direction if they were wandering outside safe boundaries. Psalm 23 makes it clear that it is the presence of the shepherd which relieves all fear. "I will fear not evil, for thou art with me..." (Psalm 23: 4b) The presence of the shepherd is at the heart of the psalm and at the heart of the Easter season. Jesus is not in the tomb; he is risen and a living presence in the world. Think of all the texts in the final chapters of the gospels and the opening chapters of Acts. As we deal with these in the Sundays of Easter season, we see how the presence of Jesus is the supreme issue. Once they recognize Jesus, these first believers are filled with a holy boldness. They would be the last people on earth to draw of a list of things they are scared of. They are ready to recognize Jesus because he is liable to be present to them and us in all sorts of settings: - in a garden - on a road - at a meal - in scripture study - in hearts that burn within us - in a familiar room - back on the job - where we worship regularly - in tending his flock - anywhere, anytime...in all the world where he is with us always. We are to fear no evil because the presence of the shepherd is with us. The image of the shepherd gives comfort and courage. I SHALL NOT WANT Do you feel a bit uneasy when you read "I shall not want"? "There are lots of things we go on want..whether we believe in God or not...not just material things like a new roof or a better paying job, but things like health,..happiness for our children,...being understood and appreciated,...relief from pain,...some measure of inner peace...We long for what never seems to come. We pray for what never seems to be clearly given. But when the psalm says, `I shall not want,' maybe it means that...we will never be in want of the one thing we want more than anything else. Maybe it means that whatever else is withheld, the shepherd never withholds himself, and he is what we want more than anything else."[13] "The Lord is my shepherd, I need nothing more.[14] MY CUP RUNNETH OVER Samuel Terrien in his great book, The Elusive Presence - The Heart of Biblical Theology. He points out that the cup which "runneth over" or "overflows" could well be translated "my cup is inebriating." (When Psalm 23 came up in the lectionary several years ago and I quoted Terrien on this point, there were some looks of astonishment in the congregation. I am braced for some more today. Let me continue.) Terrien goes on to explain that the meaning of the Hebrew root of the word translated "runneth over" is that of "intoxication either by drinking or through sexual passion." He shows that "therapeutic potions given to ailing sheep in the Middle East are generally made of fermented hemp or barley with medicinal herbs and honey." He quotes verses from Isaiah 34: 5 and Proverbs 5: 19 and 7: 18 to show how the Hebrew words for fullness are related to drinking and to passion: My sword has drunk its fill... Let her affection fill you at all time with delight... Come, let us take our fill of love till morning...[15] In other words what the shepherd/host offers the sheep/guests is simultaneously healing and exhilarating, soothing and stimulating, and refreshing and producing ecstasy - an "over the top" experience. Some cup! Some shepherd! THOU PREPAREST A TABLE BEFORE ME IN THE PRESENCE OF MINE ENEMIES C. S. Lewis thought this verse presented a rather mean spirited picture - eating while your enemy is forced to look on hungrily. It helps to understand if we know that this line comes from the hospitality of desert people. Here's how it worked: "If I were being pursued by my enemies, and came to your camp, you would have to welcome me, and you would have to keep me for two nights and a day. The enemy would have to wait for me outside the circle cast by the firelight of your fire... "An enemy would have to be patiently waiting. In the midst of waiting, perhaps anger and rage would turn to frustration. Perhaps frustration would change into tiredness. As the enemy waited outside the circle of firelight, there would be time for reflection and even a change of heart. And maybe the enemy would become a friend, and be welcomed to dinner."[16] The verse means that God's presence makes the meal so joyful that not even a hostile presence can mar the experience. Have you ever been at a party and been enjoying yourself until you spotted across the room someone who actively despises you in spite of the fact that you are always a delightful, charming, kind and gracious person? Their presence spoils the party for you; and you can be sure that your's spoils it for them! But this verse says that when the host prepares a table before you in the presence of your enemies, their being there will not spoil the banquet. God's hospitality is so great that it overcomes human hostility. THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH FEARING NO EVIL The deep, dangerous ravines of the Judean wilderness forced a shepherd to lead his sheep single-file, winding his way between clings and rocks rife with hiding places with wolves, wild hyenas, and robbers, watching out for rock slides, travelling through "a glen of gloom," "the valley of the death-shadow."[17] "The psalm does not pretend that evil an death no not exist. Terrible things happen, and they happen to good people as well as to bad people. Even the paths of righteousness lead through the valley of the shadow. Death lies ahead of all of us...The psalmist doesn't try to explain evil. He doesn't try to minimize evil. He simply says he will fear no evil. For all the power that evil has, it doesn't have the power to make him afraid."[18] Psalm 23 teaches us whatever our circumstances the presence of the loving Shepherd is there: for our loneliness, he offers companionship; for our fatigue, refreshment; for our error, correction; for our terror, reassurance; for our challenges, courage; for our sense of transitoriness, an assurance of an eternal home.[19] I must bear witness that I have stood by more than one deathbed when some one from this church was virtually gone - eyes closed, no speech, no response. Physicians tell us that the sense of hearing often is operative when others bodily functions have failed. This seems to be the case when I clasp a hand and say these words, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want..." In this moment we are tapping into something so deep that often that limp hand will grow firm in a grasp of strength and confidence. And everyone around that bed knows that an old lesson has not been forgotten: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou are with me. CONCLUSION: DWELLING IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD FOREVER When I was a little boy, I thought this verse referrred to a terribly long church service, but I know now that the words "dwell in the house of the Lord" are simply another way of saying "I will dwell in the presence of the Lord forever."[20] We are in the season of Easter, time when we celebrate not just an empty tomb, but a living presence, a person, a Shepherd who calls his sheep by name. There is an old story of a church service in which two men repeated the Shepherd's psalm, one a great actor who delivered it with magnificent eloquence, the other an old man who walked down the aisle, up to the pulpit where he leaned on his cane and repeated the psalm by memory. The congregation had applauded when the actor finished, but for the little old man there was silence. The actor, expressing his insight and maturity, broke the silence when he got up and said, "I know the shepherd psalm, but this great man knows the Shepherd."[21] Do you know the Shepherd? [This sermon is for circulation within the Woodbrook congregation and may not be reproduced without permission.] Notes: [1] Imaging the Word: An Arts and Lectionary Resource, Kenneth T. Lawrence, editor, Vol. I [Cleveland, Ohio: United Church Press] 1994, p. 198) [2] cited in Homiletics, "The City's Green Pastures," March - April 1999, Vol. 11, No. 2, p. 63 [3] Robert Browning, Pippa Passes [1841] [4] Frederick Buechner, Listening to Your Life [New York: HarperCollins] 1992, pp. 177-180 [5] Homiletics, op. cit. [6] Buechner, op. cit., [pp. 178-179] [7] Simon Tugwell, Prayer, cited p. 162 by Reuben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants [Nashville: The Upper Room] 1983, p. 161 [8] J. J. Steward Perowne, The Book of Psalms, Vol. 1 [Andover: Warren F. Draper] 1882, p. 224 [9] C. H., Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. I, third edition [New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company] 1881, p. 398 [10] Samuel Terrien, The Elusive Presence - The Heart of Biblical Theology [New York: Harper & Row, Publishers] 1978, p. 332 [11] Walter Bruggemann, The Message of the Psalms [Minneapolis: Augsburg Press] 1984, pp. 154ff. [12] The Anchor Bible Dictionary, David Noel Freedman, editor-in-chief, Vol. 5, O-Sh, "Sheep, Shepherd," by Jack W. Vancil, pp. 1187-1190 [13] Buechner, op. cit., p. 179 [14] International Commission on English in the Liturgy, The Psalter [Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications] 1995, Psalm 23 [15] Samuel H. Terrien, The Elusive Presence - The Heart of Biblical Theologcg [San Francisco: Harper & Row] 1978, p. 333, 349 [16] Patricia E. deJong, "We Shall Not Want," cited in Homiletics, op. cit., p. 66 [17] Homiletics, op. cit., p. 64 [18] Buechner, op. cit., p. 180 [19] Erik Routley, Exploring the Psalms [Philadelphia: The Westminster Press] 1975, p. 117 [20] Philip Keller, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 [Minneapolis: World Wide Publications] 1970, p. 141 [21] Lloyd John Ogilvie, Falling into Greatness - Psalms [Nashville: Thomas Nelson] 1984, p. 52 |