The Fourth Sunday of Easter

The Twenty-third Psalm is well known to many of us and a great comfort to people who haven’t even thought of coming to church for ages. It will be no surprise to you that it is an oft requested Psalm at burial services. That is because it is a comforting statement of trust in a God who is personal, caring and able to make a difference in our lives by being present to us in times of trouble. Before I go on to talk about how God does that in our lives I want to share with you a very different version of Psalm 23.

I wouldn’t call what I’m about to read a new translation into English; in fact I’m not sure that it’s fair to call it English. After all, this is hardly what any English teacher would recognize as great use of the language. For those English teachers and professors among you who do not understand this at all, please speak with one of the more scientifically or technically minded in our congregation. I’ll read the King James Version of each verse followed by the revision into modern techno-speak. I have to admit that I found this without attribution, so my apologies for not citing the author. I suppose this would be appropriate in times of computer induced anxiety.

Psalm 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Thank you King David and redactors for that moving picture of God’s care for us in times of computer-aided and other anxiety. As we move through the sermon you might keep in mind the version that best suits you. Perhaps it will bring comfort!

Jesus is talked about in John’s Gospel as the Good Shepherd, the Lamb of God, the Way, the Truth, the Life, the Gate, the Bread, the Light and the Vine. Surely we don’t mean those things literally; that Jesus is hinged and made of some extra-terrestrial material that exists as a doorway between this realm and God’s realm. Although we don’t mean them literally, we do mean them to hold truth for us, to tell us something about God that we couldn’t say as easily without those metaphors.

Today we have Jesus as both Shepherd and Gate. And we have the Twenty-third Psalm giving us a picture of God as Shepherd. This Sunday of the Easter season, the Fourth Sunday of Easter, is often known as "Good Shepherd Sunday" because the Gospel is always from the Tenth chapter of John, giving different sayings about Jesus as Shepherd.

Even if we have never seen a sheep closer than the movie screen and really have no business writing job descriptions for shepherds, we know some of the attributes of a "Good Shepherd" because Jesus tells us what they are. They are attributes that bring comfort to any of us. They are attributes we might find in many professions today, not only the agricultural ones.

Judy Casey spoke to some of us yesterday at the Parent/Child retreat, which was wonderful and I’m sorry if you missed it, about things that children find important. She told me that she has discovered many of the things that children need and want are the things that all of us need and want. As she has been preparing to move on from her position as Principal she has had many parents and children tell her that one of the things they will miss is that she knows the name of every child in the school. All 540 of them.

That is exactly what Jesus says that God is like. He knows all our names, who we are, what we need. One of the other things Judy found out is that the children think one of the best things about their school is that she smiles at them. To be known and to be loved. Isn’t that what we all want, children and adults? Jesus knew this truth and tried to tell his disciples that the way we know that we are in touch with God is through being known and loved. Anything less than being known and loved is counterfeit.

Anyone who has ever been in a false love relationship can relate to the idea that those who sneak through our hearts by ways other than the gate of unconditional love are doing it for reasons other than self-giving love. They are thieves and bandits, as Jesus said. Our friends, family and lovers, those who truly love us as God truly loves us, desire the best for us, not just the best for themselves. God wants to say our name in the way that we hear love spoken. When Jesus spoke the name of his disciples they heard love in his voice.

Remember the Gospel of Easter Sunday, when Jesus spoke the name of Mary as she was crying in great sorrow at the idea of her beloved being taken away – so that even her grief would be as desecrated as his death. She begged the man she saw to tell her where the body had been taken. "Mary". Jesus spoke her name and she was known and loved completely.

God knows us and loves us. Jesus is the perfect human example of that realm where love is the power that matters.

Bob Deffinbaugh, in A Psalm for All Seasons, says that, "two doubts tend to make us question this kind of personal and individual care. The first is tribulation. Some seem to feel that God cares about them only when everything is going well. In sheep-like terms, they think God is with them only when they are lying in grassy meadows alongside restful waters. However, once they find themselves in a dark valley they question the presence and the pastoral care of their Shepherd. David never lost his assurance of God’s care and His keeping. In fact, in times of distress, God’s care and keeping was more certain than ever. The second cause of doubt is when our "under-shepherds" fail us. God cares for us individually, but He also cares for us through others. When human shepherds fail us, we may begin to question the concern of the Good Shepherd. Let us learn that God Himself never fails us, never leaves us, and never will forsake us."

Psalm 23 speaks exactly to this first kind of worry. "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me." God doesn’t promise that as a Good Shepherd we will always be in green pastures or that hard times will not come to our lives. God promises to be there with us and to love us. God promises that he knows and loves us even when we are in pain and feel as though we are unlovable.

The second doubt is sewn when we fail to love each other as God would have us, when we fail to care for the needs of the other rather than our own needs. We have all seen the stories and news accounts of how people’s lives have been devastated by the inappropriate and selfish behavior of clergy toward parishioners, especially children. Anytime a trusted person takes advantage of someone vulnerable our first response is to remove trust from all sources. But that only hurts us further, by limiting our ability to be appropriately vulnerable to those who really do care for us.

We have to hold each other accountable for loving in the way that God loves us, and help each other to remember what that kind of love entails. We must never allow people in any position of trust to continue to take advantage of the vulnerable among us. And we must continue to be willing to love in appropriate ways that reassure our world that it is possible to love truly when we, as Fr. Casey tells us, "keep the main thing the main thing." The main thing is always to love others for the sake of themselves, because they are God’s special creations and deserve to be treated as such, not because it makes us feel better. Of course it feels good to us to love others truly, but if we make that the point – the feeling that we get from doing good – then we lose the very thing that we have longed for.

What does it mean to love as God loves, to be the Good Shepherd?

I’ll tell you a true story from John Timmer’s book, How Long is God’s Nose?

Once upon a time there was a little boy. Let’s call him Johnny. Johnny was always coming home late from playing outside.

One day his mom and dad had had enough of it. They said, "Listen Johnny! You never come home in time for supper. Your supper is always getting cold. We always have to warm it up for you. This has got to stop. Next time you come home late, we’ll give you bread and water. That’s all. No butter, no peanut butter, no jam. Just plain bread and water."

Well, the next day Johnny came home late for supper again. He walked into the house and sat down at the supper table. His mom and dad, who had plates with meat and potatoes and vegetables in front of them, didn’t say a thing. They quietly gave Johnny a plate with some bread and a glass of water.

Johnny was crushed. He never thought his mom and dad would do such a thing. How could they? But he was wrong.

Johnny’s father waited for the lesson to sink in. Then, silently, he took his own plate full of meat and potatoes and vegetables, and put it in front of Johnny. Then he took Johnny’s plate and put it in front of himself.

Johnny is now a grown man. Not too long ago Johnny said, "Do you know what God is like? I’ve known it all my life. I’ve known it ever since that night when my father switched plates."

What is the Good Shepherd like? Like people who go to Haiti to bring hope to the hopeless. Like a Principal who knows the names of all her children. Like a father who switches plates. Like a man who dies on a cross or in a barrage of stones and cries out, "Father, forgive them." Like the beloved who simply calls our name whenever we are hurting.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.+