April 13, 2008
| Easter 4, 2008 | Acts 2:42-47 | |
| Psalm 23 | ||
| 1 Peter 2:19-25 | ||
| John 10:1-10 |
Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush.
There is no political slant to this list of presidents. The slant is historical. That list is nothing more nor less than the names of those who held office during my lifetime. Those older than I am can remember more Presidents, and those younger remember fewer.
So these are my presidents. I have never met a single one of them personally. The closest I ever came was seeing Hubert Humphrey, the sitting Vice President, in an open convertible in a parade in Eveleth Minnesota.
I never met a single president, and yet each of them was my president. Nixon was my president. Carter was my president. Bush is my president. Johnson was my president. Not that they somehow belonged to me, but I somehow belonged to them as a citizen of this nation.
In the ancient Middle East the image of shepherd was often applied to a king. A good king was someone who provided food and shelter for the people- in other words, economic prosperity. And a good king was someone who used military power for the protection of the people- the rod and staff were a comfort, not a terror, to the sheep. There is a long and dismal list of tyrants who used military power against their own subjects. Good Kings do not use their might this way.
We don’t have kings, we have presidents. Presidential decisions and policies do affect our quality of life. Presidential responsibilities include national security. The condition of the pastures and the use of rod and staff pertain to a president.
Now we have a framework for hearing these words: “The LORD is my shepherd.”
We read this psalm at funerals, and it is perfectly fitting to do so. We need reassurance when we are in the dark valley- the shadow of death.
But the Psalm is powerful and has broad meanings. The LORD is my shepherd, or in other words- Yahweh is the only real king. God is our leader, our executive, our protector, provider, king.
Reading the psalm with the overtones of economics and politics gives it a different flavor- but it is not stretching the meaning of the words.
Here are images that echo down the centuries- Moses carried a shepherd’s rod, and God made of it an instrument of salvation, liberation, and witness to God’s sovereignty. The psalmist recalls the rod of Moses in order to say something about God. God is liberator, and God speaks against oppressors.
“He makes me lie down in green pastures.” The gospel of Mark specifically mentions green grass- the place where people sat at the feeding of the five-thousand. Just a few lines before that miracle Mark tells us Jesus saw the crowds as sheep without a shepherd. Then he turned his hand to feeding them in a green pasture.
The Psalm looks back as far as the rod of Moses, and it looks far forward- to Jesus providing food. “He makes me lie down in green pastures.” The perfect place for sheep to graze and be nourished.
Friends, please notice something radical in these words. We normally treat them as devotional poetry- sort of a hallmark sympathy card from God. I don’t mean to take that away- I don’t mean to change or destroy any comfort you may take from these words. I hope, perhaps, to add to our understanding of these words.
Israel was a nation that believed its own king was appointed by God, it was a place and time where state and religion could be completely merged, and thus confused. So: in a time and place where no one would have batted an eye at the idea that the political powers were righteous- in that context the psalmist says “The LORD is my shepherd.”
Friends, this psalm says there is only one king. Only one. Only one Good Shepherd. ALL political causes –all candidates and parties, take a back seat to this proclamation- the LORD is the true ruler, true provider, true protector.
There is comfort here that goes beyond a kind word during a time of grief. We live day to day in a world created and guarded by a God who seeks our welfare. In the passage from John Jesus says he came that the sheep may have abundant life.
Good News. And yet we still see a world where injustice can mean some go hungry, some are still oppressed, some even have no place to lie down.
We are tempted to think God has let us down, or favors some over others. Human greed and spite may not explain every flaw in this world, but they go a long way toward explaining how a world can become fabulously wealthy and yet not share wealth with people in extreme need. Now we have a framework for hearing these words. “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”
God’s blessing has always carried with it a vocation and challenge. Perhaps this means more than getting by in tough times. Perhaps the psalm calls us to break bread with others not like us, that we may no longer be enemies. It is risky. The words are both the call to open up communication and the reassurance that the Shepherd will both provide and protect when we answer this call.
A president can ask, and sometimes even command people to serve.
“The Lord is my shepherd.” Protecting, but also prodding.
All this would be too disturbing without the last assurance. Goodness and Mercy will follow- no not just follow, the word can mean pursue- the Shepherd’s Goodness and Mercy will pursue the sheep all their days.
When Jesus says he is the Good Shepherd, one thing he meanas is that God has entered the world not just to offer something to anyone interested, but to pursue. The Good Shepherd calls, but also searches- when we are prodded and challenged it is finally Goodness and Mercy pursuing us for the sake of the good of all- the house of the Lord is not a private dwelling for a private believer.
It is a place where the sheep are gathered as one, under one leader, cleansed, fed, empowered, and protected from harm.