Year B, Easter 4, Psalm 23, Surely Goodness, and Mercy

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Risen Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.  Amen

When I was in grade school we went camping one summer in the Bighorn Mountains near Meadowlark Lake, in Wyoming.

One morning we awoke and looked out over the meadow next to our campground, a light dew had covered everything, and it was a pastoral scene, if ever there was one.  Interesting that the word “pastoral” means both: “land used for or related to the keeping or grazing of sheep or cattle;” and also refers to the work of a pastor, “concerning or appropriate to the giving of spiritual guidance.”

As we were getting our breakfast, the woods around the perimeter of the meadow came alive.  One by one, and then, in a giant wave, a flock of sheep emerged from the woods, thousands of sheep, and then the dogs, about four of them, doing their thing keeping the sheep together, each one tending to its position around the flock.

Finally, mounted on one horse, and followed by a pack horse, there came the shepherd.

As the sheep began to graze across the meadow the shepherd took up his position at the campsite next to ours, where he would remain throughout the day, keeping watch over the flock, and occasionally whistling commands to the dogs.  It was a magical thing to see, for a young boy.  Especially the marvel of how the shepherd and the dogs worked together, the dogs immediately responding to each and every command, making sure that none of the sheep strayed from the flock.

He was a grizzly man, probably looked a lot older than his years.  A bed roll, and provisions to supply his needs.  He slept under the stars with the sheep.  His sheep wagon was located some distance away, where he would return when needed to gather more provisions.

Predators abounded in the woods.  A rifle was on the one horse, ready when needed.  And yet, we were told, that over the course of the grazing season each summer, very few sheep were lost, a testament to the skill of the shepherd and his dogs.

Finally, after the meadow was thoroughly grazed, the thousands of sheep and the shepherd disappeared back into the woods from which they came, seeking out other meadows to graze in. 

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not be in want.

The LORD makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters.

You restore my soul, O LORD, and guide me along right pathways for your name’s sake.

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil, and my cup is running over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

The Lord’s my Shepherd.

This is for us a profound statement of faith, and speaks very specifically to the fact that we simply are not alone, left to fend for ourselves, throughout the course of this life.  God is with us.  God watches over us. 

Our very lives depend on the watchful eyes of the Lord, for there is much in this world that could and would destroy us, except for the pastoral care of the shepherd we call “Lord”.

I shall not be in want.

We think we are in want.  We live in a time and a place where our entire nation’s economy depends on cultivating “needs” for all manner of goods, and we want it.

Remember when we grew up, what a simpler time it was, and how we lived well, actually, with much less?

One of the things that strikes me is how technology has come to dominate our lives, at least mine.

I recall the disbelief that I experienced when we toured the computer lab at the University of South Dakota during my school years.  Their computer filled a large room, and I was astonished to hear that one day they envisioned that there would be a computer in every home.  Not possible, I thought.

We have three, not counting our cell phones that are far more powerful than that computer at the University.

Another technological advance.

A cell phone.  Common place today.  Both Karla and I have one.  Land lines are becoming a thing of the past.

This is the amazing thing.  A cell phone, a smart phone, in your hand, anywhere in the world, has  more power to communicate, and provides greater access to information, than Ronald Reagan had aboard Air Force One, not so many years ago.

All these things our culture believes we need, we want.

But an iPhone 10 is not what the psalm refers to when it declares that we shall not be in want.

God will provide.

There have been many times over the course of my life, that when I looked forward to the future it was with fear in my heart.  How would we make it?  How would we pay the bills, and care for our needs?  Would we lose our home?

Fear looking forward, yet gratitude looking back.  We’ve faced difficult times, a plenty, but we have never been in want.  Two times I have experienced unexpected unemployment, but you know what?  Never has a bill gone unpaid.

God provided.

This is what David means when he writes “The LORD makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters.”  We will have what we need.

“You restore my soul, O LORD, and guide me along right pathways for your name’s sake.”

I have had to fight “my demons” over the course of my life.  Alcoholism was one of them.  Depression has been a recurring problem. 

And though I am a pastor, facing these struggles it would be easy to lose faith, and be destroyed.

You restore my soul.

Note that here, David is no longer addressing his comments to us, but to God. 

David’s prayer to God begins with the acknowledgment that God rights what was wrong, and guides us into the future that we might do right.

We will have enough battles to face in this world, without having to battle with ourselves.

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

A shepherd’s rod is actually a club of sorts used to protect the sheep from predators.  The staff, with the distinctive hook on the end, was used to protect the sheep from themselves.

Though I walk through the valley. . .

I imagine those sheep, wandering through the woods, with wolves, cougars, and bears lurking around.

One of the harsh realities of this life is we have enemies, like it or not, we have enemies.

But we also have a protector.  And the Lord will not abandon us to those who would destroy us.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil, and my cup is running over.

The greatest enemy we face is death itself.

I cannot read this Psalm without thinking about all the times I’ve read it we people who were dying, and preached on it at their funerals. 

And then there is this verse.  “you prepare a table before me. . .”

Two Christmas Eves come to mind, one at the beginning of my ministry in Sandpoint, the other near the end.

In the midst of those holidays, I visited the home of two parishioners.  Mr. Stagland was dying.  That was the first Christmas in Sandpoint.

And then one of the last was when my doctor Brad was dying.

And both times, we gathered with the family, and heard the words, “This is my body, this is my blood, given and shed for you.”

We have the audacity to celebrate the victory that is ours in Christ Jesus, even while the battle still rages around us.  This meal we share is a foretaste of the feast that is to come.

Faced with our own deaths, we receive his body, we drink his blood, simple bread and the fruit of the vine, and by so doing unite ourselves with Him, and our lives with his.

As he died, so will we.

But as he lives, we live also.

And this meal that we will share is the foretaste of that victory over death itself.

And then finally, the promise:
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Life is good.

Dare we say that?

I grew up in farming communities where one of the unwritten rules was you never proclaimed “life is good”, but rather always prepared yourself for the next shoe to drop, the next crisis to come.  A bumper crop in the field could be destroyed in a moment by hail or fire.

Goodness.  Gratitude.  Living in today, and letting God worry about tomorrow.  This is the life of faith.

And understand that when we face hardships, either because of our own actions or forces beyond ourselves, God will respond with mercy.

Paul writes in the 8^th chapter of Romans that nothing in all of creation will be able to separate us from the  love of God that is ours in Christ Jesus.

We will dwell in the house of the Lord, forever.

Children of God.  Called.  Redeemed.  And Restored.

That’s who we are.

Sheep.

Gathered from all the corners of the earth and led by the One Shepherd of us all. 

There will never come a day that God will not provide for us, care for us, guide us, and protect us.

There will never come a day that we will be lost and alone in this world, for we are his.

Forever is a long time.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Amen