THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD Psalm 23 (KJV), Ezekiel 34: 1-10, John 10: 1-11

Feeling safe, secure, and protected. Expecting guidance, nurture, and support. These are basic ingredients for any child growing up emotionally healthy, confident and strong. Sad to say that every day we hear stories of children, or stories of adults who were once children, never having known what it was like to feel safe, protected, guided and supported. The suffering of individual persons can also be paralleled in the suffering of groups of people. Sometimes people are isolated because of the colour of their skin, a physical or mental disability of some sort, their gender. Sometimes it’s a certain language they speak or religion they practice. Sometimes it’s a culture they share in or a cause they pursue. But it is the very nature of human society to isolate and segregate people, particularly minorities, creating in them fear for their safety, a sense that they are not accepted or welcomed, that society will not tolerate, let alone accommodate their needs or concerns.

Feeling safe, secure, and protected. Expecting guidance, nurture and support. These should be basic requirements for every human being. But in a world such as ours, flawed and compromised, full of self-centred and self-absorbed human beings, are not such hopes and expectations pie-in-the-sky-by-and-by? Certainly, ancient peoples knew well the wounds we bear in our world today. Our reading from Ezekiel offers a divine indictment of the leaders of Israel. A popular metaphor for a leader in the ancient world was shepherd.

A shepherd was one who was responsible for the safety, security, and protection of his people. A shepherd was called to guide, nurture and support her people. But what do we encounter in our reading:

“Thus says the Lord God: Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and scattered, they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep were scattered, they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill; my sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with no one to search or seek for them.”

God laments, God mourns, God feels righteous anger against the leaders of Israel. What is fascinating here is not simply the use of the word Shepherd as metaphor for leader. What is fascinating is that even though the leaders of Israel are called shepherds, ultimately it is God who is the Shepherd of the people. God calls the people “my sheep.” God is the chief shepherd, and the way God exercises God’s shepherding is by calling human beings to share in this shepherding.

But sharing leadership as a shepherd, also means being accountable. Every human shepherd is responsible to God who is the chief shepherd. Further down we read the following: “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak....” Yes, the true shepherd, the shepherd who will provide a safe and secure place for the sheep to lay down; the one who will guide and nurture the sheep, this one is none other than God, almighty in tenderness, great in compassion.

And precisely this imagery and expectation is applied to Jesus in the New Testament. Jesus becomes the fulfilment of the human shepherd under God’s rule. Jesus is a shepherd after God’s own heart. And more amazing still, Jesus is the very representation of God in human form. Jesus is not only the good shepherd, but also the gate through which the sheep enter into safety. Jesus is not only a shepherd who is ready to sacrifice his life for his sheep, he is also the one who indicts all the false shepherds who are thieves and bandits, who care little for the sheep but only for their own advantage. Jesus has come to give the sheep a safe pasture in which to lie down, to nurture and guide them through the gate that leads to abundance and peace.

And all of this is excellent background for appreciating the most popular of bible passages in which God is called shepherd: the 23rd psalm. You may have learned it growing up, you may have heard it read at funerals or sung as a hymn. For generations, for centuries, the 23rd psalm has spoken to the hearts and souls of countless people in perplexity or distress. It has communicated comfort to the bereaved, confidence to the dying. It has nurtured and supported people in their questioning and suffering through various trials and tribulations of life. Why is it that this psalm, a mere six verses, has had such profound impact on the spiritual life of so many? We cannot answer such a question adequately. We must consign it to mystery. Nonetheless, we have the opportunity in the few minutes that remain to us, to walk through this psalm and contemplate its beauty and strength.

‘The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.’ Its beauty is in its simplicity and its strength is in its bold declaration of faith. The psalmist knows from experience; he knows that human shepherds cannot replace God as the one true shepherd. God is a shepherd he can trust. God is a shepherd before whom he can be without fear or shame. So intimate has he become with God, so free and comfortable in God’s presence, that God has become “my shepherd.”

And because his bond with God has become so close, because his inner self has become so intimate and free before God, he can also say that he is in need of nothing. O he may be a little anxious about his finances, his relationships, his future, his loved ones, his health; but in the deepest sense, with God in and around him, above him, ahead of him, With God as his centre and spiritual foundation, he is lacking nothing essential for abundance and peace of life. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

These words speak not only about fulfilment in the present. They also reflect confident faith in the future - I shall not want. The psalmist believes, based on what he knows and feels, what he has experienced and sensed; he believes that he will not be in want. How does he know? Is it a question of odds? Is it a question of trusting that his good fortunes in the past, his skills and abilities in the present, his good health and solid strength will get him through whatever comes his way? No. He says it all right at the beginning. He shall not be in want because the Lord, not himself, not some other person or cause, not some other circumstance or security, the Lord is his shepherd. This is why he shall not be in want. Somehow with God as his shepherd, he will find his way again and again to some abundance and peace.

Well, you may ask, this is a wonderful sentiment the psalmist has, a wonderful belief to hold. What does it feel like to believe so strongly and intimately that the Lord is my shepherd? The psalmist can only use metaphor to describe the mystery of faith. He can only use imagery to articulate the language of deep feelings of assurance. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. What does that feel like? Well, the psalmists writes, use your imagination. Imagine lying down in a green field overlooking a large valley. The air is warm but carried by a gentle, steady breeze. It is peaceful and calm. Or imagine lying down on a beach or a lake-front. It is quiet, the water is still. Imagine such a vision, such an experience, and apply it to your spirit - the way you feel deep inside.

Imagine feeling confident, free, at peace with the direction of your life; imagine having made peace with the circumstances or situations that have made you aware of your own limitations or your disappointment with others. Imagine feeling reconciled deep down with who you are, warts and all, secure in the eternal and overflowing acceptance of God.

Imagine feeling so grateful that you are spurred on to do better, taking a leap of faith in some venture, or finally making that choice or decision you have been so anxious over so long; or just coming to terms fully with where you are in your life or where your life is going.

Imagine this, says the psalmist, imagine this with God right at the centre of it all. You cannot see God, but you begin to discern God’s presence, around you, ahead of you, beside you, in you. This is what it means to confess: the Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Now, you may be thinking, it’s really nice to imagine these warm thoughts. But my life is hard, complicated, frenetic. There is much too much to be anxious over, little time to think, to be at rest. There is much too much that is uncertain, tenuous, fragile, sad. Has the psalmist fully contemplated the circumstances and situations the rest of us have to live with?

It is no accident that this psalm has communicated peace and strength to the fearful and down trodden for so many centuries. Further down the psalmists says it himself: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death… Imagine, he is saying, walking through a deep dark valley, all alone. It is quiet. You cannot see ahead. Will something or someone jump out at you? Will you stumble and fall off the edge of the path? Imagine this as your experience, says the psalmist, and then pray it to God: 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…. The psalmist opens himself to feel safety and security in the shepherdly care of his God. And the psalmist uses one last image for confidence in the midst of trouble. A great feast is prepared with God as the host. The feast is in your honour, and the table is set out in the very midst of your ‘enemies.’ Who are your enemies? Not necessarily people. They’re also the evil circumstances or situations that vie with one another to deplete you of strength, confidence, tranquillity. In their very midst God has prepared a table for you with everything you need to feed on in abundance. The Lord is your shepherd, you shall not be in want. And so, you take and eat, you eat through prayer, worship, meditation, fellowship and fulfilling relationships… You take, eat and confound your enemies. Where does she find that inner strength, that inner peace, in spite of the storm raging around her, in spite of all her output of energy, running here, there and everywhere, doing what she has to do to survive? Where does she find new strength to come out of the ordeal she’s been through and the dark pit she’s been in?..

Deep within, beyond the storm and stress, or through the storm and stress sometimes as it emerges…there is a growing peace, a flowing stream, centered, grounded, rooted in an evolving, confident trust that the God of the universe is taking you by the hand and walking you through your life to the green pastures, the quiet waters ahead of you. You know who you are: you are God’s and God will ultimately care for you through all the perils of your life. It doesn’t mean bad things won’t happen. It means God can resurrect you through whatever may come. This is the psalmist’s hope, this is his faith, this is his prayer.

And he ends his prayer with confident hope about his destiny in life and beyond life: 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.

Would you pray such a psalm? Could you pray such a psalm? Consider your life, consider your circumstances, consider your spiritual needs. Pray such a psalm within yourself. Pray it regularly, and open yourself to a God who wants to become a greater force in your life.

Amen.