Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not be in want.He makes me lie down in green pastures
and leads me beside still waters.He revives my soul
and guides me along right pathways for his 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 spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me;
you have anointed my head with oil,
and my cup is running over.
Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. (Psalm 23 from BCP)
Psalm 23 begins: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want.”
Shepherds lead and guide. Sheep, seek direction, listening then choosing to follow. Sometimes, we are the shepherd, helping others find their way. Sometimes, we are lost sheep, looking towards others to help us find the way back.
I wonder who has been a shepherd to you. I wonder who you have shepherded.
Jesus is our shepherd. With Jesus as our shepherd, we are expected to be open and love all as God has loved us. We are taught to heal, to feed, to teach, and to pray. God, holy is your name. Forgive me, when I forget to love. Your kingdom come. Your will be done. Shepherd me to listen to the other, welcome the stranger, and invite all to your table.
“And 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.”
The earliest depictions, the oldest artwork, the first images we have of Jesus are of a young shepherd gently carrying a sheep draped around his shoulder. But around the 9th century, there seems to have been a cultural shift, with art primarily focusing on Jesus’s death on the cross. The teachings of the Church and the musings of theologians started focusing on suffering, atonement, and Christ dying for our sins. Jesus the good shepherd is replaced by a bloody crucifixion scene, reminding us of how broken and sinful we truly are.
“And 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.”
Which Jesus are you and I called to be? The shepherd of love and service? Or the shepherd of death? If we are not reaching out to others through God’s love, we will choose to live in the shadow of death.
The amount of death surrounding us, and the shutting up of the people of God in our country and in our world right now, is alarming. We seem comfortable choosing death. If I don’t like what I hear, I shut you up. I expel you. But, our shepherd teaches us that when I shut up the other I am shutting up God.
As Episcopal Priest Tara Soughers points out in her book Beyond a Binary God, “If we take seriously the proposition that all humans are made in the image and likeness of God, then to say the presence of trans people in our communities does not have an effect upon our understanding of God is to suggest that the humanity of some represents God’s image and likeness better than that of others. It is a tactic used throughout human history to designate certain people as not fully human or, at least, somehow not as able to share in the dignity and respect that should be due to all who share God’s image and likeness.”
Last week, transgender legislator Zooey Zephyr was silenced from floor debates, accused of breaking decorum after she said lawmakers who backed a ban on gender-affirming healthcare for minors would have blood on their hands. After being silenced, Zephyr shared, “I have lost friends to suicide this year. I field the calls from multiple families who dealt with suicide attempts, with trans youth who have fled the state, people who have been attacked on the side of the road, because of legislation like this. I spoke with clarity and precision about the harm these bills do. And they say they want an apology, but what they really want is silence as they take away the rights of trans and queer Montanans.”
“And 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.”
Jesus said, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
The shepherd’s profession is not nearly as peaceful as it has been popularly depicted. We often see the shepherds gathered piously around the Christ baby in popular manger arrangements. The animals are seated. The setting is extremely pious. Peaceful contentment is portrayed on all the faces gathered around for the holy birth event. But this is far from the reality of a shepherd’s profession. The work is dangerous and risky. Thieves try to steal the sheep. Animals try to attack, eat, and kill the flock. A shepherd has to prevent harm from coming to the flock and keep the flock together. Shepherds worked on the edges of society. Servants of the people but often isolated from daily life.
There are many voices out there calling us, distracting us, diverting us, and leading us from life to death.
“Give teachers guns.”
“Trans people are grooming your children.”
“Women can’t be in control of their bodies.”
“If you read that book you are going to hell.”
“Black Lives Matter is nothing but black rage.”
But, Jesus says the flock knows the voice of the shepherd and responds to that voice.
“And 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.”
In Florida, anyone whose skin isn’t as white as mine is discovering that their voice, their tradition, and their history is being strategically wiped out. Governor Ron DeSantis points out that you better chant “Black Lives Matter” somewhere else because your request for dignity makes him uncomfortable. The governor labels Gospel tenants as woke. But, the voice of Harry Belafonte reminds us, “Although slavery may have been abolished, the crippling poison of racism still persists, and the struggle still continues.” Textbooks are being rewritten, books removed from libraries, as those in their power do everything they can to prevent a taco truck from parking on every corner.
As we try to regroup, reconnect, and rebuild the church post-COVID, Walter Brueggemann, in his Lenten devotional, shares this, “The crisis in the American church has almost nothing to do with being liberal or conservative; it has everything to do with giving up on the faith and discipline of our Christian baptism and settling for a common, generic American identity that is part patriotism, part consumerism, part violence, and part affluence.”
I wonder if we have given up on listening to the voice of the shepherd. I wonder if we have chosen death instead of building the kingdom of God, where all of God’s people have life and have life abundantly. I wonder if we have chosen to remain standing at the foot of the cross instead of daring to enter the tomb and then walking right through to new life.
Episcopal priest Kelly Brown Douglas,in her book “Resurrection Hope: A Future Where Black Lives Matter,” reminds us that “Jesus was nailed to the cross because he protested the oppressive political, social, cultural, and religious systems and structures of his day, even as he bore witness to God’s promised just future. That he was crucified indicates the threatening nature of his protests in regard to the arbiters of oppressive power— hence their attempt to rid themselves of him. That he did not resist his crucifixion reveals his solidarity with the subjugated, dominated, marginalized classes of people of his day in their struggle for life, freedom and voice.”
God resurrected Jesus in hopes that we would choose life over death. Gardens over guns. Truth over narcism. People over politicians. Love over hate.
“And 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.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminds us that, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
Jesus, the model shepherd. Jesus is the model shepherd showing the flock how to live and how to give life abundantly. We look. We listen. We seek the shepherd. We follow the shepherd. We model our lives on the shepherd. Then, we have work we have to do. Call others to join us. We model our lives after the shepherd so we can be shepherds to others. The work of the shepherd’s flock is to feed others, to care for others during times of illness, to invite others into community, and to care about someone else’s well-being as much as we care for our own.
“Love one another.”
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
“The world will know you are my disciples by your love for each other and for the world.”
Jesus, the good shepherd, calls on us to love God and to love God’s people, to seek peace and justice, and to respect the dignity of every human being. I hope we choose to follow the good shepherd and not get distracted or discouraged by those who are pulling us from God into death. May we be shepherded by the Christ of love so that we, too, can shepherd others in the name of the God who created us, redeems us, and sustains us.
“And 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.”
Soughers, Tara K.. Beyond a Binary God: 9 (Kindle Locations 1141-1145). Church Publishing Incorporated. Kindle Edition.
Douglas, Kelly Brown. Resurrection Hope: A Future Where Black Lives Matter (p. 126). Maryknoll Fathers. Kindle Edition.