— A Sermon by Gary L. Bagley —
~~~ Fourth Sunday of Easter ~~~
Psalm 23; John 10:22-30; Acts 9:36-43
Meandering through a beach island gift shop recently, I read a hand-painted sign I quickly understood: “When a dog comes into our lives, he leaves his paw prints on our hearts forever.” There is something about animals—whether dogs, horses, cats, deer…or bear—which have a way of simplifying life if we take the time to relate to them.
One of today’s lectionary readings is a poem—a poem about nature and animals, though the animal is actually never named…only the owner of the animal, a shepherd. Some have attributed the poem to Israel’s second king, David, who is first known in scripture as a shepherd. But then, weren’t many of the Old Testament Middle Eastern people shepherds?
This particular lectionary reading lives up to Robert Frost’s description of a good poem:
…a good poem begins in delight, it inclines to the impulse, it assumes direction with the first line laid down, it runs a course of lucky events, and ends in a clarification of life—not necessarily a great clarification…but in a momentary stay against confusion.
A good sermon should also be such—a “momentary stay against confusion.” …as well as a stirring musical composition, a captivating painting, a compelling book, a walk in the woods or an inviting rocking chair on your deck—not necessarily a great clarification of life, but a “momentary stay against confusion.”
I suspect today’s poem was written not by a fourteen-year-old shepherd boy, but perhaps by a 54-year-or-so-old king who was a former shepherd—someone who longed for simplicity amidst complexity. Someone weathered by hard decisions, battles, some significant personal failures, mental and physical fatigue, constant threats outside the nation, and constant bickering within the nation and among his own children. His thoughts about the animals for which he cared were not a lifetime solution to his larger responsibilities, but they were perhaps a “momentary stay against confusion.” I suspect this poem has been such for many others, as well; it certainly has for me.”
1The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
2He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters;
3he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.
4Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me.
5You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long. (Psalm 23)
Today’s scripture is loaded with images and symbols in every line. I thought about this Psalm once climbing a 10,000’ mountain above Frisco, Colorado. Jennifer, Ty (one of our sons), and I were nearing the top where the tree-line stops. We all paused to catch our breaths and drink some water from our containers. Ty’s half Siberian Husky, half golden retriever was with us. Ty spotted a dished-out place in the large rock we were on and filled the naturally cupped cistern in the rock with water for Blue. She drank from it and I silently recalled the words of the psalmist: “My cup runs over.” Shepherds used such larger cisterns to water their sheep when calm waters or gentle-sloping banks didn’t exist.
Jesus obviously played off this image when he said,
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.5 They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” (John 10)
“God is my shepherd,” David reminds himself. Just as he had taken masterful care of his father’s flock as a young teenager and just as he was trying to take masterful care of his nation’s people as their king, David needed to remind himself that God would care for him in a similar way. If you travel to the Middle East today, you will still see Bedouin tribes—nomads—with their sheep moving from place to place. In the middle-eastern setting, a shepherd had a name for each sheep. He knew them by name and they recognized that name when the shepherd called them. The shepherd loved his sheep. They were not just property for a livelihood. A deep bond existed between the shepherd and the sheep. The shepherd provided everything the sheep needed. Eugene Peterson translates the opening sentence simply: “God is my shepherd. I don’t need a thing.”
Like the shepherd, this living Spirit of God never pushes or drives us; God only leads. If you feel disconnected from God, I encourage you to look deep within yourself. Are your eyes wide open? Are you listening to the sounds around you? Is your heart receptive to your senses? The Living God I know never forces a person to do anything. The Spirit only leads.
God leads in two ways, David reminds himself—“beside the still waters” and “in the right direction.” Sheep are not good swimmers. Their small hooves and heavy wool make them likely candidates for drowning in swifter currents. A good shepherd knows the weaknesses and fears of the sheep; he never exposes them to unnecessary danger. He never leads his sheep to water where the current is fast and the bank is steep. In the quiet, still waters, the sheep are calm and at peace. God, the Shepherd, leads us to calm places, physically, mentally, and emotionally.
God, the Shepherd, also leads us in the right direction. The Spirit of God will lead us to do the right thing at the right time if our minds are focused on God.
This Living Spirit will also restore us…restore our energy, our confidence in life, our confidence in one another…our confidence in ourselves. Everyone knows what it is like to be exhausted.
Leaving the house early one morning, my eyes caught the binding end of one of Jennifer’s “Costal Living” magazines. In small letters were printed the words of Albert Camus: “In the depths of winter I learned there lay within me an invincible summer.” Powerful words! “In the depths of winter I learned there lay within me an invincible summer.” Often, the most important things we learn in life come from some of the most difficult times. And, within each of you there lies an invincible summer—a power, a hope, an energy that has the potential to rise above whatever daunting circumstances in which you find yourself.
If you haven’t done so already, I encourage you to memorize the words of this psalm. Use the New Revised Standard Version we have in our pews…or the old Shakespearian language of the Kings James Version. Memorize the line of Albert Camus which are printed in the bulletin: “In the depths of winter I learned there lay within me an invincible summer.” You will need it some day.
Let me close with these last thoughts. The fourth word in this poem-psalm is a personal pronoun. Without a doubt, God is a living Spirit eager and ready to bring good to everyone and everything. God, however pronounced, is the subject of deep theology, the subject actively or passively to every hymn, and the subject of every sermon. “God” is the cry almost always of anyone in deep trouble. But David, shepherd and King, understood God as more than the subject of great debate and more than the object of righteous prayers of people. That “living Spirit” was personal to David. Just as God is “Our Father/our Mother” in the reminder of Jesus’ Model Prayer, God must be a personal reality for anyone who discovers that “invincible summer” within themselves.
This particular psalm has a very personal nature about it. While God is concerned for the world at large, God is also concerned for you. While God so loved the world, God also loves you personally. While the concerns of Jesus were for his nation and people beyond it, Jesus’ concern was repeatedly for individuals as well—those who were discriminated against, those who were being treated unfairly, those who were weary, tired, discouraged, those who had lost hope, those who were looking for love in all the wrong places, and those who were seeking fulfillment unsuccessfully. He said, “I have come encouraging you to discover life—life’s in all its fullness.
“The Lord is my shepherd…” May the words of this psalm and the words of Albert Camus be ours this day. Amen.
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Psalm 23
1The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
2He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters;
3he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.
4Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me.
5You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.
First Reading Acts 9:36-43
36Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity. 37At that time she became ill and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs. 38Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, who heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, “Please come to us without delay.” 39So Peter got up and went with them; and when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them. 40Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. 41He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive. 42This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. 43Meanwhile he stayed in Joppa for some time with a certain Simon, a tanner.
Gospel John 10:22-30
22At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, 23and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. 24So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” 25Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; 26but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. 27My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 29What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. 30The Father and I are one.”