30^th May 2011

Rev Dr Max Champion at St John's UCA Mt Waverley Sunday 15 May 2011

Lessons -- Jeremiah 23:1-4; Psalm 23; Revelation 7:11-17; John 10:1-11

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. (Psalm
23:5a NRSV)

Over the years this well-loved Psalm has been a great source of comfort to many sick, downcast and grief-stricken folk. It is remembered long after people have cut their ties to the Church, often being used at their funerals and weddings. What is forgotten -- or not realised -- is that it is encouragement specifically to people whose faith is being sorely tested by stiff opposition.

This is often obscured in art, music and preaching where the shepherd image is thought to make the general point that God cares for all in need.
That is true enough. But it misses the point of the Psalm. The Good Shepherd leads the vulnerable flock away from dangers, protects them from harm and sees that they are refreshed and encouraged to face another tough
day on faith's path.

We must rid ourselves of idyllic, sentimental pictures of shepherds and sheep and read the Psalm as we read The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan.
It is an encouragement to hold fast to the faith no matter what trials and tribulations beset the faithful.

Being a shepherd was tough, dangerous work. It involved leading the sheep in harsh terrain and protecting them from extreme danger. It was natural that a person for whom this environment was part of the air he breathed and the earth he trod would use the shepherd image to express confidence in God as a member of an often persecuted community of pilgrims who also breathed the air of grace as they wandered the earth.

* The Psalm opens with a succinct affirmation of faith. 'The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want' is the note that runs through the Psalm and indeed throughout Israel's tumultuous history. It is a note of confidence sounded by a people who, from the human point of view, seem to lack everything. Enslaved in Egypt, roaming aimlessly in the wilderness, assailed by enemies and divided within, the Psalmist joins Moses in affirming that 'these forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing' (Deuteronomy 2:7b). A remarkable confidence because it is not based on having the good things of life!

Thus at the outset the Psalmist affirms that, as vulnerable sheep led by a good shepherd do not want for anything, neither does he lack anything from God.

* 'He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters (waters of rest).' This idyllic scene can easily hide the rich blessing depicted here. Throughout the hot, dusty day the flock has roamed over rough, treeless terrain where streams are few. Before nightfall the shepherd must find a place in this barren country where they can eat, drink and rest. As the shepherd does for his flock, so the Lord does for his wandering, thirsty people.

* In this way, says the Psalmist, 'He restores my soul' / 'my life' / 'my very being' / 'me'. As the shepherd must rescue sheep that wander into danger and restore them to the flock, so God rescues the wandering pilgrim from temptation and restores him to life / the pilgrim community.

* The next phrase sharpens the point and shows the affinity of the Psalm with The Pilgrim's Progress. 'He leads me in the paths of righteousness (or on right paths) for his name's sake.'

The right path for the sheep to take may go through dangerous territory.
Shepherds often had to take their sheep through dark, treacherous valleys to get to the 'green pastures' and 'waters of rest'. Such sinister places were given names like the 'valley of robbers' and the 'ravine of ravens'.
It is hard to imagine a more frightening place than the 'valley of the shadow of death' -- a dark, foreboding place where death from bandits, wild animals or unseen hazards threatened. In such a terrifying place the sheep are reassured by the presence of the shepherd, with his 'rod' and
'staff': the weapon to guard them and the crook to guide.

As shepherds must choose the 'right path' for the sheep so that they do not get lost, hurt, attacked or fall to their death, so God leads the faithful along paths of righteousness where their faith is threatened by many things that are not right. Thus Israel's shepherd guides and defends them when persecuted, murdered and attacked by the wicked and the godless.
No wonder the Psalm is a source of 'comfort' to countless Jews who have suffered terrible brutality! And no wonder that Christians who have never suffered for their faith often misinterpret the Psalm!

* We now come to the part where interpreters, like me, usually leave the shepherd image and focus on the image of the host -- weakening the climax (v5). The word for 'table' may mean a 'place spread out' and thus can refer to the green pastures of the sheepfold to which the shepherd leads the sheep at day's end. The image is not of a pleasant indoor banquet but of an outdoor field / fold where sheep are endangered by jackals, wolves, hyenas and panthers. As 'enemies' surround sheep, so the enemies of righteousness threaten faithful souls. And as the shepherd defends the sheep against danger, so the Good Shepherd guards the faithful against assault.

*At first glance mention of 'anointing my head with oil, my cup overflows'
does not seem to fit the shepherd image. But it does. At the door of the sheepfold the shepherd inspects the sheep one by one. He has a horn filled with olive oil with which he bathes the sheep's face and head, and a cup that he dips in a water vessel so that tired sheep can drink. As exhausted sheep are comforted and refreshed after a long day wandering in dry, rough and dangerous terrain, so the Good Shepherd comforts and refreshes the faithful who are exhausted by wandering in the wilderness where godless and wicked people lurk in the 'dark shadows'.

*The Psalm ends with the sheep, in sight of predators, rested and safe under the watchful eye of the shepherd who has led them throughout the day on the right paths through dry and dangerous territory to green pastures and plentiful water. As the sheep dwell safely in the sheepfold, so the faithful dwell safely in the 'house of the Lord'.

Psalm 23 is a word of encouragement for pilgrims whose faith in God is sorely tried. It is a word of 'comfort' to those who are exhausted as they wander the godforsaken earth and are often intimidated by what Pope John Paul II called the 'culture of death': where fragile life is held cheap and fullness of life, as God intends, is mocked and demeaned. We are assured that as sheep are led away from dangers, protected from harm and refreshed to face another tough day, so the Good Shepherd renews the strength of weary pilgrims whose faith is under attack.

It is most unfortunate that the Psalm has been interpreted as a word of 'comfort' that has nothing to do with our calling to be a 'pilgrim people'
(as expressed in the UCA Basic of Union). It is distressing that it is so often used to allay fears without also emboldening people to face threats to faith. I'm told that in Shakespeare's play, Henry V, the soldiers need to be 'comforted' in order to encourage them back into battle. Likewise, the Psalm is a call to arms -- urging us to insist that God's life-giving 'goodness and mercy' is upheld in a society where evil causes such misery.

The Psalmist is not a passive recipient of God's 'comfort'. He makes a commitment! 'I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever' or 'as long as I live'. He is not retreating from the world, but choosing to be a pilgrim where the goodness and mercy of the Good Shepherd is confidently affirmed and lived out in the midst of strident opposition. The Good Shepherd leads the faithful on their perilous pilgrimage.

The Psalm is an invitation to daunting pilgrimage! Whereas we think that this would result in lacking the good things of life, the Psalmist does not 'want for anything'. His life is full because of the presence of the Good Shepherd.

This fullness of life is deepened and expanded in the figure of Christ as the Good Shepherd (John 10). In him the Good Shepherd not only guides but guards the flock. He 'lays down his life for Jewish and other sheep' (John 10:11,15, 17). In him the Good Shepherd is 'raised from the dead' (Hebrews 13:20). And in him the Good Shepherd will bring God's purposes to a glorious fulfilment by 'guiding the weary, the persecuted and the martyred to springs of living water where they shall neither hunger nor thirst any more, the scorching heat shall not strike them and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes' (Revelation 7:16,17).

In Christ therefore the Psalmist's confidence is fulfilled in a way that he could not have imagined. In the life, death and resurrection of the Good Shepherd, God not only leads pilgrims in the wilderness but shows his goodness and mercy for all people -- Jew and Gentile alike -- by conquering evil and death. In this remarkable 'Shepherd of the sheep' is the sign of what awaits humanity and the whole creation when God's good, righteous and merciful purposes are vindicated, the 'culture of death' is banished and God is worshipped as Lord of all.

Certainly then those who have walked the pilgrim way and allowed themselves to be encouraged, comforted, set right, restored to life and refreshed shall lack nothing in praise of God!

In an age when comfort and faith are no longer linked to courage, the question for us is whether we can understand this magnificent pilgrim Psalm and know what it means to follow the Good Shepherd in a society where God's costly goodness and mercy is regularly mocked and human dignity demeaned.

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In preparing the sermon, Dr Champion was reminded of a conversation with the late Mrs Margaret Lapthorne of St John's who referred him to 'The Song of our Syrian Guest' (1904) by William Knight in which the Psalm has been widely thought to include two images, the shepherd and the host.

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Rev Dr Max Champion is minister in the St John's Uniting Church, Mt Waverley, Victoria, Australia. Dr Champion is Chair of the Assembly of Confessing Congregations within the UCA.