The Fourth Sunday of Easter
April 13, 2008
The Reverend Monna Mayhall
Psalm 23 and John 10:1-10
In John’s gospel for today, Jesus says that he came so that we might have life and have it more abundantly. The Greek here means “have a superabundance of whatever IT is.” To be followers of Jesus is to have a superabundance of life.
A few years ago, there was a movie called “Castaway,” starring Tom Hanks, and he worked for Federal Express. He was in a place crash, and he ended up surviving and living on some remote, deserted island…for years.
He ate very little, but he survived. He had to hunt and gather food, which was hard work and sometimes very scarce.
He was eventually rescued and FedEx threw this lavish, extravagant party for him. The spread of food and drink was amazing – more than you could eat, all out on the table. And he just looked at it, all right there at his fingertips. It was overwhelming – It was an overabundance.
And thinking about this superabundance and of life lead me to green pastures and still waters…and to the Psalm for today.
One theologian says, “The Psalms bring our hearts and minds into the presence of the living God.” I find this couldn’t be more true than for the 23rd Psalm.
Now, at the risk of being offensive by making comparisons between people and sheep – let me just say that sheep are for the most part simple animals.
Their basic needs are food and fresh water. Sometimes they wander around to find those things… or sometimes they just wander around for other reasons… and they end up in precarious or dangerous situations.
So having said that, if you’ve already identified with a sheep, it’s not because I called you one.
Psalm 23 is probably the most well-known, most memorized Psalm of all time. And it’s especially known for the comfort and peace that it offers during times of death and to those who are suffering. And for us, it offers plenty of comfort and perhaps peace now…because this Psalm is about life… a superabundant life…
The Psalms are poetry, and it’s believed that they were set to music, but there aren’t common thoughts about what kind of music. So we have the words, but no music...and in that way the Psalms become for us what we need – they are meant for each one of us in whatever way they speak to us.
I wonder what kind of music you would put with the 23rd Psalm.
Old Testament Scholar, Walter Brueggemann says that this psalm suggests something like a goal or an objective to refocus. He says, “This phrase, ‘I shall not be in want’ is a decision made against the greed and lust and satisfaction and aggressive ambition of a consumer society. Our society is driven by the notion that we always must want one more thing…”
It’s interesting to think how in these times of technology and gadgets galore, any kind of gadget you can imagine, to do or help you do anything, we should not want for just one more.
But the line in the Psalm actually means, “I shall lack nothing.” With the Lord as our Shepherd, all our needs are taken care of…maybe not all of our wants, but all of our needs.
There is a wonderful hymn “The King of love, my shepherd is”… and it ends with “I nothing lack if I am His and He is mine forever.”
Sheep like to feel protected –
This reminds me of one of my favorite theologians, Charlie Brown…and a couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of going to a wonderful local production of “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown.”
Linus as you might know is the Peanuts character who always carries around a blanket. He is never without it and fears he would be lost should he ever lose it. He toys with the idea that he can do without it, but he can’t because it gives him so much comfort and security.
Sheep can be laid back animals -
Brueggemann makes the point that in this Psalm, the shepherd gets all the verbs, and "The sheep does nothing. The sheep waits and receives and enjoys the gifts." Food, water, direction, comfort, security, grace and love – it’s all given – in an overabundance and the cup is overflowing.
Sheep follow the voice of the one they trust - they tend to stay in groups, and they eat together.
In the first reading for today in the Acts of the Apostles, they spent time together…prayed together…spread a table… and broke bread together.
For St. Augustine the table spread in the 23rd Psalm is symbolic of the Eucharist.
In the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, the curriculum that we use for the young children here, there’s a lesson called the Eucharistic Presence.
Now if you’re not familiar with a catechesis curriculum, it uses small figures and such to help teach. This particular lesson takes the Good Shepherd and the sheepfold and all the sheep, and in a sense transforms it.
A table is set in the center of the sheepfold and the sheep come and gather around the table with the Good Shepherd. And then the Good Shepherd is removed and the bread and the wine are placed on the table. The sheep figures are replaced with people figures.
We receive and enjoy the gifts – The gifts of God for the people of God –
As sheep who follow the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for ours… we are spoiled beyond measure…
And the goodness and mercy of the Lord are not limited to any particular moment in our lives. It is for us anytime…all the time…and the real issue for the Psalmist, and for us…is life –
…And whether we’re in the greenest pastures, or on the rockiest paths or in the darkest valleys of our lives, we can share in place at the table, and we can, in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection of Christ, trust that we have a superabundance of life…now and forevermore.
