Psalm 23
Living in San Francisco or in the Bay Area, sheep are not what we see. There are dogs, cats, birds, and sea lions. There’s no sheep meadow in Golden Gate Park. Here at Yosemite, we don’t see sheep either. There are deer, bears, and rats I was told!
In the Bible, Jesus is the Good Shepherd and we are the sheep. In Psalm 23, “the Lord is my shepherd.” This is an enduring image, captured perhaps millions of times in our art, music, worship, and our stories.
Yahweh is the shepherd who leads Israel like a flock. God in the Old Testament is the Shepherd who leads the people out of exile and guided them in the wilderness. In the New Testament, Jesus is the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. And we think of pastors as shepherds of the flock like how Jesus commissioned Peter to tend and feed his sheep.
Sheep and shepherds are all over the scriptures and we tend to think of them only around Christmas time when the sheep and shepherds pay a visit to the family staying in the stable. But as mostly urbanized people, these images don’t do much for many of us today. The sheep are mute creatures that do what they are told to do. They don’t lead, they follow, and if they don’t follow, a dog nearby keeps them in line.
We don’t like being led around by the nose. We might have a healthy respect for authority, but we can do without a dog nipping at our heels.
For today while we are out here in this beautiful national park, I urge you to not surrender the symbols of the scriptures too soon. Remember that God has spoken to us most often in exactly such images, in signs we can sense and see and hear and touch and taste and smell. These signs are mysteriously on our minds and souls. They suggest more than they can clearly define or describe, pregnant with a depth of meaning that is evoked rather than stated: mountains, running stream or still waters, deep valleys, snowed capped peaks, thunder, clouds, the heavens, bears, deer, or a lost sheep. Don’t give these up. This is how God speaks to us.
Don’t shake off this image simply because there are no sheep meadow in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. God is still trying to tell us something. Today, we are reminded that the shepherd beyond all shepherds is Jesus. To be sure, others are called shepherds—pastors and ministers, counselors and others. But they are only shepherds in how they resemble him. And what is the main characteristic of this Good Shepherd?
Care. Thank God, he cares. He could have left us to ourselves, but he took on our flesh, grew in it, faced temptation in it and died in the most extraordinary act of love in human history—not only for sheep like us who behaved, but for each solitary one who wandered off. He doesn’t punish that wanderer with his staff. He lays him or her on his shoulders, brings the person home and throws a party.
This shepherd cares for all his flock, but also for you and me as unique individuals called to live in this shepherd’s flock forever. This shepherd calls us by name, knows us more intimately than we know ourselves, knows it’s tough being a creature of flesh and blood, spirit, intelligence and freedom. No matter how far we stray, this shepherd will track us down, cradle us in his arms and bring us home gently on his shoulder.
Follow this Good Shepherd and return his love. Care as this Shepherd cares, open your arms wide to those who need your compassion and love. Help make the world a sheep meadow.
Let us pray.