Our Good Shepherd

               I’ve always loved the Twenty-third psalm.  It is so deeply personal and talks about the Love of God in such a wonderful way.  I remember when I was a kid wondering what it meant by telling me that when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death that I would fear no evil because God is with me, his rod and his staff comfort me. That is good news, but to a kid, I wasn’t sure of what it all meant.  As I got older, the message got a little clearer. I came to understand that this means that God meets us in the world where we live, where terrible things sometimes happen and that we are not left only to hurt by what happens to us.   When I had surgery, and wasn’t sure how it was going to come out, I remember praying that psalm and finding comfort in it.  Eternal life didn’t mean much to me when I was a child, but it came to mean a lot to me as an adult.

            The Lord is my shepherd is a breathtaking statement.  Thinking of the whole human race as a flock of sheep is helpful.  Particularly when I think that Jesus is the shepherd.  I love the stories that we hear of our Lord’s ministry during his life; how he raised Lazarus, healed the man born blind, gave the Samaritan woman at the well back her life and her community.  If that is the shepherd that takes care of me, then I am satisfied beyond conversation.  Notice that the people whom Jesus met were not perfect people; they all had bad experiences.   

            There are other kinds of shepherding.  When Rosie and I were driving through the Native American tribal areas in the Southwest, we would occasionally see a herd of sheep being led by a dog.  No shepherd was present, only a dog.  The sheep obviously trusted the dog, but all of this worried me.  It just didn’t seem very safe.  You and me, as the sheep of the Lord are not led by a dog, but by the Son of God who came that we might have all that life can offer and who by his death and resurrection has given to you and me the forgiveness of our sins and the certainty of eternal life.  I can’t imagine a better gift for all of us.

            In the Acts of the Apostles, we hear how the followers of Jesus, after their grief at his death and their surprise at his resurrection were still able to continue his ministry in the life of the people who became the church.  They met together, pooled their resources and made life better for everyone. Some people have said that this sounds a lot like communism, but if it is communism it is created in the best way, to help people who have nothing to live their lives to the fullest.  This certainly worked because more and more people came to be baptized and to join them in their work.  This is the real story of the church; how it began and how it continued.  That it has had times of strife and trouble in its long life is not surprising, given the nature of humanity; but we have the continuing promise of our Lord that the things that we want the most: forgiveness, salvation and eternal life with God will be ours; and they are ours because of the relentless shepherding of our Lord Jesus who gave his whole life to insure the care of the people whom he met on this earth.

            Our mission as Christians is to continue this ministry.  To make available to people who have little or nothing the hope that Jesus brought to earth.  We need to show by the way that we live our lives that the promises that our Lord made to all of us mean something to us.  All of us have sinned and fallen short.  There is no argument about that.  We are not excluded from the love and the promises of God because of our sins.  Our sins are forgiven and our crooked road is made straight for us by the incomprehensible love of God.  I have watched as people in prison have come to understand that new life is possible for them even after committing horrible crimes.  The largest problem that we have with the people who are in prison is our prison system.  We call it the Department of Corrections, when it is not that at all, it is the Department of Incarceration. Or even better yet, the Criminal Justice system. The people who are incarcerated are constantly made to understand that they are criminals – that they have lost their claim to humanity by the crimes that they have committed.  I was appalled to see what Arkansas tried to do by executing eight prisoners before their supply of one of the drugs expired at the end of this month.  Humanity doesn’t leave when people enter prison.  Correction and forgiveness is the goal. When I have seen forgiveness work miracles in the prison system it is because somehow the inmate has come to understand that forgiveness means that the crimes are no more, the only thing left is the promise of living a life in the peace of God. 

            That is what we are asked to do by our Lord.  As his sheep to follow him into this chaotic world and to help those who are here and wounded by all that it is that happens that they are loved by their God and by all of us.  When we do that, we extend the sheepfold infinitely and help our neighbors to understand the incredible totality of God’s perfect love.