Psalm
23, John 10:1-10
What’s your favorite comfort food? I had
to choose I’d say mine is popcorn. And I’ll tell you I’ve been eating a lot of
popcorn these last few weeks. Perhaps you’ve also found yourself indulging more
often in some favorite food? And maybe, like me, you’ve also discovered that
along with comfort food, you’re also craving comfortable clothes. I’ve been
wearing a particular pair of socks that are super soft on the inside most days
now. Then there’s soothing music that I find myself turning to more often along
with story lines in books and on screens that bring solace. I suspect I’m not
the only one. At this moment of time I think we all need to find ways to be
gentle with ourselves and gentle with others because this is hard. Each one of
us is living with an extra degree of stress, anxiety, sadness, and loss right
now. And we are also feeling the weight that comes from knowing that a great
many people across the globe are suffering from this pandemic in more ways than
we can imagine. No wonder we are seeking comfort.
Which makes it particularly good and
right that the psalm appointed for today is the 23rd Psalm. It certainly ranks
high on the list of all-time comforting Bible passages. And of all the psalms
it’s probably the best known for its poetry,
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, and most beloved for its promise
that wherever we go or in whatever situation in which we find ourselves -
whether that be green pastures or the darkest of valleys, we are not alone. The
Lord our shepherd is always with us - providing for us, caring for us, loving
us. It’s a beautiful picture that this psalm paints - but let’s be careful not
to sentimentalize it too much. Yes, psalm 23 offers great comfort and hope, but
it in no way provides an escape.
Now it probably doesn’t take a genius to
figure out that Psalm 23 comes right after Psalm 22. We aren’t so familiar with
that psalm except for, perhaps, the first verse which goes, “My God, my God,
why have you forsaken me?” If that sounds familiar it’s because in the gospel of
Matthew we hear Jesus cry out those words from the cross. Words that launch us
into Psalm 22, a psalm of lament. Verse after verse, line after line that psalm
paints a heart-wrenching picture of great suffering. It’s not pretty. And worst
of all is that God seems to be completely absent.
Surely the reason this psalm of lament is
in our scripture is because it gives voice to the very real experience most, if
not all of us, have had at one time or another - that is, the agony of feeling
completely alone in our pain. Yet it is into this reality that the 23rd psalm
speaks. Not to erase the pain or to deny the suffering, but to proclaim that
the life of faith is not an either/or proposition. It’s not that life is either
all good or bad, happy or sad, whole or broken. Rather it’s a both/and. We can
be fully in touch with the reality of suffering while at the same time
authentically experiencing an enfolding love that embraces us in the midst of
that reality. Psalm 23 makes the radical claim that even when we might feel
like crying, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” even then we are not
abandoned, we are not alone. The Lord is
my shepherd, I shall not want.
Jesus, in the gospel of John, tells us
that he is the very incarnation of this shepherd, the good shepherd. And that
the whole reason the good shepherd comes to us is so that we “may have life,
and have it abundantly." Abundant life even in the midst of a pandemic.
Because again, life is not about either/or but both/and. There is great suffering
in our world right now AND there is, just as surely, abundance.
So without denying one or the other, but
holding both as true, I invite you to take note of where the abundance is in
your life right now. Where might you be finding meaning or connection, gratitude
or generosity, joy or blessing in these days? For the abundant life in Christ
did not come to a halt when our world shut down. No. The Good Shepherd comes to
us with abundant life even now. So look and see. Taste and feel. Know and trust
that hope, that comfort, that good news. The
Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
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