Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Easter April 30, 2023

Acts 2:42-47+Psalm 23+(1 Peter 1:19-25)+John 10:1-10

The Lord is my Shepherd, I have all I need,
She makes me lie down in green meadows,
Beside the still waters, She will lead.[1]

If I were a betting person, I would wager good money on the assertion that the 23rd Psalm is the most recognized and most loved passage in all of scripture. Appropriate for all stations of one’s life – in sorrow, in joy, in trepidation – it is a powerful antidote to anxiety and a comforting reminder of God’s faithful presence.

The gender-switching version we heard sung by the choir a few moments ago was composed by musician, teacher, and recording artist Bobby McFerrin back in 1990 and was dedicated to his mother, Sara. In an interview with Elizabeth Lesser, founder of the Omega Institute, McFerrin explained

The 23rd Psalm is dedicated to my mother. She was the driving force in my religious and spiritual education, and I have so many memories of her singing in church. But I wrote it because I’d been reading the Bible one morning, and I was thinking about God’s unconditional love, about how we crave it but have so much trouble believing we can trust it, and how we can’t fully understand it. And then I left my reading and spent time with my wife and our children. Watching her with them, the way she loved them, I realized one of the ways we’re shown a glimpse of how God loves us is through our mothers. They cherish our spirits, they demand that we become our best selves, and they take care of us.[2]

In another interview, this time with Krista Tippet of On Being, he expands on these thoughts

And I wrote the feminine because I just wanted to remind people that for a lot of people, you know, when they think of their fathers some of them might not have had great relationships with their dads. And also mothers, too, you know; some of them don’t have great relationships with their mothers. But sometimes we forget just the feminine element in religious service. And I just wanted to bring that out.[3]        

God may have no gender, but God is also so beyond our understanding that we can only imagine this Mother, this Father, in ways that we have experienced. In understanding God as our shepherd, the one who leads and protects and feeds, we attach our own experience and think, “it must be something like that.”

Today, this 4th Sunday of Easter, is known as Good Shepherd Sunday when our readings are taken from the gospel of John and are paired with pastoral imagery from other parts of scripture, and not just from the psalms. “But wait,” you say, “there is nothing about sheep in the reading from Acts!” Maybe not explicitly, but these Easter season readings from the Acts of the Apostles are meant to show us what the early church was about, and what we read here in the 2nd chapter is that they were taking care of one another. 

All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. (Acts 2:44-45)

Maybe we aren’t only to imagine an earthly parent or even God as our shepherd, but perhaps we are to imagine that the worshipping community that gathers for teaching and fellowship and breaking of bread is also our shepherd.

The lesson from 1st Peter gives us a throwback to Isaiah: “For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls” (2:25). But we have returned at the cost of Christ’s suffering on our behalf: “When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly” (2:23). It is easy to overlook the words of the psalm that say, in the traditional version, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and they staff, they comfort me” (23:4). That rod and staff are not just to keep the evil and scary things at bay. No, they are also to keep us in line, along the right path, even if it requires a tap – or more – of that rod to keep us in line. There is discipline in God’s pasture. We can’t go our own way, as Isaiah’s sheep have done, because that leads to nothing short of disaster, for ourselves, for those who love us, and for our community.

But then, what parent does not set boundaries, too, nudging a child to go in safe pathways? Our children are assured of our love and care and protection, even when they are grown and gone, much as our psalmist says that “surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” Except, that’s not exactly what it says.

I went down a bit of a Hebrew language rabbit hole this week on that word, “follow.” The Hebrew רָדַף (radaph) is sometimes translated as “follow,” but more often, it is used to mean pursue or chase, like the Egyptians pursuing the Israelites toward the Red Sea (Exodus 14:23), or Moses telling the people to pursue only justice (Deuteronomy 16:20). If we take this to mean that perhaps God’s mercy is going to pursue us and bring us back into the fold, then we might more easily understand the shepherd who left the ninety-nine sheep to go after the one that strayed (Luke 15).

“I am the gate,” Jesus said. “Whoever enters by me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture.” (John 10:9). And if the psalm is true, if we wander too far or turn our backs or fall away, that shepherd will be pursuing  - will chase us down - us to bring us home again.

Bobby McFerrin composed his setting of Psalm 23 a mere two years after the release if his chart-topping, award-winning song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” The lyrics of that song may not be my favorite, but they speak of the assurance that we need not worry about things that are out of our control. Perhaps I shouldn’t find it surprising that he could also write

Even though I walk, through a dark & dreary land,
There is nothing that can shake me,
She has said She won't forsake me,
I'm in her hand.

Surely, surely (he repeats) goodness and mercy will follow me – will pursue me - all the days of my life. Don’t worry, be happy. God our shepherd, our parent, is right on our heels.

[1] © 1990 Prob Noblem Music (BMI) This Arrangement © 1994 Prob Noblem Music (BMI) All Rights Reserved International Copyright Secured

[2] https://www.eomega.org/article/sing-your-prayers-an-interview-with-bobby-mcferrin

[3] https://www.dailygood.org/story/761/catching-song-on-being-with-bobby-mcferrin-on-being/