…And That’s All I Need!
Psalm 23

April 13, 2008


The little girl had been prompted and practiced and had memorized the 23rd Psalm, suitable for a recitation in front of the whole church crowd at the Sunday School. But stage freight caught up with her, and she forgot the words. So she summed up the psalm in one line, “The Lord’s my shepherd,…that’s all I need!”

I think that is a pretty solid summary of the Psalm. If we live with the Lord as our Shepherd I do not doubt that our needs will be met. But we need to be clear that doesn’t mean a passive life waiting always for the Lord to do everything for us. It is listening for what the shepherd says and then doing it. It isn’t simply knowing what is expected of us, it is knowing and then actively engaging; it is looking at what the life and teachings of Jesus show us about life in loving relationship with God and seeking to live that way with commitment and creativity.

I think one of Robert Fulghum’s stories in his book Uh-Oh illustrates this quite well. “When the kindergarten teacher was handing out parts for the school play, one boy, Norman was left till last. When asked what part he was going to take, he answered, “the pig.” “But there is no pig in this story!” “There is now.” And so there was.

And the pig turned out to be a great success. He walked on with Cinderella, making no sound, but sitting on his haunches and observing what went on with earnestness, sincerity, even gravity. When the climax came, the prince placing the slipper on Cinderella’s foot, and all living happily ever after, Norman the pig went wild with joy, dancing on his hind legs, and breaking his silence by barking.

The teacher explained to Norman that, even if there were a pig in Cinderella, pigs don’t bark. “This one does,” insisted Norman. And so it did.

At the curtain call, guess who received the standing ovation? Norman, the barking pig. This, says Fulghum, is the real ‘rags to riches’ story, not Cinderella, the passive girl who waits for fairy godmothers and handsome princes to rescue her from drudgery, based on nothing more than an attractive shoe size.

“Maybe something will happen,” is Cinderella’s motto. She waits some more.

Are we trying, as Christian disciples in the twenty-first century, to live out the Cinderella story: passively waiting for the “someday” when our prince will come? Too often, it seems, that’s what follows from the way we sometimes hear these texts about Jesus, the good shepherd, and our role as good, faithful, following sheep, “Let’s wait and see what happens.” (Adapted from Neil Parker in Word and Witness Vol. 96:3)

In the gospel of John, Jesus identifies himself as the good shepherd. He will protect his sheep. The sheep will know him, they will recognize his voice and follow him. If anyone else tries to lead them astray, they will know it and they will run away. In the second part, verses 7-10, Jesus says he is the gate; people whoever comes in by me will be saved; these will come in and go out and they will find pasture. We don’t have to know much about sheep to get a clear sense of what Jesus is saying. He will be with them, they do not have to be afraid, they will come in and go out and their needs will be met. And then the key line of this story, a self defining statement about why Jesus has come. Jesus says, “I have come that you might have life – life in all its fullness.” The people were not to be exploited as they had been by the leaders of the past. Jesus came to bring life in all its fullness. It wasn’t life with guilt and remorse, it wasn’t life filled with fear about offending a Kingly God who was ready to punish and must be placated. He came that human beings might have life in its fullness. He came so that people might experience love; that people would know what it means to live with love and compassion. Religions often set up barriers and boundaries that are self serving. They exclude and denigrate anyone who is different – anyone who is not of their tribe. They demand obedience to their laws and threaten punishment for those who break them. Jesus challenged the religious structures and authorities of his day by breaking the boundaries and the laws. He refused to be bound by racist laws. He associated with Samaritans. He refused to be bound by the sexism of his day, he associated with and valued women. He reached out to those the authorities said were sinners and unclean, touching lepers and women who were menstruating. He refused to be enslaved to the religious laws, illustrating by his actions and his words that the law was there to serve humanity, not for humanity to serve the law. Those who had been attempting to lead the people were according to what we hear in John’s gospel, false shepherds, thieves and robbers. Jesus showed us what it means to be one with God. If he came among us to offer us life in all its fullness, he came offering that for everyone, for all God’s beloved creation, not just for those who had a certain genetic heritage, not just for those who said yes to a particular set of religious principles, not just to those who said yes to certain practices and laws.

One of the incredible challenges that the early church faced and that we continue to face in our time is to hear the voice of Christ amongst all the religious noise. In the scripture from Acts we see the early church seeking to live communally. They were trying to care for one another and to make sure that everyone had enough to live abundantly. They were together to try and support and enable one another. They even chose to share their wealth to some extent so that none would suffer with poverty. They worshipped together and they reached out to people all around them. It must have been a very appealing community because as the writer of Acts noted, “everyday the Lord added people to their group”. Now we know that as time went on there were struggles in the community and there were disputes amongst some of the leaders but the glimpse we catch here is of a community trying to live the good news as they heard and understood it.

Whether we like it or not, we are compelled today to follow many of the practices of this early Christian community. If we take a look at our modern nations, particularly those that have at least in their history been heavily influenced by the Church, or those grounded in political philosophies and economies that were rooted in the Church’s teachings, we see elements of this community in some of the structures that surround us. At this time of year we see it and most complain about it loudly. It’s tax time. In Europe and North America and in many other places around the world income and other taxes are used to redistribute some of the wealth. With those tax dollars society has created social welfare which should at least enable peoples’ basic food and housing needs to be met. Medicare of one sort or another, at least for the very poor is available to many throughout the world. Social security for seniors is also made possible because of the redistribution of wealth through our tax dollars. Networks of people volunteer their time to help care for those who are in some kind of need. People voluntarily give billions of dollars to charities at home and around the world. And if we look around us we see countless volunteers giving their time to help make our communities more enjoyable. And without doubt, there are those brave and courageous people who with deep commitment and often at great personal cost, continue to break down the social and religious barriers that exclude some people from experiencing life the life which Jesus promised. I think of all those who are working with AIDS victims, the modern day leprosy, in places like Africa.

Jesus said, “I come in order that you may have life - life in all its fullness.”

The little girl said, “The Lord is my shepherd – and that’s all I need.”

Preached by Mark Wartman
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan