“I Shall Not Want, Really? or Really!”

EASTER 4B, April 28 & 29, 2012

If you went into the catacombs where first century Christians went in hiding for worship, the pictures most commonly painted on the walls were not, what you might expect; they were not of scenes from Jesus’ birth or of Jesus on the cross. No, the oldest and most common pictures those early persecuted Christians turned to was of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, usually shown with him carrying a sheep on his shoulders. Throughout the ages this stirring image inspired by the 23rd Psalm has made a huge impact on our collective consciousness. Just about every time I have been with those facing tragedy and loss, this Psalm is what they want to hear. And just about every funeral I have ever conducted this Psalm has been among the readings shared. This is the place we turn to in tough times because it holds so much comfort, it brings so much peace, if offers so much hope when we need it the most.

There are a lot of good reasons why this is such a great Psalm in times of trouble and grief. But I would suggest that it has as much to say to us in the everyday living out of our lives. Think for a minute about the very first sentence of this Psalm: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Think about it, is that really so? Is that really our experience? Is that really how we think about life? Do we really live with the sense that as long as we are with the Good Shepherd there is nothing else that we will want?

Let’s be honest, okay, we live in a society that thrives on us wanting more and more and more. We want a new car. We want a bigger flat screen TV. We want the latest ipad. We want it all. Our consumer spending in America accounts for nearly 70% of our gross domestic product, significantly higher than any other industrialized country in the world and much greater than what it was when our folks were growing up. More than ever before our economy is powered on feeding this insatiable hunger we have for more stuff.

But it’s not just about things; we also want to satisfy our emotional and spiritual appetites as well. We want a happy life. We want to be left alone. We want to know someone cares. We want the best for our children and grandchildren. We want God to protect us. We want and we want and we want.

Doesn’t it seem ironic that when we have so much and want so much more that we can still say in this Psalm that “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want”? To understand the irony here, I’d like you to do a little exercise. In your bulletin you’ll find an insert entitled, “What do I want?” It asks you to list the five things you’re most grateful for right now and the five things you want the most right now. And then, as you compare those lists, it asks you to think about which would have a greater impact on your life, losing the things you’re grateful for or gaining the things you want. Finally it asks you to share any insights, reflections, or surprises that surfaced as you thought about it.

I look forward to hearing what you learned. I don’t want to influence your feedback to this little exercise by telling you things I learned when I did it, (That you’ll have to read on our website with the rest of yours.) What I do want to say, however, is that I hope it helped you understand that as much as our wants drive our lives and our culture, there is much to be said about how “the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

Of course, for us, we can’t read those words without reading our gospel lesson for today into it, where Jesus says “I am the good shepherd.” And what makes him such a good shepherd is that he doesn’t run away from danger, he protects us in times of trouble, he knows us like the back of his hand and we know him, and he goes so far as to lay down his life for us.

Have you ever thought about that? About what that really means? You see, most of us have been taught that the reason Jesus came to this earth and laid down his life on the cross was for God’s sake; so that God would have an atoning sacrifice for our sins and thus, once our sins were paid for, we could be forgiven and we would finally be worthy enough to receive God’s love. But here, Jesus says that he, the good shepherd lays down his life not for God’s sake, but for ours, because he loves us and has always loved us and will love us forever, no matter what; no matter what we have done or left undone, no matter how we have failed to wholeheartedly loved him in return or our neighbors as ourselves, his love always reaches out to us as far as the good shepherd reaches out to the most deeply lost sheep and carries it home across his shoulders.

So you see, it is no wonder that this is the image God’s people have turned to through the ages for comfort and consolation, in their hiding places and from their burial grounds. It’s no wonder that with such a Good Shepherd, there really is nothing more that we could possibly want. Amen.

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