The Secret of the Shepherd

Psalm 23
(King James Version)

The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul:
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

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 thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil;
my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

The Secret of the Shepherd
A sermon for Easter 4B
Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon at Batesville Presbyterian Church on May 7, 2006

My granddaddy kept cows on his land in Harrisville, Mississippi. To get to the cow pasture you walked through the small back yard and then through a narrow gate into the expansive pastures ringed with large pin oak trees. Beyond the trees was a creek with a brown mud bed. I walked into the cow pastures with Granddaddy and followed him as he made his rounds. He knew each cow by name. "Good evening, Sandy. Hope you had a pleasant day," He'd say. "Hey now, Brownie, did you behave today? There's little Stump," he said to me as he pointed to a little calf. "Just born three days ago. Hasn't missed a meal since then." I was listening to my granddaddy and looking at his cows. And in the back of my mind I was repeating a psalm I had recently memorized. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want ..."

As a child I memorized Psalm 23 ... "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." And I came to know Jesus as the good shepherd of the sheep. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. So we sang at church school and Vacation Bible School. I understood myself and the other children as persons who were loved by Jesus. Jesus took care of us. Jesus protected us from harm. Jesus fed us with spiritual food and drink. But I didn't understand then that the other children and I, the spiritual sheep, were also an investment. We, God's children, all of us, are, in a sense, God's investment. God made the payment for our salvation through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is indeed our good shepherd. What I did not comprehend as a child is that I was an investment. Christ had made an investment in me.

Think of Jesus initial investment in his twelve disciples. Contrary to the message of the recently uncovered Gospel of Judas, I think Judas was a washout. Judas was in a sense a bad investment. But all in all Jesus did very well in terms of return on investment in his disciples. For those first dozen disciples have multiplied into an estimated 2.1 billion adherents alive on planet earth today, making Christianity the world's largest religion. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChristianIty]

And the estimated 2.1 billion Christians alive today do not include a multitude of Christians who have lived in other times and other places in our world over the past 2000 years. According to my calculations, if we estimate there have been 3 billion Christians since Jesus ascended into heaven 2000 years ago, and we divide those 3 billion Christians by the original 12 disciples whom Jesus shepherded while on this earth, then Jesus, the Good Shepherd, has realized a return of over 250 million percent return on investment. These are amazing returns.

But the real power of Christianity is not in the macro-economics but in the micro-economics. The real power of Christianity is the way the Holy Spirit works in the hearts and minds of each Christian. Changing us for the good. Making us more compassionate. Making us less self-centered. Making us more focused on the common good. We hear a great deal from some quarters about the harmful effects the Christian religion has had over the history of humanity but I must politely disagree. Christianity has a positive force for humanity for the past 2000 years. Yes, we have sinned. The Crusades were inexcusable. The Conquistadors and their missionaries brought deadly pestilence to the native peoples. But the overall effect of the Christian faith has been overwhelmingly positive throughout human history.

Speaking of God's economy, we are God's investment, dear people. God has adopted into God's own family. Someone once asked me why Psalm 23 is so often said at funerals. It is true that the 23rd Psalm is a common reading at funerals. Perhaps we turn to the 23rd Psalm because it familiar to us from our childhood. Or we may use it because of the way it own up to the reality of death. "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." But overarching image of Psalm 23 is the image of a wandering journey with the Lord through the green pasture of life on this good earth. We are Christ's sheep and Christ walks through life with us, managing us like a stock broker manages his client's investment. Keeping a close eye out to make sure we are growing and increasing in all good things.

Jesus Christ, our Great Shepherd, challenged us to follow his example and we are doing that. For in a sense, our graduating seniors, whom we are sending off today, are our sheep, our investment. Seniors, you have been fed by your parents, clothed with love by your congregation, nurtured by your teachers, prodded by your coaches. Not just because we love you ... but also because you are an investment.

Jesus, the Good Shepherd, made an initial investment in his twelve disciples. He taught them about God, showed them how to live, loved them with all his heart, invested himself in them. Then he let them go. And they did remarkably well. Today there are over 2.1 billion Christians. Each of them is a return on Jesus' initial investment in his twelve disciples. Perhaps we should examine the balance sheet of our lives. Find out how we are adding to God's bottom line. Discover ways we may be having a negative impact on God's profitability.

We are God's investment. God made the payment for our salvation through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Good Shepherd. Let us live as sheep live. Secure in the love of our Good Shepherd. Safe. Warm. Fed. Loved. And let us not consider it a crime when the time comes for us to be sheared. For us to contribute. For us to give something back to the Good Shepherd for the excellent care he provides.

Stewardship is something we do in the Fall with our money and in the Spring with our time and talents survey. Stewardship is something we do every year, every month, every week, every day, every minute, every second. Every single choice we make has implications for our stewardship. Let us learn the secret of the shepherd which is the secret of letting go. Letting go of pride. Letting go of control. Letting go of money. Stewardship is the secret of the shepherd. We know it. We live it. We give it.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.