The Images of the Shepherd (April 21, 2024)
Sermon title: "The Images of the Shepherd"
Given
scripture: Psalm 23 and John 10: 11-18
* link to the sermon video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQPJ8pv0qZ4
We have two scriptures today, and we are going to go through some images present in them regarding “the shepherd” together. And then to see if we can find new meanings in our context.
1. Psalm and David’s shepherd
The first
scripture is from the Hebrew Bible, Psalm 23. It might be one of the most
famous and well-memorized scriptures in the Christian bible.
(1) Where and when did I learn Psalm 23.
I first
learned about Psalm 23 in a small bible study. At that time, I was drawn to the
Christian religion and would like to know about that. There were several
paintings in the church. One of them is a man holding a sheep. A man with a light
skin tone and long white hair held a small sheep in one arm and a shepherd
staff in one hand. And there is a glow behind both that man and the sheep. Most
of us might also know different paintings sharing the same motif from various
artists. My friend told me that the image is based on Psalm 23. I found it
fascinating that biblical stories and narratives could be transformed into
paintings. I did have some questions about how the shepherd is presented at the
church, but I could not figure them out at that time.
But, I
really learned about Psalm 23 from a camp. My friend invited me to that camp to
be one of the program instructors. We designed the event for younger adults.
One night, a concert was performed by a group of Christian musicians. He
insisted that I try it, although loud music is really not my thing. I stayed
outside of the concert hall and wondered why they could draw so many younger
adults’ attention.
One of the songs they performed that night was called “The Lord is my shepherd.” The lyric is literally Psalm 23 but with its own melody and tune. They sang in both Taiwanese and Mandarin. That song caught my attention. I also saw my friend standing by the entrance, with both arms up, waving along with the melody. For a long time, I sang that song as my daily prayer. I imagined I was the tiny sheep, resting in the arms of the shepherd; with the comforting music, I could fall asleep without fear. Like the opening hymn today, “(I) need thy tender care, in they pleasant pastures feed (me), for (my) use they folds prepare.” (UMH381, v1) Because I know someone will look after me.
If we read
carefully, there are actually two metaphors in Psalm 23.
(2) The
banquet and its host
The second
half of Psalm 23 (v.5-6) is the banquet metaphor. It shows God’s luxurious care
of the psalmist.
This is a
banquet, a table prepared in the wilderness, in the presence of the enemies
(Psalm 23:5). We are familiar with the function of the oil. Oil is to wash the
dust and to honor the guest. We learned it from the unknown woman who anointed
Jesus’ feet by using her hair. Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew that “what
she has done will be told in remembrance of her” (Mat 26:13). In some
liturgies, oil also represents the symbol of anointing the king or prophet.
This
metaphor indicates that the context is in a wildland or a place with danger and
crisis. Just right at this very moment, this host prepared a feast and a grand
banquet. The psalmist continues to express his desire to stay in this wonderful
place, the house of the Lord, which means the temple.
In the Torah,
the Temple, the holy of the most holiness, is the sanctuary, where anyone can
get protection from any harm. It also expresses a desire to seek God’s goodness
and mercy instead of enemies and persecutors. (SBLSB)
Then, there
is an interesting phrase: “dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.”
There might be two meanings. It might talk about the (A) natural life, and
living a long life was a blessing. Living a long life represents a blessing
from God. It might also represent that (B) this psalm is customarily recited at
funerals or on occasions commemorating the dead, especially in verse 3 “he
restores my soul.” It is traditionally understood as referring to the next
life, afterlife.
Either a long life or the after-life, this desire expresses a deep relationship with God, with mercy and goodness.
(3) The
Shepherd
The first half
of Psalm 23 is the metaphor of the shepherd. Traditionally, we assume this is a
psalm of David. This metaphor can be read as the relationship between King
David and the Lord God on a personal level. David was seeking a place to rest, because
he was facing a lot of challenges, conflicts, and personal wrongdoings. We know
those from the Bible.
But, maybe the
shepherd and the flock is about God and Israel (JSB). Especially if we read
this psalm in their context, when the Israelites were captured and could
finally go back to their homeland, just like the wilderness experience in the
second half of Psalm 23. This relation is the post-exilic portrait, 597 and 538
BCE, of a new exodus, from exile to the return to the land of Israel. It
is a communal level that a group of people reflect on their experiences
together. The darkest valley, been captured, been displaced, and cut off from
their roots. Those time of “terrible distress or suffering, the nearness of
death” (SBLSB) have now passed. Rod is a club used to fend off wild
animals and Staff is an instrument to keep sheep from wandering off. Rod
and staff represent that God provides direction and “comfort that comes from
divine guidance” (JSB) when they get lost in their wrongdoings.
But, what
kind of image did the Israelites have in their mind in the sixth century BCE?
The image of
the Shepherd in ancient Near Eastern is a strong metaphor for royalty. In this
case, with David (and Moses), the Babylonian king Hammurabi is called “the
shepherd” (ANET, p.164). When the individual psalmist and the communal
Israelites reflect on their experiences, the image of the shepherd could be
complex: we were captured by the Babylonian empire but now are released by the
Persian king Cyrus the Great, who is our shepherd and what our Lord God could
be in all of these? The mixture of the political sovereignty and religious
power figures.
It was a
good question to ask. Even, today.
Tomorrow
will be the eve of Passover. God heard the oppressed people crying out
for help. “Let my people go!” In the book of Exodus, when God sees the blood on
the top and sides of the doorframe, the LORD will pass over your home, the
angle of death will not enter your house and will not strike you down. (Exodus,
12:23-24). This image of God, the shepherd, might be extremely difficult for
the Christians who live in Gaza, Palestine, to comprehend.
We should also ask Benjamin Netanyahu, who sees himself as the protector of the Israeli, the following questions: do you bring people out of the death of valley, or not? Where are the green pastures and still waters? Does anyone feel the goodness and mercy perusing all the days of their life? Do you anoint your guest with oil? Do people would like to dwell in the house of your God? What will the Passover look like this year for you and people around you?
2. What
makes Jesus “the” good shepherd?
The second
scripture is from the New Testament, the Gospel of John.
We all know
that in Jesus’ time, there was only the Hebrew Bible. As a rabbi, Jesus is
supposed to be quite familiar with Psalm 23 and the images of the shepherd
across different times. In this latest composed Gospel, the early Jesus’
followers had known too much about the conflicts between “true and false teachers,”
the teaching from the synagogue and the Jesus followers’ community, the destruction
of the Temple, the political oppression from the Roman Empire, and all the
martyrs who were fed to the lions.
We just
celebrated Easter, the day that Jesus, our savior and redeemer, was resurrected
from death. Reading the Gospel of John during the Easter season reminds us that
Jesus knows the sheep and is willing to lay down his life for them. And He did.
We also know that Jesus is the son of God, and he acts on behalf of the
merciful God, preparing himself as the banquet of the foretaste of life in
heaven, for you and me.
The Good
Shepherd image here represents the knowing and being known, a behavior of love on
a personal and intimate level. The sheep are no longer in the circumstance of
loneliness and isolation. In the meantime, the good shepherd image also expresses
the behavior of involvement, mutuality, and accountability toward the sheep,
the essential object in this metaphor. The shepherd and the sheep know each
other. And the shepherd is willing to sacrifice their life for the sheep.
The Gospel
of John reframes the image of a shepherd and gives us new understandings of the
characteristics of being a good shepherd.
3. Images of the shepherd in our time and our midst
Adam and I love
an interesting TV series on PBS. It is called “All Creatures Great and Small”
(2020-)[2].
It is a British production. The original novel was published in 1975 by James
Herriot, a veterinary surgeon in Yorkshire, England. The context of the story
is around World War II. Most of the boys and men were sent to the battle. I
found that there are various images of shepherds in this miniseries during
World War II. Yes, there are male shepherds, but there are more female shepherdesses.
The female shepherds did an even better job! I also learned that “shepherds” can be of all ages, races ethnicities, and different abled bodies. They try
their best to care for themselves, the animals, and each other in the
community. That opened my eyes and enriched my understanding of a good
shepherd.
Here is the
problem of reading the scriptures today: the solo male images of the shepherd.
It might be constrained by the ancient context, where the dominant male authors
and people in power were male. It is this circumstance that limits our
understanding of the good shepherd.
The Queer
Bible Commentary
mentioned that the “Male-male intimacy” (QBC) could be the lens for us to go
forward. “Male-male intimacy” represents in both Psalm 23 and the Gospel of
John that “[t]hese emotions are set within a male world in which a male
petitioner converses with his male God.” (p.278) It might not be a sexual
intimacy, but a desire – the psychoanalytic use of ‘libido’ – not for a
particular affective state or emotion, but for the affective or social force,
the glue, even when its manifestation is hostility or hatred or something less
emotively charged, that shapes an important relationship.” (Quoted from Eve
Kosofsky Sedgwick)
Homo-social,
that is, same-sex bonding, may or may not be on a smooth continuum with
homosexuality. In modern society, men often bond through shared homophobia. That
explains why most male psalmists have wives and family lives but also keep an
intimate relationship with their male God. This kind of male-male
homo-sociality reflects and enhances patriarchy and glorifies stereotypical
masculinity.
Taiwanese
Director An Lee (李安) has several popular and well-known
movies to the American audience, such as Sense and Sensibility (1995), The
Ice Storm (1997), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Hulk
(2003), Life of Pi (2012). His 2005 movie, titled Brokeback
Mountain (斷背山) (2005), is one of the “famous” ones among the Christian
communities, especially among Mandarin-speaking congregations in the US. This
movie describes how two male shepherds, Jack and Ennis, feel attracted to each
other and gradually develop their intimate relationship. The Christian
communities criticized this film as homosexual propaganda and boycotted this
film from screening. Even Director Ang Lee received a death threat letter after
he received the 78th Academy Awards as the Best Director. He
responded to the press, saying, “Everyone has a mountain of Brokeback; the
question is how we face the reality inside us and around us.”
One of our
denominations, the United Methodist Church, will host its General
Conference this week in Charlotte, North Carolina. Bishop and the President
of the Council of Bishops, Thomas J. Bickerton, urge all congregations to
prepare for the upcoming dramatic shift after the General Conference.[3]
By January this year, 25% of the Methodist congregations had voted to leave our
denomination over the debate of LGBTQ inclusivity.[4]
That represents the amount of 7,631 churches and 6.5 million members. The
remaining Bishops urge us to pray for them and also the General Conference and
be prepared for what is coming to us. At the General Conference, our
denomination is moving forward to embracing all God’s Children, no matter what
their sexual orientation and gender identity are, and also ordaining all good
shepherds based on their good doings, love for the sheep and sacrifice they are
willing to lay themselves down for. I believe the remaining Bishops have
embodied an image of the good shepherd. And we are invited to do our parts.
Besides
LGBTQ ministries, what are the issues and circumstances that we, the good
shepherd to be, need to know today? Where are the other sheep to us? Who are
they? What kind of image of the shepherd that we would like to present,
individually and communally, as the United Church of Hyde Park?
Tomorrow
will be the World Earth Day. We are reminded again of the good steward of the
land. Could we also imply “good shepherd” to the environment that we live in?
You may consider joining our Spring Lawn Care Day this Saturday morning. Do you
notice people raising banners asking for food and financial support on the
street? You may consider joining and serving at the Open Breakfast on the last
Saturday of the month. Do you also notice there are people in need of healthy
food, clear water, and decent jobs across the states and nations? You may consider
giving your donation to our special offering this month, the One Great Hour of
Sharing.
There are
still many things that we can do collectively as “good shepherds”. After the
worship service, all are welcome to join the coffee hour in the fellowship
hall. We can continue to share the images of the good shepherd, and how we can
put those images into practice together.
Don’t
forget, “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in
with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.” – Matthew 13:33
“I walk
through the darkest valley, I fear no evil, for you are with me.” This is what
people will feel from a good shepherd. And we shall know the other sheep who
will rejoin the sheepfold soon. May our Lord help us. Amen.
4. Closing Prayer
When time is tough and challenging, please guide us Lord, knowing you are with us through the darkest valley. May your Spirit come and comfort us when we feel discouraged and disappointed by the circumstances we are in. May your image of the good shepherd and shepherdess become various icons in our hearts, and encourage us to live like you, our head shepherd, Jesus Christ. Let us know, through you, that there will be green pastures, mercy, and a banquet of heaven ahead of us. Amen.
[1] https://pres-outlook.org/2019/04/prayer-for-earth-day/
[2] https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/shows/all-creatures-great-and-small/
[3] https://www.umnews.org/en/news/bishops-urged-to-prepare-for-seismic-shift
[4] https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/jan/23/united-methodist-church-shrinks-by-25-over-lgbtq-m/
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