A Good Shepherd of all mankind

Dear brothers and sisters,

Ps 23 probably is one of the most popular passages of the Bible. In Germany children often get to know the words at an early age, and most of the elderly know them by heart. Even if they are dement, forgetting almost everything about their life, the words of ps 23 mostly find their way through the walls of forgetfulness. They have a very special power to reach our soul and to stir something deep down in our being: the great longing to belong to someone who cares for me and protects me and will never abandon me in times of darkness and fear.
I sometimes asked my confirmation class to illustrate this psalm. Their drawings of the first verse mostly portrayed the shepherd as an old man with a long beard, leaning on his walking stick, looking very friendly and a bit tired.

I wondered, whether this image might in fact correspond to their image of God, taking him to be like a nice old man, tolerated to be there with his harmless friendliness, sometimes asked for help but not really having much to do with our fast modern world and its confusing problems, a God not to be taken serious in his will or feared for any disturbing actions-a tame God, a dear God, nothing else.

And as if knowing the secret dreams of many pastors, the confirmands depicted the flock as nice, obedient white sheep, with maybe the exception of one black and naughty one sticking out but not really disturbing the harmony. And all around everything is in a flush of green, green meadows, green trees, and a gentle sun shining from a blue sky with only some harmless white clouds.

Sweet naive drawings of an idyllic world without harm, many grownups like to see, because of their hidden wish to live like an innocent child in complete harmony with the world instead of being exposed to stress and conflict and having to take responsibility for their life.
But the Bible provides no escape from reality, no opium nor any other narcotic drug to numb our feelings, to stun our pain. And whenever the Bible speaks of shepherds, as it often does, it's on the background of this country with its stony and dry regions, its summer drought and desert heat and the many threats this barren environment poses to every living being. The landscape of Israel/Palestine seems very apt to reflect our reality with all its hardships. And in this context a shepherd in Biblical times had to be tough and dedicated to find green pastures for his flock and thus keep them alive. He had to be brave to defend his sheep against wild beasts and human thieves, fighting them with his shepherd stick, his rod and staff as the psalm says, and risking his own life in those struggles.

Seen in the context of your country`s landscape the image of a good shepherd indeed fits Gods role in our hostile reality and it’s the challenging role of this country`s shepherds, that Jesus identifies himself with, when he speaks about himself being the good shepherd giving his life for his flock.

In their drawings of Vs 4, which is about the dark valleys, most of the confirmands get closer to our rough reality and reveal something of their own dark experiences. Often they show a very small person lost in a huge canyon of rocks closing in on him or her. And sometimes they explicitly talked about themselves feeling lost, after their parents divorced  and they were confronted with the fact that human love is not totally reliable and can even turn into cruelty. Some of them had stories of domestic violence to tell or how they became victims of brutal bullying at school or in the internet. And sometimes they started asking questions about the meaning of their life and their own importance in a busy world without mercy. Does God really care for them?
Now being in Palestine I think of your children having to grow up in the shadow of this shameful wall and being exposed to the devastating consequences of occupation. It’s a very troubling thought that even the children of this world experience so many dark valleys.

Sometimes though it`s not the outer hostile conditions that make us feel lost. Sometimes it’s the voices within us that keep us down, making us believe you are not good enough, you don’t meet the standards, you don’t deserve being loved, you are worth nothing and may never to be content with yourself.
In open protest against all kinds of enemies God prepares a banquet for me, for all to see, as the psalm says, and even though others may consider me a nothing, a loser, with no right to exist, God treats me like a royal person, anointing my head with precious oil as was custom for Kings in former times. I can trust on being precious to him the way I am, and no one is to deny my value! No one! Belonging to God I can stand straight and strong! 

Let me add another observation.
There are different ways to pronounce this Psalm. One is putting the emphasis on the Lord being my shepherd and thus confirming: it`s him and nobody else who can lay claim on my life and lead me to life in abundance. More precisely: It’s the Lord who in the Hebrew Bible, our first testament, is addressed as adonai and is associated with Israels numerous experiences of mercy and liberation as well as with his everlasting faithfulness to his people through all times even in spite of all their failures. So putting the emphasis on adonai being my shepherd always implies a powerful protest against all other powers claiming rights on my life. They may rule over my physical existence, but they can`t rule my faith in a merciful and just God, they can use force on my body but they can`t force my spirit into their system of hate and disrespect for human dignity. This certainty keeps Christians strong against all kinds of oppression in the Global South. This certainty keeps you strong in Palestine as well. And no people in power have the right to justify their injustice with the modern God called TINA, the abbreviation of there is no alternative.
 Adonai, the living God of Israel has great liberating and healing alternatives for our lives and for our world as he confirms people from all nations through his son Jesus Christ.

Another emphasis may be put on the Lord being my Shepherd, trusting he doesn’t use his power to keep me small and down. Instead he gives his own life, to liberate me from all bonds of evil and to empower me for a life in freedom and dignity. Following him I can rely on his mercy and his just will for me always.

But then: adonai is not only my shepherd! I cannot claim his love for myself only, or for those close to me. Praying this Psalm especially we in the Western world have to be aware that - as scholars have found out, - it has originally been the prayer of a refugee, a person seeking shelter from his persecutors, seeking asylum in the house of the Lord as was granted by the Law of God.
Translating it into the European context of our days I might say: this psalm belongs first of all to the people seeking refuge in Lampedusa, seeking asylum in Europe from violence, persecution and hunger in their home countries, among them many refugees from Syria, risking their lives in ever more dangerous fares to find a better future. A terrible number of 19000 people is estimated to have perished on the way over the period of the last 25 years 19000!
Adonai, the God of all troubled people is sure to be on the side of those seeking refuge in our countries, no matter what religion they have, asking European Christians to protest vigorously against the cruel methods of Frontex, the border police Europe has installed, and also against the wall Europe has built in Ceuta, Marocco to keep refugees off the shores of Spain, a wall less talked about but just as shameful as the wall cutting through the holy land! 

Adonai, the shepherd fighting off all evil from his flock by the power of his love urges us to act out against the coldhearted treatment refugees get all over Europe, and against the misery Palestinian refugees are made to suffer in this land and in neighboring countries, showing them in every possible way that we care for them.
Let me conclude:
It is true: Ps 23 provides great comfort, but at the same time it’s a psalm of protest, a psalm of resistance against oppression.
And whenever you pray the psalm, remember: the words link you to many other people all over the world, to people who like you or even more than you cry out for God to make the world see that he is indeed the Lord and Good Shepherd of all mankind.