1 John 3:16-24 with
Psalm 23
Poor Henry Croes has been complaining
about the Psalms he has been assigned all month long. One might think I threw him a bone this week
in giving him what is arguably everyone’s favorite Psalm to read, but this Sunday
the 23rd Psalm is actually in the lectionary. The fourth Sunday after Easter is sometimes
called “Shepherd Sunday” and always features a reading of the 23rd
Psalm and then other shepherd themed texts.
Although a favorite for funerals, the
23rd Psalm can be a tough sell on Sunday mornings. It can be hard for a preacher to squeeze out
one more observation, one more sermon illustration, or one more witty remark on
a text that is so familiar. This week I
chose to pair the reading with another secondary text from the lectionary, the
letter of 1st John. I think
that some of the thoughts the author of 1st John offers on love can
give us insight back to the famous words of today’s Psalm reading.
The letter of 1st John has
some very powerful statements. “Little
children, let’s not love with word or speech but with action and truth.” While not an argument for works
righteousness, that’s a pretty clear call for a faith that is lived out in a
real way in our encounters in the world.
And if we have any question about what this looks like the author offers
the following, “If a person has material possessions and sees a brother or
sister in need and that person doesn’t care – how can the love of God remain in
him?” I joked at lectionary group this
week that I was tempted to simply read that one verse this morning and then sit
back down and invite us to consider it silently for 10 minutes. I like to make you uncomfortable, but not that uncomfortable!
The writer of 1st John is
telling us that our faith can’t all be about things that we think or things
that we say. Or faith can’t even simply
be about the things that we believe.
Rather, our faith should call us to action in the world. We are to live in the world in the manner of
Jesus Christ, the one who lays down his life for others. It’s a tall order.
So, how does this connect with the 23rd
Psalm? Well, I think we love that Psalm
so much because it offers us all the things that we want in life, and even in
death. We want a safe place to live, we
want plenty of food and drink, we want to be free from harm – even when our
enemies are within sight, and we want God’s presence to be with us – even in
the darkest of valleys. We want all of
those things for ourselves and for our family members, and we want them
badly. We really want those things.
And so, in our modern American
culture, we do everything we can to get those things for ourselves. Not only do we work hard to earn the money to
buy those things for ourselves, we often knock others down in the process of
obtaining those things. I want plenty of
choices for food and drink, and I don’t care that my bottled water is bad for
the environment, or that the fellow who picked my tomatoes is an illegal
immigrant who lives in a one room house with 20 other men. I want to be safe in my world, so I amass my
own arsenal and I defend my property with weapons, and I don’t care if the
support of my right to have a gun also allows the crazy guy down the street to
have the same amount of weaponry.
In our modern American culture, we
are taught to take and take what we need from the world and from each other;
with no care to the cost those items may have for others in our world. I want those things, so I am going to make
sure that I have them. When we engage in
that behavior, then the Lord is no longer our shepherd. Rather, we are trying to be our own
shepherd. We are no longer part of the
flock, we are no longer part of the community, and we have made ourselves into
a solitary individual, a community unto ourselves. We aren’t sheep in the Lord’s flock anymore;
instead we are one person against the world.
We can grab all we want for those
blessings of security and abundance. We
can work until we die to try to obtain them and many people do. But as long as we maintain control, as long
as we are trying to be the shepherd, we will never reach our goal. We will always be striving, always be
wanting, always be working, and never ever be at rest.
Of course, it doesn’t have to be that
way. If the Lord is my shepherd, then I
can stop wanting those things. If God is
the one in control, then I can be at rest.
God will provide food and drink, God will provide safety, God will
provide guidance and presence. All of
these things can be ours, if we simply stop trying to get them. As much as we love the comforting thoughts of
the 23rd Psalm, it can be a real challenge if we let the Psalm
inform the way we live in the world.
If we live the way God would have us
live, if we allow the Lord to be our shepherd, then our life would look a lot
more like the life of Jesus Christ. All
that language about Jesus laying down his life is language about Jesus allowing
God to be in control. Jesus gave up
striving to reach those goals, and God provided Jesus what God intended Jesus
to have. It’s certainly not an easy
path, even the Christ prayed that the cup would pass from him, but it is the only
path of blessing and peace.
The writer of the letter of 1st
John tells us that to follow Christ is to follow this path of life-giving
love. It is to put the needs of others
before our own needs. Perhaps it would
be better if we laid down all weapons in the cause of safety for all
people. Perhaps it would be better if I
drank water from the tap in a reusable cup every day while thanking God for
every drop of water that enters my life.
Perhaps it would be better if I paid more for my tomatoes so that the
fellow who picked them could also have the money to buy tomatoes. Perhaps if I put the needs of others, the
needs of the world, before my own needs, then I would get closer to living life
like Christ. Then I would get closer to
the place where the Lord is my shepherd.
I like this reading from 1st
John because it reminds us of why we do so much of what we do here in the
church. If you are person of logic and
reason, it doesn’t take long to start asking questions about why we do the
things we do around here. Like why do we
bother supporting the Food Center? We
built that building across the parking lot, we maintain it, and we pay the
electric bill. We, together with others
in the community, put food on the shelves and we work the office many
days. We put a lot of time and energy
and money into that project that we could easily spend elsewhere. Why, we could turn that into our office
building. Or we could use that money to
fund some other church project. Or we
could rent that space out and start making some money for a change.
Those would be smart things to do for
sure, and the church might benefit from those changes. But, we would be putting the church before
the needs of the people. We would be
putting the life and longevity of the church, before the lives of the people of
Warrensburg. “If a person has material
possessions and sees a brother or sister in need and that person doesn’t help –
how can the love of God remain in him?”
Well, OK, I support the work of the
Food Center but what about those trips to Malawi? Why are we wasting our money there? Why do we have to visit them again? Wouldn’t it be better to just send them some
money? These too, are good rational
questions. The church would save a lot
of money if we ended our relationship with the people of Malawi. But that would not be in line with the way of
Christ, who lays down his life for others.
You see, part of laying down a life
is laying down a way of life. Part of
engaging with others in love is witnessing a world that we could easily
ignore. Part of following in the path of
Jesus Christ is going where we do not have
to go. That is the essence of the nature
of Jesus, to go where one does not have
to go. Jesus chooses to join humanity in
vulnerable mortal existence. Jesus
chooses to preach an unpopular message that goes against the culture of his
day. And Jesus chooses to suffer death
rather than bow to the powers of this world.
In going to Malawi, we choose to go
where we do not have to go. We choose to be in genuine relationship. We choose relationships that involve face-to-face
conversation and hand shaking, with a people and a culture we could more easily
ignore. We choose to get to know another
church and another people as equals, two communities that have gifts to offer
each other. We choose to share with
brothers and sisters in need half way around the world because we have the
resources, and because this is how we understand the person of Jesus Christ.
In our personal lives and in the life
of the church, if we truly want to let the Lord be our shepherd, then we need
to let go of some logic and reason. We
need to let go of some desire and direction.
We need to let go of the natural response for self-preservation and let
God guide us. As the writer of 1st
John says, “We have confidence in our relationship with God and we strive to do
what pleases God. We believe in the name
of Jesus Christ and we strive to love each other as Jesus taught us.”
The writer of 1st John
tells us that the true mark of the Christian is not found in the things that we
believe, it is not found in the things that we think, and it is not found in
the things that we say. Rather, the true
marks of the Christian are found in our actions, they are found in acts of
service and in love, they are found in putting the needs of others in our world
before the needs of ourselves. “This is
how we know love: Jesus laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our
lives for our brothers and sisters.”
This is the true path of faith; this is what it means for the Lord to be
our shepherd. May we have the strength
and the courage to follow our Lord, for this is how we will know love. Amen.
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