“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want.”
Or how about this one, the King James, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
Then there is this one from the King’s Bible, the English Translation from before the King James Bible, “The Lord is my shepherd; therefore I lack nothing.”
That is the one I prefer, it is the oldest one, “The Lord is my shepherd; therefore I lack nothing.”
Three different but similar beginnings to the most well known and loved scripture in the Bible.
It’s the only psalm for which the Prayer Book has three translations.
There is the contemporary version from the Psalter of the Prayer Book then there are the other two which are found in the Burial liturgy.
I don’t know if I have ever been to or been the celebrant at a burial liturgy that did not include this psalm.
For many it is a psalm, the psalm of death, as we entrust our loved ones to the great beyond, and a psalm of comfort as we endure our grief.
The psalm, indeed the whole burial liturgy, in its simple beauty and power has carried me through the deaths of so many that I have come to love deeply.
But it is hard to hear the 23rd psalm apart from the experiences that surround the burial liturgy.
Today we sing (say) the psalm somewhere else, somewhere different, not at a burial but rather on the 4th Sunday of Easter, Good Shepherd Sunday.
Today this Psalm is much more than the desire for a pleasant afterlife, today the psalm is much more than comfort in the midst of pain and grief, today the psalm is about belonging to God, today the psalm is about living with courage and joy, today the psalm is about only needing God, all we need is God, nothing else.
The reading from Ezekiel and John’s Gospel talk of the difference between good and bad shepherds. The Bad shepherds take advantage of their position and power to extort the poor and weak and lost, they are a parasite not a defender and tender of the flock.
The true Shepherd is God, who seeks after the lost and the helpless, who defends the flock from wolves, who lays down his life for the sheep.
We see a modal of true leadership in this, that is true, but this is not about human leadership, this is about who God is, and God is the Shepherd, and Jesus is the Good Shepherd.
We are the sheep. We are the ones who belong to the Shepherd, the Shepherd who is good, who loves us, who will go to the ends of the earth, to death and beyond to tend us.
Most of us have probably been told at one point to, “Remember who you are.”
That statement means several things, it can be both negative and positive. It usually means that we are from somewhere, we are part of some sort of family who loves us and welcomes us, it means that we have a home, that we are not alone, that our lives are lived in relation to others.
The 23rd psalm today reminds us of something even more, it tells us to remember whose we are. Remember to whom you belong. I belong to God, no one else can own me. The Lord is my shepherd and God is good.
Who we are is all about to whom we belong.
I am not my own, as the apostle Paul says, “I am God’s slave”, “I have been purchased at a price”, the Shepherd stands over me.
This is the knowledge that we carry in our minds, in our hearts, in our souls, in our bodies, in all that we are. This is what carries, assures, guides, enlivens and enflames us.
The Lord is my shepherd therefore I can die, the Lord is my shepherd therefore I can live in grief and pain, the Lord is my shepherd therefore I can live, I can dream, I can love, I can hope, I can strive, I can rest, I can forgive, I can be humble, I don’t have to understand and control everything and everyone, because I belong to God and God is good.
This about more than comfort and solace, it is about renewal and freedom.
Today we are sending off our soon to be graduating High School seniors.
As part of that sending off liturgy there will be anointing and laying on of hands. I will mark their foreheads with the oil of chrism, as a reminder of their baptism and I will say, “Remember that you are marked, claimed and branded as Christ’s own.”
Today we are reminded who we belong to, the Lord is my shepherd therefore I can live.