Sunday, April 26

“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil.”

Joseph Sittler, one of the great Lutheran teachers of the 20th century, once wrote a little reflection entitled, “Anything New in Psalm 23?” He concludes his reflection with this: “The whole of life is a valley under the shadow of death, and the only way to celebrate the gravity of life is to know that.”

Since the only life we “have” is the one we live in Christ, and since to live in Christ is to live always in His dying and rising way, then the only way for us to live, really live, is to live vigilantly and constantly aware of the fragility, the ephemeral nature of life itself. As we face into the shadow of death, ever accompanied by the Good Shepherd, we can live “our one, wild and precious life” as abundantly as intended and promised.

Monday, April 27

“So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

So it is - all people are to be drawn into the embrace of the One who is love. All nations, all political camps, all races, all denominations, all who have ever lived or ever will, all drawn into one flock, not by the world’s methods of persuasion, force, or power, but by the sacrificial life of the one shepherd, by the counter-cultural self-emptying love of God manifested in the cross of Christ. So, there will be one flock whose life together is shaped and defined by the life of the one shepherd.

How might that shepherd’s life be reflected in your life, in your words and actions. The power of the risen Christ is alive in you through your baptism. The self-giving life of the Good Shepherd is possible in and through your own life of compassion and offering of self in love to and for the life of the world.

Tuesday, April 28

“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me.”

I am interested in the sequence of who knows whom and when. I remember thirty years ago, in the glory days of the so-called “Jesus movement,” one of the slogans that was spoken and announced on bumper stickers, was “I found Jesus.” Apart from the question of when it was that Jesus got lost, the truth was and is that we get lost and we get found. The truth is as the psalmist sings it – “O Lord, you have searched me out and known me.”

Not only does our God always act first, but this God knows first. The Good Shepherd knows his own, which includes you and me - knows our inmost thoughts, knows our deepest needs and longings, knows our frailties and failings, knows us by name, knows all of our virtues and our vices and still, lays down his life for us – so that we might see and know love first hand. I know my own and in the life and death of the Good Shepherd we know him.

Wednesday, April 29

“I am the good shepherd.”

One of the great “I am” sayings in the gospel of John. I am the door. I am the way, the truth and the life. I am the bread of life. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the true vine. I am the light of the world. I am the living bread who comes down from heaven. All of them a kind of echo of the great encounter of Moses with God at the burning bush (Exodus 3:13-15) – “I am who I am.”

In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. The word made flesh – Jesus the Christ – the good shepherd. Moses was apparently satisfied with God’s self-description – I am who I am. We, fortunately, have the life and the compassionate love of Jesus to flesh out the name. What is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob like? Like the good shepherd.

Thursday, April 30

“…and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.”

The world is a dangerous place for sheep. Largely defenseless, dependent on the care of the shepherd, the sheep must navigate a terrain that is fraught with danger. Their only defense is in the shepherd and in their sticking together as a flock. Isolated and alone, they don’t stand a chance against the world’s wolves. It’s not so different for us.

We may not like being compared with smelly, not so bright sheep, but, just for a moment we might consider how fragile the human being really is. When we lose track of our own frailty, there’s the chance we will lose track of our neighbor’s need as well. The truth is we ignore our “sheephood” at our own peril. Not only does the awareness of our dependency keep us aware of our need of God, our good shepherd, but it also keeps us connected to the rest of the flock, our brother and sister sheep. Remember we’re in this together.

Friday, May 1

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;…”

This must be one of the more counter-intuitive moves the good shepherd makes. Prepare a table, a feast, in the presence of my enemies? I wonder what it would be like if this were employed as a strategy in the midst of our conflicts, ecclesial and otherwise. A wise pastor once suggested that “it’s a good idea to have a meal together as part of an annual meeting, since people who eat together are less likely to feast on each other.”

Long before there were “Three Cups of Tea,” the church knew that even in the presence of “enemies” taking bread, blessing it, breaking it and giving it to one another and to the world is a way to keep track of God’s abundance in a world racked by real and imagined scarcity.

Saturday, May 2

“The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

What makes the good shepherd good is that he lays down his life for the sheep. This kind of compassionate, sacrificial living seems far removed from the story of human greed that unfolds before us on the nightly news. Still, what other kind of life could be worth living. The Christ abides in us and us in Him, so a Christ-like life might not only be possible, but may just be the only kind of true living, wealthy living that makes any sense.

The first letter of John, that rhapsody of the love of God, says it more directly:

We know love by this, that Jesus Christ laid down his life for us – and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need yet refuses help?

Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him…
(1 John 3:16-19)