The Shepherds Table

April 20, 1997

The class of nursing students was new, just in its second month. The first thing on this particular morning the professor gave them a 'pop quiz.' For the most part they were all doing very well until they came to the last question: "What is the first name of the woman who cleans this building?" This had to be a joke. The students had all seen this woman many times. She was tall and dark haired, a woman in her fifties. But how could a student be expected to know her name? So they handed in their papers leaving the last question blank. But before class was over one student asked if the last question would count toward the grade.

The professor said, "Absolutely! In your calling you will meet many, many people. But every one of them is important. Every one of them deserves your attention even if all you can do is smile and say hello." Those nurses never forgot that lesson. And they never forgot the cleaning woman's name, either. It was Dorothy.

To be a good nurse is more than coming into the room and saying, "Which arm do you want this in? This might sting just a little!" And to be a true Christian is more than thinking we have found the answers to life's problems. The Christ life is a life of relationship. The Christ life is being known and loved by the Good Shepherd. The Christ life is learning to love as the Good Shepherd has loved us.

Jesus is, by his own mouth, our Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd knows each one of his flock and calls them by name. The Good Shepherd gives his very life for his sheep. He cares personally for each one.

"I AM the Good Shepherd," these words in John 10 incarnate the power and beauty of Psalm 23. In Jesus Christ we come to know personally that "The LORD is MY shepherd!" Psalm 23 is personal if it is anything! Fourteen times in those few short verses we say "This shepherd is MINE He leads ME He restores MY soul!!

How can this possibly be? Given the millions of people who call him Lord, how can Jesus Christ possibly know and care personally about someone who is a speck on a tiny planet in an insignificant galaxy among millions of stars spread out over light years of space?

Believe it or not, one spin off of modern computer science has underscored the certainty in my mind that knowing and caring for me, personally, is no problem to my Shepherd! Helen and I were staying for a week in a third floor flat in Falmouth, England, in June of 1990, and I thought I would see if my AT&T card would work as advertised. I walked to the bank where the "hole in the wall" was on the street; put in my card, punched in my ID and the amount 1 0 0 0 I wanted £ 10, but I forgot to put in a decimal and so nothing happened and i went home, pretty sure I was too far from home and in a foreign land and could not be recognized. But then back at the apartment I went over what I had done and so i went back to the hole in the wall and thought, this time I'll try for £100 and so typed in 100.00 and BANG! before i could blink the machine started counting out those British bills! I had been recognized and my request had been granted even though I was in a strange land and thousands of miles from home.

I saw then even more clearly that if human beings can figure out ways of identifying one person among thousands instantly, and answering a reasonable request, then what problem is it for the infinite wisdom of God to keep track of you and me, and to hear our sincere prayers wherever we might be. I got a blessing using a hole in the wall, even though I knew it was just human technology.

Knowing the Good Shepherd makes a difference in our lives. That difference is what this world desperately needs. The Psalmist says, "You prepare a table before me, (even) in the presence of my enemies!" The table of the Lord, where he meets our soul's hunger and thirst and I am speaking of the sacrament of communion, yes, but beyond the sacrament itself, speaking of all the love and care and nourishment that it richly signifies in our lives that table is what this world desperately needs! In the words of an old, old Bert Bacharach song, 'What the world needs now is love, sweet love!" So how do we set about to save the world???

The children in your home need love. You may think of their needs as food and clothing and shelter and T ball and ballet class and those things can be very important I am sure. But most of all your children need to know that you love them enough to give yourself for them. You are in the line of the Good Shepherd to your own family.

Mother Teresa was meeting with some wealthy men and women in a metropolitan suburban area. One of the suburbanites, during the question and answer period said, "Mother Teresa, you have done a great deal to make this world a better place. How can we help? What can we do?"

Mother Teresa answered with a smile, "Love your children!" The questioner had expected a different sort of answer, something more profound. But before she could draw her breath to ask more Mother Teresa raised her hand to silence her.

"There are other things you can do," she said, "but that is the best. Love your children. Love them so that they know that you love them. That is the best."

That is exactly what the Good Shepherd wants to do to you and me. He loves us— and wants us to know that he loves us! That is what John says in our scripture today: "See what kind of love the Father has bestowed on us that we might be called the daughters and sons of God and that is what we are!"

On this Good Shepherd Sunday we could do worse than stop and listen for the voice of the Good Shepherd telling us that he loves us! And we could do far worse than asking for grace to pass that love along to everyone we meet. We need to love our families. We need to "Shower the people we love with love." That is where our sharing of God's love should begin. But God loves the whole world! Even in the Old Testament, in that Shepherd Psalm, there is a hint of the need to demonstrate love even in the presence of our enemies.

I asked you last week to think about how you know Jesus. How you might share him with others. That witness is what your neighbors and friends need. The reality of Jesus to you is the most powerful testimony you can have.

Many Christians feel the need to be ACTIVIST in their proclaiming God's word. They have an agenda. Moral majority— pass laws— get out and work! Many Christians believe we are to be CONVERSIONIST in presenting the Gospel; and I agree that people need to be born again. But all too often means "See the way I see do the way I tell you!" But the 23rd psalm seems to say "EAT IN FRONT OF YOUR ENEMIES!"      There is a third way to witness! (Hauerwas) This is the CONFESSIONAL way! As we CONFESS JESUS AS OUR LORD we will be at least as active as the activists we will talk about Jesus at least as much as the conversionists but as we invite all who will to the Shepherd's Table we will be in some measure doing what these scriptures say.

Prayer - O God, who in your great love has sent your Son Jesus Christ to be our great and loving Shepherd, grant that we, receiving his great loving-kindness might find grace to share that love with those we meet; beginning with our own families, and reaching out even to those outside our present fellowship; through Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One God, world without end. Amen.

Hymn 490 - O to Be Like Thee