The conversation almost always goes something like this.
"Pastor? Do I call you Pastor? Father? Doctor? What?
"Anyway, we got your name from the funeral director who said you might be willing to come and say a few words over our uncle Phil. He wasn't a very religious man. In fact, nobody here can remember if he ever went to church at all.
“We're not very religious either. We don't know about our friends. We don't have a church we go to which is why we are calling you. Can you come? Nothing very religious. Just a few words. A prayer maybe? We don't know but we're sure you'll do right by our uncle."
If my schedule allows, I try to say yes and when I do many times, I am pleasantly pleased. Because no matter what the family tells me about their uncle’s faith, or lack thereof. No matter what the family tells me about their faith, or the lack thereof. No matter if they know anything about their friends faith, or lack thereof.
When we get to the part where I start saying the twenty-third psalm and I look up mouths are moving along with the words. Sometimes, uninvited, people start to join in, saying the words along with me, out loud. First one, then another, maybe a few more. On occasion even some members of Uncle Phil's family who never professed to be religious, join in.
The twenty-third psalm has that unique ability to assure us, even in our darkest hours that everything is going to be all right. That somehow, someway, we will make it through what we are going through and, when push comes to shove, that might as well be someone like Jesus, our good shepherd.
Most of the time we think we can do quite well on our own, thank you very much. We like to think ourselves as competent, caring, active busy people. But there are times, probably more times than we care to admit, that all our activity, all our accomplishments, all of our brain power, all of our will power, comes up short and we have to admit we need something more, something better.
Then along comes Jesus who says, “I am the good shepherd.”
The people on the phone, calling on me to say a few words to assuage their despair at the loss of a loved one are looking for someone to lead them out of it. They are looking for a shepherd. And, in Jesus, they get a lot more than they bargained for. They are looking for a good shepherd but in Jesus they get not just a good shepherd, they get the best shepherd.
In Jesus they get an extreme kind of love of a shepherd that, even in his day required a 24/7 commitment. That is what differentiates Jesus from all the other shepherds, would be shepherds, and wanna be shepherds. He is not there fleece us his promise is to be with us.
Some scholars believe that this idea is at the very center of Psalm 23 and one has gone to great lengths to try and prove it. Chad Bird, a scholar of Biblical Hebrew with the 1517 project and a man with clearly too much time on his hands noted:
At the heart of Psalm 23 are the words, “For Thou art with me.” There are exactly 26 Hebrew words before that phrase, and exactly 26 words after it. What’s more, in the verses leading up to that phrase, the poet speaks of God in the third person: “he” does this and “he” does that. But when we get to this numerical center, the psalmist transitions into speaking to God directly, in the second person: for “Thou” art with me, “Thy” rod and staff, “Thou” dost prepare.1
Dr. Sam Wells, former Dean of the Chapel at Duke University and now at a church which may have the most lovely name in Christendom, Saint Martin-in-the-Fields said:
We’ve stumbled upon the most important word in the Bible – the word that describes the heart of God and the nature of God’s purpose and destiny for us. And that word is “with.” That’s what God was in the very beginning, that’s what God sought to instill in the creation of all things, that’s what God was looking for in making the covenant with Israel, that’s what God coming among us in Jesus was all about, that’s what the sending of the Holy Spirit meant, that’s what our destiny in the company of God will look like. It’s all in that little word “with.” God’s whole life and action and purpose are shaped to be “with” us.2
Also, adds his predecessor at Duke, Dr. William H. Willimon, when we stray Jesus, the best shepherd, has an action plan in place. That plan says Willimon, is hidden in the sweet little verse that shows up near the end of the psalm: “Surely good and mercy shall follow me.”
The word that makes Jesus the best shepherd is not just that he is with us but that follows us. The word “follow” in the original Hebrew means “pursue.” Think of that! Christ doesn’t just follow us with his goodness and mercy, he pursues us.
Dr. Willimon told the story once that, as my church history professor used to say, “if it isn’t true it should be.”
It was about an old guy. A bitter lonely old man who was mean to everybody and everything. He never went to church or, frankly, had anything to do with anybody. When he got so sick that the paramedics had to carry him out of his apartment and took him to the hospital he was utterly alone. No family, no friends, no visitors.
But there was one nurse in training who had yet to learn “everything they teach you about detachment, the need for distance with your patients” who befriended the old guy. At first he didn’t know how to act and he would snarl at her, “go away.” When she tried to help him with something he would growl, “I’ve got this.”
Slowly they developed something. At first it was only a few less nasty responses. They there was a little conversation. And finally one night as she held his hand she heard him, and perhaps he even surprised himself when he heard the words, “Thank you. God bless you.” come out of his mouth.
As she left the room that night, there was one last voice that remained. It was the voice of the best shepherd. A voice that had been with him all along. It was the voice that pursued him all his life, was pursuing him even now, and would pursue him to the end.
It was the voice of the good shepherd, the best shepherd, and if you were there you might have heard it too and the word was “Gotcha.”
The best shepherd “is always out pursuing. We wander down crooked paths, bob like jetsam down some raging river, {Jesus, the best shepherd} has met us there, pursued us.”3
Think about what that means not just in the low lighting and somber music in a funeral home but for all of life. Think of the most peaceful place you have ever been, Jesus is there. Think of the most joyous moment of your life. Think of the darkest time you have ever faced. Jesus is there, too. Jesus never leaves our side or leaves us out of his sight.
Jesus is with us in this life. Jesus is pursuing us every step of the way too so that in the end we will hear the promise of the best shepherd when he says to us, “Gotcha.”
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1. Chad Bird. “Three Hidden Hebrew Treasures in Psalm 23.” 1517, July 27, 2019. https://www.1517.org/articles/three-hidden-hebrew-treasures-in-psalm-23.
2, Sam Wells, The Most Important Word.” Sermon preached at the Chapel of Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. 24 December 2010.
3. William H Willimon, “Pursued by Mercy,” Pulpit Digest, 517, no. 73September /October (September 1, 1992): 5–8.
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