Today’s Advent Reflection is from Mark Hackney. Reader.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff—
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
my whole life long.
Reflection
This famous, beautiful Psalm presents the Divine Shepherd.
We may reflect on what it is that a good shepherd does in the protection of his flock. They are led to ‘green pastures’ and ‘still waters’ for rest and refreshment. A shepherd may need to rescue a sheep from a forbidden or dangerous area; to ‘restore’ its safety and well-being. ‘Right paths’ are followed that lead through dangerous places, and so the shepherd’s ‘rod’ and ‘staff’ are there if required for defence of the flock. Thus, the sheep are led safely to lush feeding grounds, like a ‘table’ groaning under the weight of a banquet. Ointment may be applied, ‘anointed’, to those with small injuries, and the ‘cup’ that ‘overflows’, the shepherd’s large two-handed cup, brims with water for the weary flock.
What you have just read draws on W. A. Knight’s devotional classic from the 1930s ‘The Song of Our Syrian Guest’. It imagines the role of the Eastern shepherd, little changed over the centuries. I should imagine contemporary shepherds working in the Northern fells of England, or areas of the Peak District, even today, would recognise Knight’s description.
It is a dynamic picture of ‘goodness and mercy’, and, such is the shepherd’s care, it is for a ‘whole life long’.
Yet, ‘Shepherd’ presents not just a gentle, bucolic scene. In the Bible, the word is empowered. It means King, Lord, the one who directs, to whom I am answerable, whom I love and trust. Our shepherding Lord is our focus, the centre and purpose of our lives.
So, I must rely on God alone. It is interesting that, in the Psalm, all the verbs of action are for the shepherd: the sheep have no verbs. As one of God’s flock, I should not think of acting by myself, rather: I follow. I want to be heavenly driven along ‘right paths.’ Left to my own devices (God has given me at least this degree of self-knowledge) I will wander off on the wrong track. A dangerous road.
And, shepherd-less, a flock are subject to danger. Julie and I regularly take our border terrier for walks around Poynton Pool. As you enter the gate by the carpark, a sign warns you: ‘All dogs should be kept on a lead.’ As some of you probably know, a local farmer lets his sheep graze, unattended, in the park.
The other day, one young lad had not heeded the sign, or his dog had escaped its leash. The dog ran towards the flock of sheep. I never realised sheep could run so fast! The poor lad shouted his dog, but to no avail as the sheep dashed, it has to be said, in impressive formation, directly towards us. No one wishes to be trampled by sheep. Not only would it be painful, it sounds such an ironic injury somehow to be presented to Stepping Hill.
The young lad, just in time, managed to grab his dog. We had hidden, sheepishly, behind a tree, but the emergency was over. A good shepherd would have bisected flock and dog; the sheep would have been spared their frightful exercise.
I did observe that as soon as the dog was restrained, the sheep stopped and immediately resumed grazing – as if nothing at all had happened. It’s as if their fright, their clear evidence of what can happen with no shepherd, had left no impression at all. Good job really: their carer is clearly an intermittent shepherd.
Ours, of course, is different: ‘goodness and mercy’ is not rationed, not on short supply. Our God does ‘whole life long.’ We are in communion with our heavenly shepherd … always. We will never be abandoned. We are embraced. Our purpose and joy in life is to love God and be loved by God; God’s love which ‘overflows’.
The mercy of the Divine Shepherd.