[Jesus said:] 1<\/sup>\u201cVery truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2<\/sup>The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3<\/sup>The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4<\/sup>When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5<\/sup>They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.\u201d 6<\/sup>Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son +, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Alleluia!\u00a0 Christ is Risen!\u00a0 He is Risen Indeed, Alleluia!<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThe Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.\u201d\u00a0 How many times have we heard those words, the words of the 23rd<\/sup> Psalm? So holy, so powerful\u2026but sometimes almost overdone, mechanically said by rote repetition, made into a religious tchotchke. It\u2019s easy to lose sight of what God is giving us in these words.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em>I learned the importance of the comforting words of the 23rd<\/sup> Psalm while I worked as a hospital chaplain intern one summer in Chicago.\u00a0 One night, my first week there, I was paged to a dying man\u2019s beside.\u00a0 He said, \u201cPray for me Father,\u201d so I took out my little contemporary pocket Bible and prayed the 23rd<\/sup> Psalm in a translation which began something like, \u201cGod is our animal caretaker, I will not have any unmet needs.\u201d\u00a0 And the poor dying man listened politely, and when I got to the end said, \u201cThank you, Father. Now why don\u2019t we pray again? But this time do it the right way.\u201d\u00a0 Sometimes I think our biggest danger as church is that we forget who we are, we forget our words, we forget The Word!<\/p>\n \u201cThe Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want\u201d—how can that be?\u00a0 We want <\/em>everything!\u00a0 We want more money, more education, more prestige, a better car, a better-looking body, we want it all, we want everything, our way, now!\u00a0 But the Psalm says with the Lord God as your Shepherd, with him carefully and lovingly providing for you, you have all you need!\u00a0 In our discontented culture of a million wants, Christians can say, \u201cI have a grace-filled God\u2014so I don\u2019t ultimately want for anything else. God alone is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And God leads you and me, the Psalm says, as a shepherd to green pastures, beside still waters, beside the still waters of holy baptism when he claimed you as his own, he leads you into a places where we will be given green pastures for our souls.\u00a0 We don\u2019t know how to provide for ourselves!\u00a0 We eat spiritual junk food if it\u2019s up to us, and yet God leads us and provides us with the rich nourishment we need, feeding us with his living Word, giving us his body and blood, keeping us together as his little flock at Trinity whom he lovingly cares for.\u00a0 As one of our lifelong members used to say, \u201cWe\u2019ve had our challenges, but God is always good to us, always.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And he restores our soul, the Psalm says, restores what is wearied and worn down in us, a Shepherd assumes we\u2019ll get weary, he knows sometimes we will falter and fall, so we don\u2019t have to be strong all the time, he restores us, taking our burdens onto his own shoulders, carrying us when we need it, leading us in paths of righteousness, because this Shepherd makes us righteous, he makes us worthy to stand before God as a gift, by grace alone.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And when we walk through the darkest valley, when that final valley of the shadow of death overcomes us, I will fear no evil, the Psalm says, for thou art with me.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In the original Hebrew of the 23rd<\/sup> Psalm there are 26 letters before, and 26 letters after that one word: \u201cThou\u201d.\u00a0 Thou\u2014You, You God are the center, you are the center of each one of our lives, you are at the hidden center of this world, you are the heart of this community, you, God, are at the beating heart of all things in heaven and on earth.\u00a0 \u201cThou art with me\u201d.\u00a0 That is the Gospel\u2014\u201cThou art with me\u201d, is the Name of The Good Shepherd: Emmanuel, God with me, God with us. When times are tough, when we are wearied, when we don\u2019t know what to do next, when there is no easy answer, and no guaranteed future, there is only this one thing at the center to trust through death and hell, one thing that lasts, one thing to trust in: \u201cThou, Lord\u201d\u2014\u201cThou art with me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Then, \u201cThy rod and thy staff they comfort me,\u201d the rod and staff of the Shepherd\u2019s wooden cross, proving how far this shepherd Jesus will go to find us, he will leave all things behind, he will put himself in mortal danger, he will give his life for the sheep, he will bear any danger and take upon himself every punishment, this shepherd will stop at nothing in order to bring us back to himself.<\/p>\n A pastor friend of mine in Minnesota took his church youth group to the County Fair years ago.\u00a0 A church member came along with them, a farmer who raised sheep, and this shepherd brought a few of his prizewinning sheep to display in the fair barns.\u00a0 But while the farmer and the youth group were at the fair, someone broke into his sheep barns at home, and stole his entire flock of sheep.\u00a0 A lifetime\u2019s work of building a herd\u2014gone!\u00a0 Of course, when the farmer returned home he was devastated.\u00a0 So he set out to find his sheep, to get them back.\u00a0 And so he traveled from one county fair to the next, all summer long, until finally at the end of August he walked into a sheep barn, and 10 pens over, a bunch of sheep started bleating and jumping and crying out–whether by smell or by sound, they could tell it was him!\u00a0 The sheep had been re-tagged, falsely identifying them as belonging to someone else, but they were his.\u00a0 And he knew it, and the sheep knew it too.\u00a0 Someone he was telling this story to later said, \u201cOh come on, how could you be sure?\u00a0 They\u2019re just sheep.\u201d\u00a0 And this farmer got quiet and said, \u201cNo!\u00a0 I know my sheep.\u00a0 And they know me.\u00a0 And those are my sheep.\u201d\u00a0 And he took them home, to feed and water them. The Shepherd knows you, and you all know his voice, and together we follow him, we follow by continuing in the things the make for Christians that the Book of Acts tells us today, continuing in the apostles\u2019 teaching and fellowship, the breaking of the bread and the prayers.\u00a0 Studying, teaching, preaching, showing, living all about the Good Shepherd who gave his life to take away the sins of the world. And continuing to live together in fellowship, sharing in all things in life together, sharing our lives in common, together as one united flock. And then gathering around the breaking of the bread, sharing in the Holy Communion where we are united with our Shepherd and each other, and then caring for the other sheep and our neighbors and the whole world through our prayers–when we do these things then we are living as his flock, then we are following, then we know the life that he has come to give us: \u201cI came so that they may have life,\u201d the Good Shepherd says,\u00a0 \u201cI came so that they may have life and have it abundantly.\u201d\u00a0 God has come to give us, to give you overflowing, supersized, everlasting abundant life.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cAnd thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies\u201d\u2014no matter the burdens you face this day or this week, no matter who wants to take you away, giving you a false tag that says you belong to something else, God prepares a table before you today, a feast before you today, right here. Yes, your enemies may gather round you but God lays on a feast. He is not worried so why should you be?\u00a0 Most shepherds kill the sheep to eat them.\u00a0 Our shepherd lets himself be killed, and lets us feed upon him.\u00a0 A feast laid out, a six-course heavenly banquet right here as a way to show what he thinks of our enemies.<\/p>\n And if that wasn\u2019t enough, then thou anointest my head with oil, precious olive oil as a sign of the Holy Spirit at work in the prophets, priests, and kings of old; oil that was used as medicine in the ancient world; oil that we still anoint the sick with, and that we forgive sins with, and anoint those who are newly baptized with, oil that is poured out on you, you who have a job to do for God, you who have been healed, forgiven, chosen as his own, shining with sweet dripping down oil.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And then finally, the psalm promises us, \u201cSurely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord, forever.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Several years ago Frank and Annie\u2019s foster daughter Leslie died.\u00a0 Frank was there for her birth, and sat beside her as she died.\u00a0 What do you do at a moment like that?\u00a0 What do you say?\u00a0 Frank told us that he spoke the only words that can stand up in a moment like that, he began, \u201cThe Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.\u201d\u00a0 He spoke a line, and then she repeated.\u00a0 He came to the last line, \u201cI will dwell in the house of the Lord forever,\u201d and she closed her eyes, and went home to be with the Lord.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When the day comes for you and I close our eyes for the last time, and draw our last breath, then you who know the Good Shepherd, you who have been tended and carried and led by him all the days of your life, then the last promise of the 23rd<\/sup> psalm shall at last come true for us all: \u201cAnd I shall dwell in the House of the Lord forever.\u201d<\/p>\n For Alleliua, Christ is Risen!\u00a0 He is risen indeed, Alleluia!<\/em><\/p>\n And the Peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, Amen.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n The Rev. Dr. Ryan Mills<\/p>\n New Haven, Connecticut<\/p>\n Pastor@TrinityLutheranNH.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Fourth Sunday of Easter | April 30, 2023 |\u00a0Psalm 23 and John 10:1-10 | Dr. Ryan D. Mills | [Jesus said:] 1\u201cVery truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2The one who enters by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16080,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,18,2,157,108,110,346,337,3,109,212],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-18088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-johannes","category-psalmen","category-at","category-beitragende","category-current","category-engl","category-kapitel-023-chapter-023","category-kapitel-10-chapter-10","category-nt","category-predigten","category-ryan-mills"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18088"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18089,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18088\/revisions\/18089"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18088"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=18088"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=18088"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=18088"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=18088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n7<\/sup>So again Jesus said to them, \u201cVery truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8<\/sup>All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9<\/sup>I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10<\/sup>The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.\u201d (John 10:1-10, NRSV).<\/p>\n