OUR HOST: THE GOOD SHEPHERD

                Let’s think about Jesus and the Lord’s supper as seen in the 23^rd Psalm.

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.

                Who is this shepherd? Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). He exemplified the good shepherd of the psalm one day when thousands followed him to a lonely place near the Sea of Galilee. Mark says that when Jesus saw them, he was moved with compassion because “they were sheep without a shepherd.” Like the psalmist’s shepherd, he had them recline on green grass. Then he fed them. In his description, Mark uses the same four Eucharistic verbs that he used to describe the last supper. Jesus “took” the bread, “blessed it,” and “broke” it, and “gave it” to them. Thus, they were nourished for their journey.

                The psalm goes on:

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will 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.

                Jesus, the good shepherd, often ate in the presence of his enemies. When he dined with Simon the Pharisee, with Zacheus the tax collector, and with others, his critics watched. But some were more than critics. Some wanted him dead.

                The Lord knows full well that today we must make our journey through the dangers of dark valleys and through the wilderness of this world in the presence of many enemies. Paul names them in Ephesians 6. He   calls them “the spiritual hosts of wickedness.” But our shepherd-host defies them. He prepares a table before us and invites us to share in the meal that commemorates Him and His victory over those very enemies.

                And so we partake of the broken bread, his body, and of the cup, his blood shed for us, and then we leave, firm in the assurance of the psalm’s closing words:

Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,

And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

1/27/2019