Psalm 23 - journey with the good shepherd: 1st week advent wednesday

Today we reflect on psalm 23.  The psalm involves three changes of sceneries, seemingly three journeys.   Journey number one involves going from one pasture land to another.  Remember this is still the desert.  This is not one vast pastureland but oases here and there amidst the barren landscape.  And the sheep have to depend on the shepherd as he looks for verdant pastures and restful waters travelling from one oases to another.  Getting lost is not a choice here.  Leaving the side of the shepherd is not an option.  You get lost you die. 

Then we go to the second scene. Leaving behind the pastures, the restful waters and the barren desert, one enters into a tent, a welcoming tent, a warm and secure tent where there is not just food but a warm welcome – “You spread the table before me, you anoint my head with oil.”  In that tent we rested.  There we found security, warmth, appreciation.  But remember this is just a tent, something temporary.  We cannot stay there forever and so we have to move on.

Then the third scene.  Now we leave the security of the tent and we begin, another journey.  This journey is not an ordinary journey but a pilgrimage, a pilgriamge to the house of God, a coming home.  Leaving behind the tent and its warmth, we move out assured only that goodness and kindness will follow us until we reach the end of our long pilgrimage, until we enter the house of God.

Psalm 23 is not just about the good shepherd.  It is our journey with the good shepherd, it is a journey that leads us to a goal, it is a journey with its ups and downs where we find dark valleys and lurking evils, where we encounter the assuring rod and staff that gave us courage, where we found the the warm welcome and the rich food, where we moved forward bringing with us the assurance of the goodness and kindness of God the will accompany us in our journey, and then finally the end of the pilgrimage, the entrance into the house of God.

Can you see yourself in this journey, can you see your vocation in this journey?  Can you also sense the Lord in this journey.  Remember the key phrase which I tackled last Sunday – for you are with me.  Was your journey a journey with the Lord by your side?