Saint Luke's Lutheran Church

Today, the Fourth Sunday of Easter, is also known as Good Shepherd Sunday. Every year on this day Christians around the world read Psalm 23. Today is also the second Sunday in May, which is always Mother's Day. I suspect that you came here today far more aware of the latter than you were of the former. But when these two come together - when you read Psalm 23 on Mother's Day - you cannot help but be struck by the parallels. In this psalm David describes a mothering God. Now listen to the familiar words of this psalm. [Read Psalm 23] What David describes God doing in this psalm are the very things that mothers do for their children.

[I suppose that I need to add a footnote here to let you know that I am not unaware that today the roles and responsibilities of parents are not so clearly distinguished as they used to be. I know that today mothers and fathers do much the same things for their children. This is a good thing, and it is surprisingly Biblical. We usually think of God as Father, but the truth is that ours is also a mothering God. Long before they were abandoned, or at least blurred, our God combined the traditional roles of father and mother. Because it is Mother's Day, I am going to speak about mothers, but I want you to know that what I say about and to mothers also applies to fathers as well.]

A week ago last Thursday, I spent the morning at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church studying icons. An icon is a visual image of one who reflects, and therefore reveals, God. While Protestants focus on the Word of God, Orthodox Christians focus on the icons of God. Because the Orthodox believe that seeing is as important as hearing, maybe even more so, icons rank right up there with the Bible itself. The idea is that we need to "see" God in order to know God. We need to "see" theology in order to know truth.

Interestingly enough, however, there are no real icons of God the Father, only of Jesus. The reason is that while Jesus took on flesh and blood, the Father has always been a spirit. You cannot see a spirit, and so you cannot see the Father - at least not directly. But in John 14, Jesus says that if you have seen him, then you have seen the Father. Jesus is the icon, the image of the Father, and so we are able to see God through Jesus.

So what about those who lived before the time of Jesus? How did they see God? Let's go back to Psalm 23, where David sees God as a shepherd. While the Orthodox may not call the shepherd an icon of God, in Psalm 23 shepherd functions exactly like an icon - in the shepherd David sees God and sees the truth about God. What he sees is a God who loves. "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want." Sheep are terribly dependent. They are not able to find food or water for themselves, so the shepherd must lead them to green pastures and to quiet waters. We like to think of ourselves as much more independent and self-sufficient, but the truth is that, in so many ways, we are as helpless as sheep. Like a good shepherd, our God provides everything we need. The word translated "want" here really means "need" not "desire." God never promises to satisfy all of our desires, but God does promise to satisfy our every need. It is an act of goodness and of love.

"He guides me along right pathways for his names sake." The ram and the ewe were not the smartest pair of animals Noah loaded onto the ark, and their survival skills are not well developed. Without a shepherd to guide them, sheep quickly wander into dangerous terrain and get lost. We all know how easy it is to get off track in our lives - how quickly we can loose our way in the confusion and chaos of our world. Sometimes we don't even know what is good and what is right. Like a good shepherd, our God guides us away from the temptation and leads us along the paths of righteousness. It is an act of goodness and of love.

"Your thy rod and your staff they comfort me." The Judean hills were haunted by predators like wolves and hyenas who lie in wait for a sheep to drift away from the flock or get its leg caught in the sharp rocks. The shepherd carried a rod or a club with which he would drive the wild animals away. He also carried a staff with which he could gently pull the sheep to safety. Because the shepherd was there, the sheep could graze without fear. Like a good shepherd, our God protects us from those evil forces that seek to destroy us and rescues us from the difficulties we get ourselves into. Because God is our shepherd, we have nothing to fear; no reason to worry even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. It is an act of goodness and of love.

"You anoint my head with oil, my cup is running over." No matter how carefully the shepherd watched over his sheep, they would get wounded or sick. When that happened, the shepherd would put oil on the wound to help it heal or mix up a cup of herbal medicine for his sheep to drink. Like a good shepherd, our God brings healing and wholeness when our lives are battered or broken. It is an act of goodness and of love.

Jesus affirms the iconography of Psalm 23 in our Gospel lesson for today when he identifies himself as the Good Shepherd. This is another way of saying that Jesus is the one who reveals God's goodness and God's love. And the greatest act of love is for the shepherd to lay down his life for his sheep. The crucifixion of Jesus on the cross is the greatest icon of God's love for us.

Because the things which David describes God doing in Psalm 23 are the very things that mothers do, mothers are icons of God. We are not able to see God with our own eyes, but we are able to see the image of God in mothers. We are not able to see the truth about God's love with our own eyes, but we are able to see God's love reflected in the love of a mother. Like God, mothers nurture and feed their children - providing them with everything that they need. Like God, mothers guide their children along the paths of righteousness. Like God, mothers protect their children from the dangers of the world and comfort them when they walk dark and difficult valleys. Like God, mothers take care of their children when they are injured or when they are sick, nursing them back to health and wholeness.

Motherhood is an awesome responsibility and a very difficult role to fill. Not only does God expect mothers to love and care for their children, but God also expects them to be an icon through whom their children will be able to see God and come to dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Here's what mothers need to remember: Your child's spiritual life is more important than her social life. Your child's instruction in the faith is more important than the education he gets in school. It is more important for your child to wear the robe of righteousness than to dress in the latest fashions. It is more important for your child to grow up faithful than successful. Now, you cannot do any of these things for your child, but you can be the one through whom God does them. An icon is one through whom the Spirit of God works to call, gather, enlighten, sanctify, and keep God's children in the one true faith. The problem with icons is that while they reflect the image of God, they are never perfect images. No mother is a perfect icon, and no woman is a perfect mother. In fact, some mothers are not icons at all - because they reflect more hurt than healing, more abuse than protection, more neglect than caring, more hatred than love.

Jesus, however, is the perfect icon of God the Father. In him, we see the perfect love of the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep. In him, see the perfect goodness and mercy of the Good Mother who loves and cares for her children - feeding them, guiding them, protecting them, and healing them. In this Jesus, God mothers imperfect mothers - forgiving them and calling them to follow his example and to learn from him how to love and shepherd their children.

So this Mother's Day, I encourage each one of you to look to your mother - or to one who is a good mother figure in your life - and see her as the icon of God, reflecting God's love and care for you. And I encourage you mothers to look to Jesus as a model of love and caring, who not only offers you forgiveness but who can guide you along the paths of right motherhood. Amen.