Easter 4
Psalm 23/John 10:22-30

Dear friends in Christ?
Who can we trust today? What voice, when we hear it, do we have confidence that it will lead us truthfully? That is a very good question. It seems that with each passing year we grow more and more skeptical that anyone is truthful and trustworthy.
Much of this comes from the modern media, which encourages shock jocks like Don Imus, Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh, Rosie O’Donnell and many others to speak their minds, even if it is not entirely truthful, and boost ratings. The internet has contributed greatly. Hopefully by now you are all aware that much online communication ought not be trusted. We’ve seen how sexual predators can pretend to be teenagers in chat rooms, attempting to lure young people to meet with them and abuse them. There are countless online scams posing as legitimate businesses or causes, that are only seeking to rob trusting people of their hard earned money.
That, of course, doesn’t just happen on the internet. I’m somewhat embarrassed to say that this happened to me awhile back. We decided to have a small backyard paver patio installed. I checked the yellow pages and our local, community papers for companies that did that kind of work. I had several come out to give me estimates. I saw one nice ad in the Forest Lake Times for a company called All Terrain, so I had a guy come out. He measured the area, talked about the kind of materials he would use to provide the base, showed me pictures of his work, and gave me some e-mail and phone references for people I could contact. He said all the right things and ended up being the low bid. Now I’m usually pretty careful about these things. I e-mailed and phoned the references and they all came back positive. I called with several follow-up questions, always getting through to a secretary and then to whom I needed to talk with. They asked for half down for materials, not uncommon for this kind of work, and I first told them I’d do a third down, but they said they needed half, I was anxious to get it done, so I agreed. I sent a check and they sent a written receipt.
Well, I’m sure you can see where this is going. I was careful, but not careful enough. It appeared like an established company, but I never checked to be sure. The work was scheduled, but no one came. I called and they kept putting it off. Before too long, the phones and e-mails were no longer being answered. I found out the address I sent my check to was a postal drop box in Circle Pines. I began to get that sick feeling in my gut that I had been swindled. I had been too trusting. I’d probably never see the work completed or the money again.
I did report it to the Wyoming police and they were very helpful. I had a good paper and electronic trail for them to follow. Turns out the e-mail addresses I was given for references and phone numbers went back to friends in on the scam. The police found out this had been going on in other communities, and were able to connect the dots to now make a case against this guy. However, he skipped the country. A warrant was issued for his arrest, and they actually caught him trying to re-enter the country down along the Texas border, I think. He was extradited back here to Chisago County, was released on bail, was prepared to enter a guilty plea, but again fled and did not appear at his sentencing hearing. Haven’t heard a thing since. Presumably he’ll mess up again some time and be arrested, but who knows? So, who do we trust?
Many would say politicians are the worst of all. Unfortunately, most Americans no longer even trust that the president has been truthful and are highly skeptical of anything said about the war in Iraq. If you can’t trust the highest elected official of our country, who can you trust?
The 4th Sunday in the Easter season is sometimes called Shepherd Sunday in the church. The Psalm and gospel texts, in particular, speak of God and Jesus as the Shepherd, and believers as the sheep. Sheep are the most frequently mentioned animals in the Bible, referred to over 400 times. Now some of you might not take too kindly to being compared to sheep, for they have a reputation of being smelly and notoriously dumb. But the shepherd and sheep image is a beautiful one of both trust and protection.
In this image, the shepherd’s voice is a voice that is trusted. God’s voice, the voice of our Lord, is a trusted voice. There’s a lot of mistrust among voices we hear in daily life, but the voice of God is trustworthy and true. “The Lord is my shepherd,” writes the Psalmist, “I shall not want.” Those are words of complete trust. “He leads me beside still waters…He leads me in paths of righteousness…he walks with me through the valley of the shadow of death… He comforts me.” There is this beautiful sense of calm and complete trust in the voice and guidance of the shepherd reflected in the Psalm.
In John 10 Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.” The sheep fully trust and follow the shepherd.
The following comes from a sermon, “The Voice of the Shepherd” by Barbara Brown Taylor, as she speaks about the unique relationship shepherd have with their sheep. “Sheep seem to consider their shepherds part of the family, and the relationship that grows up between the two is quite exclusive. They develop a language of their own that outsiders are not privy to. A good shepherd learns to distinguish a bleat of pain from one of pleasure, while the sheep learn that a cluck of the tongue means food, or a two note song means it’s time to go home.
In Palestine today, it is still possible to witness a scene that Jesus almost certainly witness two thousand years ago, that of Bedouin shepherds bringing their flocks home from the various pastures they have grazed during the day. Often those flocks will end up at the same watering hole around dusk, so that they get all mixed up together- eight or nine small flocks turning into a convention of thirsty sheep. Their shepherds do not worry about the mix-up, however. When it is time to go home, each one issues his or her own distinctive call- a special trill or whistle, or a particular tune on a particular reed pipe, and that shepherd’s sheep withdraw from the crowd to follow their shepherd home. They know whom they belong to; they know their shepherd’s voice, and it is the only one they will follow.”
This picture of God and Jesus as our shepherd whose voice we can trust and follow continues to speak to us today. I’m not going to presume to unlock the mystery of faith or explain how each of you have been led by the trusting voice of our Good Shepherd. But I believe it is true. I believe you have heard the voice of Jesus and you have followed, come forth, into this fold we call the church. Somehow you have heard something that sounded in some way like the voice of God inviting you to come and be part of this gathering, this flock. And here we gather again to hear that voice, hear that Word that will guide us forth into the week and the challenges to come. We trust that voice, that Word, and in trusting we believe God keeps us and guides us as the shepherd keeps and guides the sheep.
The shepherd’s voice is one of guidance, a voice to follow. But it’s also a voice of protection. Jesus says in the gospel, “no one will snatch them out of my hand,” and “ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.”
Dr. William Willimon recalls a time when a couple asked him to preach on the 23rd Psalm at their wedding. He told them he loved the psalm very much, but had never been asked to preach on it at a wedding. Funerals, yes, but never a wedding.
The bride responded, “Well, we’ve put a lot of prayer and thought into this. We are anxious, even worried. Who can blame us? Both our parents are divorced. So many of our friends have had trouble in their marriages. It’s all kind of frightening for us, just starting out. Marriage isn’t easy these days.”
And she was absolutely right. The 23rd Psalm isn’t just about God’s protection at the time of death. It’s about God’s protection from any evil that might come our way, any anxiety we may be feeling, any time we walk through some kind of dark and shadowy valley.
We all need protection. We need protection from that which might physically harm us. We need protection from things that might spiritually harm us. There is so much that can harm us. There are natural disasters like tornadoes and floods and tsunamis. There are tragedies like car accidents and plane crashes, and other accidents that just happen. There are illnesses that afflict us. There is crime and there is war. We all need protection in this dangerous world. And so we pray that God will protect us, physically and spiritually, as the shepherd protects the sheep. We pray that God will protect members of our family. We pray God will protect our leaders. We pray for those that are protecting us, especially our police departments and those serving in military service. Is this a guarantee that nothing bad will ever happen to us or those we love? We know that’s not true. In a world where God gives us great freedom, things happen because of that freedom and because of the choices people make. We are not God and we cannot always know the greater purpose God might have when something difficult or tragic occurs. But we follow the scriptures and pray for physical protection, trusting in God, the shepherd of the sheep, as well as for spiritual protection from anything that might rob or erode our faith.
I began this message with the question, who can we trust? Whose voice can we follow? Fortunately, there are still many trustworthy and positive voices still speaking. A mother calls her children to get ready for bed. A teacher calls his students to gather around him and listen to a poem. A firefighter’s voice calls more urgently, “Get out now!” A doctor says, “You need to come in to see me soon.” A love asks, “Will you marry me?” A child calls to her puppy to come. These voices are heard and trusted.
It is voices like these that most reflect the voice of God, our Good Shepherd. It is a voice of trust, one we can follow with complete confidence as he leads and guides us through the pastures and valleys of life. It is a voice of protection, a promise that the shepherd is with us always, watching over us through the valleys of the shadows, whatever form they take. Sheep may not be the brightest of animals. But they understand this. They need a shepherd. They’re smart enough to know they can’t go it alone. They need someone to lead and guide them. So do we all. May we daily place our lives in the care of our Good Shepherd, a voice we can fully trust. Amen