Someone To Watch Over Me - May 3, 2009
SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME
Psalm 23 and John 10:11-18
My parents’ music was the popular music of the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. But it wasn’t mine. As a child, the music of preference for me was rock and roll; as a teenager, folk music, too. When I started singing with an adult choir right after my confirmation, classical music became part of my musical world. Classical church music led me to classical instrumental music, and then to opera. For a long time, however, I continued to scoff at my parents’ music. But I grew to love the show tunes of the great musicals of the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. And somehow, that led me to appreciate the beautiful ballads, the so-called standards, that my parents had always liked.
One of my favorites is “Someone to Watch over Me” which was written in the 1920’s by George and Ira Gershwin for their musical “Oh, Kay!” In this song, Kay tells of her longing for a man to love, but not just any man. This is what she says she is seeking:
There’s a somebody I’m longing to see:
I hope that he turns out to be
Someone to watch over me.
I’m a little lamb who’s lost in a wood.
I know I could always be good
To one who’ll watch over me.
I think that what makes this song special – that makes any music truly great – is its ability to speak to the human heart, to express our deepest feelings, to verbalize our longings and our dreams. And what always amazes me is how well secular music can speak to what is holy in our lives. At the core of our faith lies our need and longing for someone greater than we are, one who is not only able, but willing to watch over us, to take care of us – no matter what.
A story is told of two warring tribes in the Andes: one that lived in the lowlands and the other high in the mountains. The mountain people invaded the lowlanders one day, and as part of their plundering of the people, they kidnapped a baby of one of the lowlander families and took the infant with them back up into the mountains.
The lowlanders didn’t know how to climb the mountain. They didn’t know any of the trails that the mountain people used. They didn’t know where to find the mountain people or how to track them in the steep terrain. Even so, they sent out their best party of fighting men to climb the mountain and bring the baby home. The men tried first one method of climbing and then another. They tried one trail and then another. After several days of effort, however, they had climbed only several hundred feet. Feeling hopeless and helpless, the lowlander men decided that the cause was lost, and they prepared to return to their village below.
As they were packing their gear for the descent, they saw the baby’s mother walking toward them. They realized that she was coming down the mountain that they hadn’t figured out how to climb. And then they saw that she had the baby strapped to her back. How could that be? One man greeted her and said, “We couldn’t climb this mountain. How did you do this when we, the strongest and most able men in the village, couldn’t do it?” She shrugged her shoulders and said, “It wasn’t your baby.”
That makes all the difference, doesn’t it? The truth is, not everyone watches over others in the same way, not everyone cares equally about the well-being of others.
In John’s Gospel we hear Jesus saying: “I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own. And I lay down my life for the sheep.” He says that there is a vast difference between a hired hand and a shepherd. As long as the pay is enough to compensate for the boredom and the inconvenience and the mess, the hired hand remains. When the wolves appear, however, the hired hand flees, leaving the sheep to fend for themselves. But not the shepherd – and that’s the difference. The true shepherd is only revealed in the moment of crisis. The shepherd’s only concern is for the safety of the sheep, much like a mother when her child is threatened.
That’s the kind of shepherding love Jesus was talking about. It’s not so much about ownership as it is about relationship. It is about being so bound to another that when that one is threatened, we defend that one as if we were defending our own bodies. It is the kind of self-giving love that will do whatever it takes to save the other. That’s the kind of someone we all want to watch over us. Thanks be to God, that’s the someone we have in Jesus.
I don’t know a single shepherd. I have never lived with or even near sheep; everything I know about them came from books. And as for wolves, the closest I’ve ever come was at the Museum of Natural History, where, stuffed and mounted, they posed no threat at all. So it would seem that the image of Jesus as shepherd has little to do with my life.
But I know that even here and now there are dangers as real as any wolves and there are needs that must be met. And, somehow, in the image of the Good Shepherd I have been blessed to see the bond between Jesus and me. Even more, I have experienced his watchful care all my life.
I’ve already told you about the ways the Lord provided for all my needs while I was in seminary.
When I was 35 years old, the Lord walked with me through my own valley of the shadow of death: one full year in which I had three surgeries and seven months of chemotherapy for ovarian cancer.
A few years ago the Lord protected me when I lost consciousness while driving on the Taconic and my car hit a rock wall, then turned completely over, coming to rest back on its wheels, but with the back, the front, the top, the bottom, and both sides dented in – except the 2 square feet directly over my head – and I walked away with just a concussion and bruises.
So when I feel lost or bewildered or at risk of being devoured by wolves, I will always look to Jesus, the one unfailing shepherd of the flock, who has led me, guided me, restored me, provided for me; who has been my constant companion; who has kept watch over me; who even laid down his life for me. I will find my refreshment at his overflowing table, even in the presence of my enemies. I will trust that he will protect me with his rod and staff. On those days when I most need a shepherd to watch over me and save me, I have faith that Jesus will come because the Good Shepherd could never abandon his sheep.
I am his and he is mine forever, and that makes all the difference.