An actor is giving readings from his favourite works, as an encore an elderly Priest asks him to recite the lines of Psalm 23, this he agrees to if the Priest will follow him with his own recital. The actor stands and gives a beautiful rendition of the psalm; it is received with great applause. Then the Priest stands and in a faltering voice recites the psalm, there is a hushed silence in the audience and a few tears. The actor stands and turns to the Priest and says: “Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you realise what has happened tonight. I know the words to the psalm, but this Priest knows the Shepherd”.

But what does it mean to know the Shepherd?

The Resurrection. Marc Chagall

Marc Chagall painted a series of works, telling the story of the Bible, between 1937 and 1948. In 1963 he donated these works to the French state and in 1973 a gallery was opened in Nice to house them. Last week Clare and I visited this wonderful gallery, designed as a house and set in a beautiful park.

The paintings tell the story of humanity, but if you look in the corners of these paintings you will see another story, that of the ‘Suffering Jew’. Chagall was of course conscious during these years of the holocaust taking place across Europe. It was a holocaust that had a long history. To tell this story, Chagall’s home town of Vitebsk, which had suffered in the pogroms of the 19th century, often features in the paintings. Most surprisingly there is almost always a crucified Christ figure somewhere. Chagall, an orthodox Jew explained that for him Christ is the ‘suffering Jew’.

But for Chagall Christ is not only the crucified, but the resurrected Jew. Here we find Jesus rising up and walking away from the cross. We see the village Vitbebst in the background, and scenes of war and revolution, but front and centre is the risen Christ who brings, in the next painting of this series, liberation.

The Sheep and the Shepherd: So what is it to know the Shepherd? Is it not to know Him as an animal knows its master, to trust and believe in the promise of new life beyond suffering and pain. Maybe the best way to understand this is to think back to the days when we were learning French. I remember being drilled in the difference between the verb Connaitre and the verb Savoir; to know a person and to know a ‘thing’. We know God as a person though we may not understand a thing about Him. The focus of Jesus’ words is on our relationship with God, not what we can know about Him. It is, for those who have faith in the resurrected Christ, a relationship of love, trust and commitment, that takes us through the valley of the shadow of death and leads us to the quiet pastures.

The shepherd’s voice: It is significant that Chagall always depicts Christ as a Jew, wearing the shawl that would cover the men’s heads in the synagogue. In Christ he recognises the story of the Jewish people. He identifies with the Christ on the cross and he trusts in the resurrected Christ. This is a relationship built on an intimate knowledge of the shepherd, the very tone of his voice.

The shepherd’s way: In the midst of war Chagall is able to paint ‘Resurrection’ because he trusted a God who could overcome evil and darkness and lead his people to a new land. It is often pointed out that in the Middle East shepherds lead their sheep, they do not drive them. Though they do not know where he will lead them they have learnt to trust him. To know God then, Jesus says, is to recognise in Him, as the sheep do, as the one who gives life. ‘Those who come to me will be saved’

The shepherd’s love: As we read the story of the Jewish people in the scriptures we will recognise a Christ figure in all the stories, a king, a prophet or a priest who prefigures Christ. Chagall saw this and when he painted the Christ he was making a statement about the Jewish people. In his suffering he sees their suffering, in his resurrection he sees their resurrection. The Christ figure tells the story of the Jewish people.

A shepherd too will know each of his sheep, he will recognise their strengths and weaknesses, he will know their history, and to him each one is special, valued and precious in his sight. How extraordinary, that we should be loved by the unknowable God, and yet we know that this is true because we see in Jesus the crucified and resurrected Christ ‘The Good Shepherd who lay down his life for the sheep’

A journey of faith: Chagall drew on the imagery of the sheep and its shepherd. In nearly all of this series there is somewhere in the background a sheep. He recognised that our relationship to God is like that between a shepherd and his sheep. In his paintings we discover the mystery of a God, unknowable yet known in the Christ figure by those who put their faith in Him. A relationship that makes knowing God a reality for us, His sheep.

A prayer for peace in the Holy land.

O God of all justice and peace we cry out to you in the midst of the pain and trauma
of violence and fear which prevails in the Holy Land.
Be with those who need you in these days of suffering; we pray for people of all faiths – Jews, Muslims and Christians and for all people of the land.
While we pray to you, O Lord, for an end to violence and the establishment of peace,
we also call for you to bring justice and equity to the peoples.
Guide us into your kingdom where all people are treated with dignity and honour as your children for, to all of us, you are our Heavenly Father.
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.