When you’re weary, feeling small,
When tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all;
I’m on your side.  Oh, when times get rough
And friends just can’t be found,
Like a bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down.
Like a bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down.

            This song by Paul Simon was released in 1969, while I was still in high school.  It was a huge hit.  Both the song and the album won Grammy awards.  I recall it today, not because I just spent a week in my home town remembering my high school days, but because last Wednesday was the Feast of Saint Catherine of Siena .

            Catherine lived in 14th century Italy , the 24th of 25 children (which does not qualify her for sainthood, but might qualify her mother!)  At the age of 16, after much wrangling with her parents, she joined a religious order and entered a cell of solitude, so that she could devote her whole life to prayer.  She expected to stay there for the rest of her life.  But, after three years, Jesus called her out of her cell.  He told her, “Now you must serve me by serving others.”

            It was a period of time, both in the world and in the church, that very much needed service.  Europe was ravaged by war – from the war between England and France , war between the emperor and challengers, war between city-states, all the way down to vicious and violent family feuds.  Where war was not enough, there was also the Black Death, which reached its height about the time Catherine was born.  The church itself was splitting apart with one pope in Rome and one in France .

            Catherine worked in hospitals.  She worked tirelessly for reconciliation.  I wish I could say that all of her work bore fruit.  Nevertheless, one of the central images of Christ for her was that of “Christ the bridge.”  In her book, The Dialogue, God speaks of the damage to the road between humanity and God done by human disobedience.  God describes sin as a story river that beats against us and prevents us from reaching eternal life.

            Then God says, “But I wanted to undo these great troubles of yours.  So I gave you a bridge, my Son, so that you could cross over the river, the stormy sea of this darksome life, without being drowned.”

             The New Testament does not overtly use the image of “Christ the bridge.”  Yet, there are images, I believe, that are resonant with this one.  In Acts 4, when Peter and the disciples are questioned about the authority with which they have performed a miracle of healing, Peter cites Psalm 118, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.” 

            It’s easy for us to imagine the stone in the corner of the building that anchors and secures the whole structure.  Another type of head stone was used by the Romans in constructing arches.  Stone would be laid from both ends at the same time.  The sides would not be self-supporting until the last stone was dropped into place at the very top.  It was called the keystone.  It held all the other stones in place and withstood the greatest pressure.  

            The Romans used these arches in a variety of ways, including in the building of bridges, or, I could say, in the laying down of bridges.

When you’re down and out,
When you’re on the street,
When evening falls so hard,
I will comfort you.  I’ll take your part.
Oh, when darkness comes, and pain is all around
Like a bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down.
Like a bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down.

            This is what Jesus does as the Good Shepherd.  He lays down his life for the sheep.  And this is what qualifies him as a “good” shepherd. 

            In Greek, there are two words translated as “good.”  One is “agathos.”  This word is used to describe something that is good in itself.  If Jesus were a good shepherd in the “agathos” sense, then he would be skillful and competent as a shepherd.  But we could also say that about hired hands, shepherds for hire.  They are skillful and competent.  But Jesus doesn’t describe them as “good.”  He describes them as mercenaries.  They are not there to benefit the sheep, but to benefit themselves.

            Jesus uses the word, “kalos,” to describe himself as the “Good” Shepherd.  “Kalos” means something that is good for the benefit of someone else.  A good medication is “kalos,” because is for the benefit of someone else.  So also Jesus is the Good Shepherd, not because he is skillful and capable, but because his work as a shepherd is for the benefit of someone else.  It is for the benefit of the sheep.

            The image of the shepherd is the primary image in Psalm 23.  There are also running waters in this psalm, although they are not threatening or troublesome.  There is also laying down in this psalm, but it is not the laying down of a bridge or the laying down of a life, but our laying down for rest.

            Still, it is the shepherd who accompanies us through darkness and danger.  Because the shepherd is with us, we need not fear, even in the face of our enemies even in the face of death.

            And this is Jesus for us.  Jesus is the bridge over troubled waters.  He is the Good Shepherd.  He provides what we most need.  He gives us comfort and calm.  He lays down his life for us, so that we may cross from this life to the next.  He lays down his life for us, so that he can be with us even in darkness, even in danger, even in death.

Like a bridge over troubled water, I will ease your mind.
Like a bridge over troubled water, I will ease your mind.