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"We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord...His decreed statues for Jacob. Then they will not be like their forefathers--a stubborn and rebellious generation whose hearts were not loyal to God... (cf. Psalm 78:4,5,8)

As shepherds outside of Gevas, Turkey, were eating breakfast one morning, they were surprised to see a sheep charge over the edge of a cliff and fall to its death. What followed took away their breath-and their appetite. Most of the remaining 1,500 sheep followed the first sheep and leaped over the same cliff. About 450 sheep died; the others survived only because as the corpses piled up at the bottom of the cliff, their falls were cushioned.

This gives new meaning to the prophecy of Isaiah 53:6: 'All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God's paths to follow our own.' Sheep are followers; so are sinners. God, the Good Shepherd, has his hands full. It's a good thing he is patient, says this psalm.

It is a long psalm. Well, it's a summary of Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and even parts of Joshua, Judges and 1 Samuel. It is a distillation of all that history down to one big lesson, summarized in Romans 5:8, "God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners."

This is a song about God's mercy: \u201ctheir hearts were not loyal to him; they were not faithful to his covenant. Yet he was merciful; he forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them\u201d (37-38). His kindness is meant to lead us to repentance, not contempt and complacency. Let us pray that our hearts will yield to his mercy.

The psalm also reminds us that there has been no golden age for the people of God. Hebrews 11 selects various men and women of the Bible and parades them in a kind of hall of fame of faith. But most of our history is more like a hall of shame, redeemed only by the boundless mercy of God. We are supposed to learn from all this.

Their story is our story, written in part, to show us how not to live, how not to be. Yet, more than that, its written to shine a spotlight on God\u2019s mercy that we might be moved to faithfulness by it. And we are invited to continue the story, to tell the stories of God so that the next generation will not be like our ancestors: stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful, refusing to give their hearts to God, but moved by his mercy.

What is it that causes people to give their hearts to God? Of course, the right answer is, \u201cthe Holy Spirit.\u201d Does the Spirit have tools? This psalm would say, \u201cStories!\u201d I wonder if that is why our appetite for Catechism classes and other forms of teaching has disappeared. They were often about information rather than stories. They aimed at the mind rather than the heart. For many, the way to the mind is through the heart, and the heart is moved by stories.

The psalm builds to a crescendo: one defection after another, one monumental act of divine mercy after another. Where sin abounded, grace abounded even more. God answers the stubborn rebellion of his unfaithful people by giving the greatest shepherd-king they ever had: David, whose lineage would eventually conclude with its own crescendo: the Good Shepherd, the King of Kings, Jesus.

Give thanks for this! Give thanks for God\u2019s mercy.