Atom“Hearing the Shepherd”
John 10:11-30
My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 29What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand.* 30The Father and I are one.’
This is the fourth Sunday of Easter celebrations. In the Church year there are a week of Sundays, seven Sundays of Easter that lead eventually to the ascension of Jesus to the throne room of heaven and to Pentecost and the birthday celebration of the church – the coming of the Holy Spirit and all that. But on the fourth Sunday of Easter we regularly read from the 10th chapter of John and hear Jesus’ promise that he is the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep and takes it up again that he might give the gift of eternal life to those who follow him: “My sheep hear my voice…I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.” It is such a powerful word of hope and we lift it up often at times of death: “No one shall snatch them out of my hand.” But there is more in here. I recommend the whole chapter. Read it again this week. Mark it in your Bibles for future reference. The Shepherd chapter is one of those chapters in the Bible to keep close to your heart.
To be sure, sheep and shepherds are not a part of everyday experience for us as they were for Jesus. Some of our older members grew up around farms or some like me had grandparents who had sheep, so we know a little. Or, as young people we see pictures of sheep and know something of shepherds from Sunday School or even from television. So we can talk about what some of the images of sheep and shepherd might mean to us. We can talk about sheep and how needy they are, how they are given to wandering off following their noses and their appetites, how vulnerable they are to wolves and other beasts of prey as they are relatively defenseless. We can talk about how foolish and stubborn they can be. And we can lament about the Bible using sheep as an image for God’s people – for us…dependent, vulnerable, stubborn, foolish and relatively defenseless. Being called a sheep is not exactly complimentary.
But that is not the point of course…it is recognizing in ourselves these tendencies, but more than that seeing that there is a caregiver who would help us. The main focus of the reading is Jesus as shepherd, as caretaker, protecting the sheep, tenderly watching over the lambs, protecting them from predators, even laying down bodily at the entrance to the sheep corral to protect the sheep from thieves or wild animals. We have seen pictures of Jesus standing in a pasture, holding a little lamb while wolves are circling in the background.
One of our staff this week told of a picture that hung in the home of her childhood, a picture of Jesus the good Shepherd making his way down the face of cliff to rescue a little lamb that had slipped over the edge and was in danger of falling further to injury or death. These are all powerful images of what it is that Jesus offers as Savior and Lord and Caregiver and Friend and worthy of reflection.
What I was taken by this week, however, was that little phrase in verse imbedded here: “I know my own and they know me” and “they will listen to my voice.” Earlier in the chapter Jesus says this about the relationship between sheep and shepherd,
“The shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” Vv. 3-5
I watched a TV program some time ago about middle-east shepherds - people who live a life that isn’t radically different from that of their first century counter-parts. It was fascinating to see the lives they led, wandering endlessly in search of fields where their sheep might graze. Every night, the sheep were led into a protected area—a “sheepfold.” Sometimes, there would be three or four or five flocks gathered by a number of shepherds into the same area. The shepherds would take shifts staying up throughout the night, making sure that wolves or other wild animals weren’t able to make their way into the protected area. In the morning, a person would wonder if there was any hope of separating one flock from another. But interestingly enough, it was a very simple matter. Each shepherd went to opposite corners of the field and began to call the sheep. As the sheep heard the shepherds’ voices they immediately began to move towards the one that belonged to their shepherd. After a few minutes all the sheep were separated into their own flocks, and the shepherds lead them away.
“The shepherd calls his own sheep by name,” says Jesus, “And leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” (v.4)
The shepherd is the one whose voice is known. The shepherd’s voice calls the sheep forward. The shepherd is the one to whom they instinctively respond—sometimes without even thinking. The shepherd is the one who provides safety, security, and direction in life. The shepherd who calls is Jesus.
We also hear voices calling to us: the voice of things – “the one who dies with the most toys wins,” the voice of fame, the voice of power, the voice of entertainment, the voice of addiction. All these voices come our way, and in some respects we are like sheep that have just awakened and hear a number of different voices calling to us. How can we distinguish which of these voices comes from our God? How can we hear Jesus speak to us? That question can be answered with one simple word: practice. Sheep know the voice of their master because they hear it every day of their lives. They are able to distinguish it from the many other voices they hear, because they listen to it over and over and over again and they learn to hear it even when the world is noisy and full of other voices.
As I was thinking about this passage last week my family sat down at the end of the day to watch an episode of Smallville. It’s a fun, fictional drama that takes me back to my childhood love of Superman comic books. Smallville, Kansas is where the young Superman disguised as ordinary Clark Kent grows up, goes to high school, discovers friendship and love and danger and at the same time grows into his “super powers,” discovers them like an adolescent discovering his gifts. In the episode we happened to watch, Clark got exposed to green Kryptonite, his weakness and lost his eye sight. His body compensated, however, as bodies do by accentuating other senses, in this case Clark’s hearing. Unfortunately “super hearing” meant not only the ability to hear whispers blocks away, but also every other sound at a “super level.” The “noise” drove him to his knees. So, to gain control of his “super ability,” Clark decides to practice “hearing,” focusing on the sounds he wants to hear. His parents find him in the barn listening to a bedlam of noises trying to learn to focus. Well…let’s watch a minute…
(Play clip from Smallville, season 3, episode nine, chapter 3. End with Jonathan, after Clark has practiced hearing him – “Listen to my voice, son” – saying “Good.”)
I like that image. Practice…focus…learning to hear, to listen to the voice of Jesus. How do we do that? One way is to do what we do here regularly as we gather for worship. Another is the long-standing habit of followers to “devote.” To find space and place in our lives to focus on the voice of God…to read the Bible, to listen to the word on tape or CD, to engage a “devotional guide” to hear the voice of Jesus, to pray, to be still and listen. I don’t recommend finding the noisiest place around like Clark Kent did, to try and hone our skills. Quiet space, worship or retreating often works better, but it is practice that enables us to hear the voice of Jesus calling.
And when we do practice or focus, we will hear him. We will hear a comforting word like that from Isaiah: “Comfort, comfort my people…” “I have called you by name; you are mine.” Or from Paul: “I am convinced that nothing in a all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus my Lord,” Or from Jesus here in John: “No one shall snatch them out of my hand.” Those are good words to hear when the world is breaking down around us and life seems to be in chaos. But there are other words of the Shepherd that we may also hear that would direct us as to how believers follow the only Son of God.
And there may be many voices trying to drown the voice of Jesus out. Those who doubt us and laugh at our faith. We will hear Jesus say, perhaps in a whisper, “When you come before the leaders and authorities, don’t worry about what you will say, the Spirit will guide you.”
Or when the voices around us tell us that in uncertain times we should trust our own resources, the voice of Jesus may seem like a whisper, “Trust me.” Or the siren call in tough times to take care of our own needs first may try to drown out the voice of Jesus reminding us, “As you did it to the least of these, my sisters and brothers, you did it to me. Love one another, care for one another as I have cared for you.”
In the midst of loud voices calling us to busy, scattered lives, full of doing and little meaning, the voice of Jesus calls us to center the life and activities of our family around the gift of faith. When television and movies and magazines blare what it means to be male or female or to live in meaningful relationships, the voice of Jesus may indeed be a whispers reminding us of who we were created for and that which gives true life and meaning.
So many voices, so much noise, but through it all the voice of Jesus, the Good shepherd calls out to us.
Remember the words of Jonathan Kent in that little video clip we listened to a few moments ago? “Focus on my voice, Son. I am right here.”
Our Lord Jesus would say something very much the same. “Focus on my voice, my child, listen to my Word, my promise, my guidance. I am right here.” Pray, read, worship, listen.
“My sheep hear my voice (because they have learned how to listen take time to listen) and they follow me…and no one shall snatch them out of my hand!”
What a grand promise. May we be diligent in our attempts to listen, that we might learn his voice, and follow his leading. Let’s pray…
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