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Gathered to Recognize His Voice

How do you know who to listen to these days? I mean seriously, there are so many voices out there trying to get our attention it is almost impossible to know who is the right person, group, movement, etc. to listen to. For parents it can be exceptionally hard to get your children to listen to you when so many others are offering different information. When our kids were young, we developed a verbal call that to this day they know is me. It is a whistle and I can assure you, no matter how big a crowd we are in, when I whistle, everyone in my family knows it is me and they know to look for me, even know that they are adults. (offer the whistle). The whistle is loud enough and distinct enough that they can distinguish it from anyone else’s whistle. For example, in the summer of 2001, right after I left my job and just before I started seminary, we took a vacation to Disney World. One afternoon, the three kids had split off from Jill and I to do there own thing for a while. The park was packed and noisy. We had agreed to meet at a specific time and place, but when it came time, what we hadn’t realized is that there would be a big parade in progress where we were going to meet. When Jill and I arrived we realized we could not get to the spot we had agreed to meet them. There were thousands of people around, music blaring, crowds cheering, and we were stuck on the wrong side of the parade to get where we needed to be. We began looking around trying to figure out what to do when Jill spotted them on the other side, quite a ways away looking all around for us. So, I did what I had always done, I whistled. Over the noise of the parade, over the noise of the crowd cheering and yelling, all three kids, stopped and turned to look in the direction the whistle sound came from and within seconds they say Jill and I waving at them. They knew it was me calling.

But, the opposite is also true. We parents know the sounds and the voices of our children. Have you ever watched the parents hanging out at the fast-food playgrounds with their children? Most of the parents are at the tables by themselves, or with another adult, but the kids are gone. They are playing, while their food is on the table getting cold. Everyone is happy, but then suddenly, a cry is heard. Every parent stops and listens, but only one of the parents responds; the parent whose child is crying. Every parent knows the voice, and cry, of their child.

Jesus understood the power of this type of “voice recognition” and so in today’s gospel text, he offers us an analogy around this concept to help us better understand how we can pick him out in a crowd of voices, regardless of all of the other voices speaking to us. He says it is like the relationship between a shepherd and his sheep. When the sheep hear the shepherds voice they know what to do, but when they hear a strangers voice they are uneasy. The strangers voice is a thief and a bandit. These are the voices that steal our lives from us. These are the voices that make empty promises and fail to provide us the abundance of life that God promises.

In contrast, Jesus tells us the shepherd is there to protect, nurture, provide and fulfill the promises God has granted us. He is not like the hired hand who takes off as soon as trouble appears. If a predator appears on the scene, the shepherd is ready to lay down his life for the flock.

Surprisingly, in his analogy today, Jesus does not identify himself as the shepherd (though he does later in verse 11), but rather as “the gate. But in reality, Jesus is both the gate and the shepherd. Shepherds commonly let their sheep graze during the day. But sheep are prone to wander, especially when they might not be able to see the other sheep or their familiar shepherd. So, in those days, the shepherd would create a large, circular pen for the sheep made out of the small boulders. After completing the stone circle, the shepherds left a 5’-6’ opening in the circle for the sheep to come in and out. (The walls themselves were usually 3’-4’ high). As evening came, the shepherd would herd the sheep into his pen, many times only using his voce, and then the shepherd would sleep across the opening, using his body as a type of “gate.” If any sheep tried to get out by walking over him, he woke up and shooed them back. And if a predator tried to get to the flock via this opening, the sleeping shepherd would be the first to know and attempt take care of the problem. The sheep knew the shepherd’s voice and they knew shepherd would be there for them.

Like the sheep with the shepherd, we need to be able to distinguish Jesus’ voice from the all those voices in our lives that lead us away from the ways and the life Jesus calls us to live. Our challenge is to be able to do what the prophet Isaiah, “And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it" (Isaiah 30:21).

So how do we hear and recognize the voice of God?
First, we must come to know the scriptures, for the voice of God speaks through them. The challenge is to know God’s word well enough that when other voices call us to believe, or act, in ways that contradict God’s word, we know it and we reject those voices. When voices tell us that we need to separate ourselves form other people and other cultures and other beliefs, we need to be able to ask, how does that help me love as God loves. If these ways don’t foster love, then they are not words of the shepherd.

The second thing we can do is to find ways to literally block out these other voices and take time to only listen to God’s word and the most valid way we can do that is to gather in worship. Here we hear God’s word, and whether it is comforting us today, or convicting us today, we make the time in worship to only hear God’s word. We gather to learn how to recognize Jesus’ voice.

But, even if we learn to recognize Jesus’ voice, we still need to ask the question, why? Why ought we do this? Well, Jesus gives us that answer today, as well, in Verse 10, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” When we follow Jesus’ voice, we are promised an abundant life. But, let me warn you, this promise of abundance that Jesus offers is not the abundance that this world seeks. It is not about more money, more things, more years, more happiness in worldly matters. No, the abundance Jesus promises and is a life lived in the presence of God. As the psalmist promises, abundance is the assurance that whether we are in the green pastures or dark valleys, God will be with us. The psalmist promises that we will be in the gracious and generous care of our Lord through times of material abundance and in times of want and scarcity. An abundant relationship with God is one in which we are known abundantly by a God who knows us by name, and who knows what we truly need to be fulfilled.

As we leave this place today, I pray we find ways to learn and to focus on the voice of Christ and that we commit ourselves to gather regularly so that we might fully recognize the voice of Christ. Amen.

Tags: Sermons