My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, in regard to what he has given me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one. John 10:27-30
my sheep hear my voice.
I must admit, I have no direct experience with sheep or shepherds. I grew up in the city. So, I have to work at trying to understand what God was trying to reveal to us about God’s love for us when the shepherd image is used in scripture.
And used, it certainly was! Not just in the New Testament! The Hebrew Scriptures often used the image of shepherd – sometimes as an image of God, and other times as a ‘job description’ for leaders. The book of Exodus represents God a number of times as a Shepherd, and the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel compare God’s care and protection of God’s people to that of a shepherd. I am sure you remember Isaiah’s words …… “He is like a shepherd feeding his flock, gathering lambs in his arms, holding them against His breast and leading the mother ewes to their rest”. You likely remember those words from the hymn by the St. Louis Jesuits
Ezekiel represented God as a loving Shepherd who searches diligently for the lost sheep. And Psalm 23 is probably the most well known picture of God as The Good Shepherd: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters; He restores my soul”.
The promises of the prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures were fulfilled in Jesus – who declared himself to be the Good Shepherd who has come, as John tells us in his Gospel, “that we may have life, and have it abundantly”. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who lays down his own life to protect his flock. A shepherd is humble, kind and dedicated to the duty of taking care of their flock. A shepherd knows their sheep and the sheep know their shepherd … why? because they listen to their shepherd’s voice.
My sheep hear my voice
The most important thing that you and I can do in our lives is to take time to hear God’s voice. To recognize our shepherds voice. It is a voice that is always talking to us, in the times and events of our lives, in the midst of the noise that is in our life. It is a voice that talks to us in all the domains of our life. It is a voice that is always calling us to respond.
Do you hear that voice?
It’s very quiet, almost a whisper. Sometimes it seems like a small voice in your ear. Sometimes it’s just like a passing thought. Sometimes it’s more like a movement in your heart. Do you hear it?
For the Mom and Dad holding their new baby, or the Grandparents holding their new grandchild – It’s more like a feeling than a sound. A warmth within, a fluttering of the heart. A sudden sense of awe at the tiny, fragile life in your hands. Do you hear it?
For the person working hard to put a roof over your family’s head, and food on the table – do you hear it? It comes quietly at the end of a tiring day – a sense of purpose that rises within you, a knowing that you have been a good provider. Do you hear it?
As you sit at the bedside while a loved one passes away, and as you reflect on your life with this person whom you love, and who has loved you – and how you have made a difference in their life, just as they have made a difference in yours – and you are reminded that death is only an event in our life, not the end of it ….. Do you hear it?
When you read about people killed in wars, or of the innocent victims of cruelty on our streets, and your whole self rebels at a world so broken with violence – Do you hear it?
When you walk past challenged youth on the streets, hanging around in gangs because it is the only experience of family that they have had – and you wonder why someone doesn’t do something about it – and a voice within you says – What about you? What will you do about it?
Did you hear it? Did you hear what I heard ? It’s God, talking to you.
Often it is drowned out by the noise in our lives – the things we do that occupy our minds. But it is always there. Quiet. Gentle. Insistent. And in those times when we still our minds and hearts, when we quiet out the noise in our life, it becomes more clearly heard.
You and I are called to care for, to nourish, to protect, those that God has given us. You and I are called to be good shepherds, just as God is a good shepherd to us. This is particularly evident in our roles as parents. And as we celebrate Mother’s Day,I am reminded that it is so often a role wonderfully filled by our Moms But it is not just in our families that we have been called to follow Jesus’s model of shepherding.
We have been called to be good shepherds of the resources God has given us. We have been called to be good shepherds of the gifts and talents God has given us. We have been called to be good shepherds of the earth God has given us. We have been called to be good shepherds of the life that God has given us, and to put it at the service of others who are in need ….the poor in need of a meal or a place to sleep…the Alzheimer’s patient in the nursing home…the covid patient clinging to life…the family member or neighbour undergoing cancer treatment…the lonely person, the depressed person, the anxious person
You and I have been called by our Shepherd to be shepherds in the Reign of God, But it all begins with listening to the shepherd’s voice. It all begins with us taking the time and enhancing our awareness to hear God’s voice amidst the noise of our lives. Which often means we need to remove ourselves from scurrying about the concrete jungle, immersed in the noise of traffic, and take time to lay down in green pastures, to sit beside still waters, to restore our souls.
As spring awakens nature into existence, perhaps we can let Spring awaken us too, so that we will be more aware of our God, and create the time and space to listen to our shepherd’s voice. Because, as Jesus said in today’s Gospel …..
My sheep hear my voice.