We’re about half-way through the Easter Season and we come
on this 4th Sunday of Easter to what is called “Good Shepherd
Sunday.” With a reading from John’s
Gospel, we meditate on one of the grand metaphors of Scripture – the picture of
a shepherd and sheep. It’s a metaphor
that Jesus employs to great effect, as he shows himself to be the Good Shepherd
who lays down his life for his sheep.
This year, we focus especially on his statement, “My sheep
hear my voice”
And, of course, it also happens to be Mothers’ Day, a
celebration that began to be observed in our country in the early 1900s and was
formally declared by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914. We Christians also think highly of mothers and
motherhood, some of the greatest gifts God has given us, and through our
mothers, he gives us life and nurture and love.
Motherhood is, in many ways, like shepherding.
I read this week that a child in the womb can begin to hear
his mother’s voice somewhere around the halfway point of pregnancy, 20-23
weeks. Studies have suggested that a
newborn knows mom’s voice and actually even prefers it over others.
Again, Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice”
Indeed, to be a sheep that belongs to the good shepherd, is
to hear his voice, to know it, and to follow him.
The problem is, however, that sheep are sheep. And sheep aren’t so smart. Or in spiritual terms, we are given to wander,
too apt to stray. The sheep don’t always
follow the voice of the shepherd as we ought, but the problem is with the sheep
and not the shepherd.
And, add to that, are so many other voices, unfamiliar
voices in this dangerous fallen world we inhabit. Voices that would lead us astray. Voices that pretend to be a shepherd, but are
really just a hired hand that doesn’t care for the sheep. The voice of our own sinful flesh. The voices of other sinners in this sinful
world.
And then there’s the growling of the wolf, the predator that
would destroy the flock if only he could.
How do the sheep know the voice of the Good Shepherd? How do we hear him speak to us, even
today? How do we know that it’s his
voice and not some other strange or dangerous voice, or even our own
imagination?
Well it actually doesn’t begin with us, does it? He says, “I know them, and they follow
me.” He knows us. That’s what matters first and foremost. The call to faith comes from outside of
ourselves. The kindly voice of the
shepherd is heard through the preaching of his gospel. And his Holy Spirit works through that word,
that voice, to create and sustain faith in the sheep.
So, knowing the voice of the shepherd, is, first of all, a
gift. It’s not a voice we can discover
on our own, or come to through our own reason or strength. Just as he spoke out of the formless void and
said, “let there be light!” and there was light, so his voice speaks your faith
into existence when you hear the good news.
We hear his voice only through his word. We don’t look for God to speak to us in the murkiness
of our heart or our own flighty feelings.
We don’t expect to see visions and dream dreams. He doesn’t even speak to us in the beauty of
creation. It is through his Son, Jesus
Christ, that God reveals himself, and Christ speaks to us today through his
word.
The Lutheran Confessions put it this way:
We ought and must constantly maintain this point, that
God does not wish to deal with us otherwise than through the spoken Word and
the Sacraments. (Smalcald Articles VIII:10)
Now, as we said, sheep sometimes wander off. And so to hear the voice of the shepherd,
it’s best to stay close. Follow
him. Gather to hear his voice regularly,
gather with other sheep and be fed by him.
When we go astray, it’s his voice that calls us back to the fold. It’s his word of absolution that restores us
every time. A word spoken through a
humble under-shepherd who is himself a sheep of the Good Shepherd’s pasture. A word just as sure and certain as if Christ
our Lord was speaking it with his own lips.
We receive absolution, not doubting, but firmly believing that by it,
our sins are forgiven before God in heaven.
And that brings us to another way the sheep hear his voice –
through the preaching office, that is, the pastor. It is the risen Christ who calls pastors into
office in his church, just as he charged St. Peter, “feed my sheep, take care
of my lambs” So does he give us under-shepherds to point us to himself, the Good
Shepherd.
The pastor is not the boss of the church, the dictator or
chief executive. He’s not the one with
the final say about anything and everything around here. But he is the one charged to speak, preach,
teach, admonish, encourage and proclaim the whole counsel of God, which is to
say, give us the voice of Jesus.
It is through the voice of that under-shepherd that you hear
the voice of the Good Shepherd proclaimed and expounded, preached and
taught. When faithful pastors point you
again and again to Christ the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the
sheep, you hear the voice of Jesus.
And we hear the voice of our Good Shepherd, perhaps most
poignantly, when he invites us to his meal.
“This is my body given for you, this is my blood, shed for you for the
forgiveness of sins.” With Christ’s own words we receive his Sacrament. When you receive this gift, and those words
make it so personal, “for you”, you hear the voice of the Good Shepherd.
And his voice assures us:
No one can snatch us out of his hand, or from the Father’s hand, for
Jesus and the Father are one. The Good
Shepherd is competent, powerful, protective, and, of course good. No enemy can get one over on him. If he can defeat even death itself, he can
keep you in his care. If he’s one with
the Father, then all things are in his hands, and now one can take you from
him.
Christ is our Good Shepherd, and we are his sheep. Thanks be to God. The sheep hear his voice. Thanks be to God. Let us ever follow him and always into green
pastures, still waters, and restoration of our souls. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me,
and you, all the days of our lives, and we will dwell in the house of the Good
Shepherd forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment