Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
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Original Manuscript:
Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is the one whose voice we recognize. So what is it exactly that the voice of Jesus is saying to us?
Well, the easy answer might have to do with showing love and kindness to one another. And that certainly is true. But that answer fails to get at the fact that it can be hard to love one another, especially when that other person thinks or acts in a way that is different from us.
That answer also fails to remember that there are a lot of things about Jesus that can make us uncomfortable. In the Gospel according to John alone, there are many times that the religious authorities, such as just before and after this reading, don't know what to think of Jesus. Last week, we saw the people not sure what to think of Jesus. Even Jesus' disciples get confused a great deal by what Jesus says to them.
There are portions in the other Gospels that often make people today uncomfortable. Sometimes it can make people think "this isn't my Jesus." But the fact of the matter is that it is our Jesus.
The issue we run into here is why Jesus refers to us as sheep and Himself as the Good Shepherd. Sheep are notoriously stupid creatures. They go off and wander and have to be led back, less they fall into any danger.
We often act the same way. When it comes to our way or God's way, we often want to choose our own way, even when it ultimately causes us harm and even when God's way is ultimately what is best for us.
Listening to Jesus' voice often means giving up following our own way and following God's instead. Sometimes that means we wrestle with what Jesus says, and that's okay. In fact, even Nicodemus has questions for Jesus and has to readjust his expectations, as we read a month ago. Even a great teacher like Nicodemus needed to talk with Jesus and try to understand what He was saying.
Fortunately for us, we have many tools to help us listen to Jesus. We have the words of Scripture, the tradition passed down to us from old, and, most of all, we have the gift of the Holy Spirit to help us discern and learn. These gifts help us to hear Jesus' words from the past to see how they apply to our present.
So how do we hear Jesus' voice? We stop, we listen, and we compare what we hear with what we already know Jesus to have said. That way we can determine if the words we hear are from Jesus or from another source altogether.