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Fourth Sunday of Easter
St. Stephen's Anglican Church
The Rev. Jeffrey O. Cerar, April 21, 2013


Listening to the Good Shepherd


Text: John 10:22-30

We often call this Good Shepherd Sunday. Every year on the Fourth Sunday of Easter, we hear Jesus giving us one of our most beloved images of Him: the Good Shepherd. I want to explore that image with you today, with special attention to John 10:27, which says, "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me."

Sheep and shepherds would have been more familiar to the people of His time and place than they are to ours. But if you have lived in sheep-herding country for a time, you have a bit of a feel for the poignancy of the image of Jesus being the shepherd of the people whom the Father has entrusted to His care. Sheepherding was common in Utah, where I spent six of my formative years. I came to know sheep. They are nice to look at, but there is not much going on upstairs. They are prone to getting in trouble. They wander off on their own, away from the safety of the flock where they are easy picking for coyotes or wolves or other predators. They get curious and find themselves entangled in thorns or trapped on a precipice. They cannot survive long without a shepherd to provide for their wellbeing. Jesus once looked out at the crowds who came to hear Him, and the Bible tells us "He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." (Matthew 9:36)

Harassed and helpless—that is what we are if we don't have Jesus in our lives. People who have no relationship with the living God, who have never been blessed by the embrace of Jesus, who have no Holy Spirit power working in their lives are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd:

Don't be put off by those sheep who will say to you, "How arrogant it is for you to judge my life that way!" Most of those who are lost sheep don't know they are lost. Don't yell at them and tell them they had better get their act together. Be gentle with them, and tell them about the Good Shepherd who loves and protects and nurtures. Tell them humbly and joyfully how He leads you to springs of living water. And tell them what it is like to listen to His voice and to follow Him.

Jesus said:

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. [John 10:27-28]

What did Jesus mean when He said, "My sheep listen to my voice?" This dialogue in Chapter 10 of John's Gospel took place in the context of the challenge to His authority. There were people who constantly were asking Him to prove who He was. They had seen the miracles He had performed, but still they did not believe. They said to Jesus, "If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." (John 10:24) And Jesus answered,

The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, but you do not believe, because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me." [John 10:25-27]

My sheep listen to my voice. Clearly, Jesus is saying that to listen to His voice is to believe in Him. These people were not His sheep, because they did not believe in Him. They did not listen to His voice and follow Him. It is sad but true that there are many people who do not listen to Jesus' voice. Some are the ones I spoke about a minute ago, who are too busy, or too proud, or too preoccupied with the things of this life to even say they believe in Him. But there are also many who claim to believe in Jesus, but who do not listen to His voice. We call them "nominal Christians." They may intellectually have accepted as true the fact that Jesus was a man who lived and died in First Century Palestine. They may even have accepted as true the Bible's statement that He died for their sins. But still they haven't listened to His voice by giving themselves over to Him as their shepherd.

"My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life." In other words, I share my life with them. They live in a way that they could not without my life working in them. A good shepherd's sheep are healthy and happy and safe and well-fed because their shepherd dedicates his life to them. In the same way, Jesus said,

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. [John 10:10-11]

Jesus' sheep are recognizable as His, because coursing through them is the blood He shed on the cross. It has become theirs, because they have surrendered to Him, and they trust in Him. His priority is their priority, and His plans are their plans. He gives them eternal life, and no one can snatch them out of His hand.

It is worth reminding ourselves often just what a precious thing it is to be able to hear the voice of Jesus. I have just read a book called, Miracle of Miracles. It is the testimony of an Iranian woman who converted from Islam to Christianity. Her name is Mina Nevisa, and her story is eye-opening for many reasons. One thing that particularly opened my eyes was her repeated statements about how we Christians in America, who live in a land where we can openly practice our faith, have no understanding of what an earth-shattering thing it is for someone in an Islamic state to become a Christian. In Iran, it is a capital offense for a Muslim to become a Christian. Many of Mina's friends who secretly became Christians were hunted down, tortured and executed. She tells the harrowing story of her own escape from Iran through Turkey, to Spain, the Netherlands, and ultimately to the suburbs of Washington, DC. And what the reader sees from her story is that when someone who has been a sheep without a shepherd suddenly meets Jesus, worshipping Him, praying to Him and walking with Him become the most important thing in the world. It is for all of us. But how easy it is to practice this faith of ours in a safe and comfortable environment, rarely having to lean on the Lord for our daily bread.

Mina Nevisa was the daughter of a wealthy businessman and scholar. He was a part-time professor of Arabic Theology. As a 17-year-old girl, Mina wanted to read the Christian Bible, but her Father forbade her. She was frustrated by the fact that she had no relationship with God. In Islam, it is all one-way. You are obliged to do your prayers 5 times a day, make your offerings, go on your pilgrimages, and keep the Sharia law. You proclaim many times a day how great Allah is, but never do you hear from him. Never does he do miracles. And never can you be assured that you have done enough to win his favor. So you live in isolation from the one you worship, and you fear for what he may ultimately do to you.

Somehow, Mina knew that the purpose of her life was to know God personally and to love Him. She longed for that relationship with Him. Through a series of events orchestrated by the Holy Spirit, Mina found a group of Christians meeting in secret. She gave her life to Christ and was baptized. The rest of her story is an amazing adventure of harrowing escapes, numerous attacks by the devil, and miraculous recoveries from illness. She and her husband head up a ministry in Northern Virginia bringing the Gospel to Muslims.

I think it was the Lord who gave me this riveting book to read as I reflected this week on Jesus as the Good Shepherd. This book showed me what it is like to worship a false god who does not love his people enough to know them personally and shepherd them to springs of living water. I was hearing what it was like not to know the voice of our shepherd, and to follow dutifully a set of onerous practices that are one's only hope of being worthy. The contrast is devastating. The God you and I know and worship loved us enough to send His only Son, Jesus from heaven to save us. Jesus is a God who lives. Jesus is our Good Shepherd. He knows our voice, and we know His. We follow Him, because we know that He holds our gift of eternal life. We stay near to Him because the ultimate predator cannot snatch us out of His hand.

"My sheep listen to my voice," Jesus said. Mina Nevisa tells of several incidents in her book when she heard the voice of Jesus, just as clearly as you are hearing me speak right now. Many of us have had occasional experiences like that. But it is not an everyday occurrence. So how do we listen to Jesus' voice? The believing Christian develops an ability to discern when Jesus is speaking to him or her. Most often, it is the quickening of our heart when we read or hear the Word of God. I have heard hundreds of stories of how people have made major changes in their lives because of the meaning that jumped off the page from a verse of scripture. Sometimes the same verse will come up three or four times in a day, as if Jesus is saying, "Pay attention to this." Sometimes we simply get a peace in our hearts about one course of action among several we are considering.

The life of the Christian who listens to the voice of the Good Shepherd is a matter of constantly seeking to discern what He wants us to do in the circumstances we face. One of my privileges as a pastor is to walk with Christians who are doing just that, and to help them think through what Jesus is telling them. Several of you are praying through decisions right now about how Jesus may be calling you to serve Him. And over the years, we have on numerous occasions sought God's direction for us as a congregation.

And the vestry is listening to the Good Shepherd's voice for guidance on a very important question even now. That question is this: To whom does God want us to devote our efforts in spreading the Gospel in the Northern Neck? You may say, "Well, everybody, of course." But how do you go after everybody? There was a time when churches didn't have to ask that question. They simply did their best to be a faithful church, and people were attracted to join them. But it isn't like that anymore. Most people are not looking for a good church to call their own. Their minds are elsewhere. Their interests have been captivated by other things. Their worldview has been reprogrammed by the spirit of this age. And so, we have to go out and find them. And the clearer we are in our focus and our strategy, the more successful we will be bringing them to the Good Shepherd, to whom they can listen, and who will give them eternal life.

There is nothing more precious than being in a personal relationship with Jesus. We worship a God whom it is possible to know and to love. We worship a God who is true and real and trustworthy. We worship a God who loves us. And we worship a God who is the Good Shepherd. We know His voice, and He knows ours. When we listen to Him and follow Him, He gives us eternal life. And no one can snatch us out of His hand.

© Jeffrey O. Cerar, 2013

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