THE VOICE OF JESUS
May 10, 2014
Westmount Park United Church
In Jesus’ time, sheep folds often housed flocks belonging to several shepherds which would all be together at night, and then in the daytime each shepherd would gather together his own animals and lead them out into the pasture lands. Sheep would learn to recognize their own shepherd and go with him whenever he came. All a shepherd had to do was call out to his sheep and they would recognize his voice and follow him. It is that sort of communal enclosure, with many sheep and several shepherds, which is the basis for the analogies Jesus draws in the tenth chapter of John’s gospel. Jesus describes himself as the true shepherd who comes into the fold by the gate to care for his sheep, as compared with a thief who climbs into the fold by another way in order to cause harm to the sheep. Jesus, the good shepherd, comes and calls to his sheep and they recognize his voice and follow him out into the pastures. For the sheep to be well protected they must follow the voice of their own shepherd and not the voice of a thief or bandit. Jesus is like the true shepherd of the sheep. He is our good shepherd. For us to be safe and secure we must listen for his voice and then follow where he leads us. If we pay heed to other voices and follow their leading we will not be guided in the way that we should go. We must listen only to the voice of Jesus, our good and true shepherd.
When John tells us that we are to pay heed to the voice of Jesus he stands in the tradition of the Hebrew scriptures which instruct the people of Israel to obey God’s commandments by being attentive to God’s voice. In the Book of Exodus Moses tells the Israelites to, “Listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in God’s sight, and give heed to God’s commandments and keep all God’s statutes. [Exodus 15:26] In Deuteronomy it says, “The Lord your God you shall follow, God alone you shall fear, God’s commandments you shall keep, God’s voice you shall obey.” [Deuteronomy 13:4] And Psalm 95 declares: “The Lord is our God, and we are the people of God’s pasture, and the sheep of God’s hand. O that today you would listen to God’s voice!” [Psalm 95:7]
The voice of God is sometimes described as loud and thunderous, as in Psalm 29: “The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness. The voice of the Lord causes the oaks to whirl, and strips the forest bare; and in God’s temple all say, ‘Glory!'” [Psalm 29:4‑5,7‑9] But at other times the voice of God is described as a quiet murmur, as in this description of Elijah’s encounter with God on the mountain: “A great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.” [I Kings 19:11‑12] God spoke to Elijah not in the wind, nor the earthquake, nor the fire, but in a still small voice.
The voice of God is sometimes thunderously loud and sometimes but a quiet murmur. Likewise the voice of Jesus is sometimes an anguished cry, like his shout of agony from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” [Mark 15:34] and sometimes his is the voice of calm that quiets the storm and says, “Peace! Be still!” [Mark 4:39] In the Book of Revelation Jesus speaks with a “voice like a trumpet” [Revelation 1:10] while in the gospel of John he speaks words of peace and calm: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you… Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” [John 14:27]
To hear God’s voice speaking to us we turn, of course, to the scriptures, to words written by those who were especially inspired by God, in order that the Word of God in the bible might become the living voice of God speaking to us today. But God’s voice can also be heard in other places, and if we listen perceptively and attentively we will hear God calling out to us, both in loud thunderous tones and in quiet soft murmurs from people and places in the world around us.
Because God’s voice sometimes comes to us in soft whispers we need quiet moments, times set apart from the hectic rush and strident clamour of our lives. In a moment we will sing an old gospel hymn about seeking quiet and peace in a garden in the early morning, in order to hear the voice of Jesus speaking to us.
I come to the garden alone,
While the dew is still on the roses;
And the voice I hear falling on my ear;
The Son of God discloses.
The Son of God is disclosed by standing apart from the hectic clamour of daily living and entering the quiet garden of personal retreat. But then, in the third verse of this hymn, the voice of Jesus calls out, not from the quiet solitude of a garden, but from the strident and anguished world which we left behind in order to have time and place apart in which to hear the voice of Jesus.
I’d stay in the garden with him,
Though the night around me be falling,
But he bids me go; through the voice of woe,
His voice to me is calling.
The voices of woe in our world, the voices of poverty, of war, of domestic violence, of victimization, of discrimination, are the voice of Jesus calling to us, pointing out to us the ways we must go in order to follow where our good shepherd is leading us.
The voice of God is to be heard in both the loud thunder of cries of anguish and in times of quiet solitude when we draw apart from the hectic world that is too loud and too busy to allow spaces for listening to God. The voice of God is both loud and quiet and the messages it carries are both comforting and challenging. The voice of Jesus heals our wounded spirits and then it thrusts us back out from the garden to minister to the woes of the world God loves. When Jesus describes himself as a shepherd leading the sheep he gives us an image of comfort and safety. But at other times Jesus describes following him as risky and challenging, even dangerous. “If any want to become my followers,” says Jesus, “let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.” [Luke 9:23‑24] Again he says, “Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” [Luke 14:27]
The voice of God is heard in loud cries and in quiet murmurs. The voice of Jesus is heard in words of comfort and assurance and in challenges to risk and to sacrifice. The voice of God is heard from strangers we have never met before and from the person who daily sits on the other side of the breakfast table. Many voices must be given full attention if we are to heed the voice of our good shepherd and follow where he leads us in the way of love for all our neighbours near and far.