Easter
John 10:22–30
22At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. 24So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." 25Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, 26but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. 27My sheep hear [the sound of] my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 30I and the Father are one."
Sheep, sheep everywhere! Bleating, hoofs stomping, hundreds of little, white balls of fur scurrying along the countryside. They hear the voice of their shepherd and come running to him. Sheep know the voice; they recognize their shepherd and they follow him wherever he goes. He leads them to green pasture; he leads them to water; he protects them from wild animals so they trust him and follow him.
Then in comes a stranger; a voice they don't recognize, and the sheep run, they scatter, the flock is dispersed. Sheep don't follow a stranger. They are fearful and timid. They run from a shepherd they don't recognize. They are frightened by a voice they don't know.
Today we hear the voice of our Good Shepherd. The Lamb in the midst of the throne who was slain has become the Shepherd and will guide us to springs of living water and God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. (Rev. 7:17). The shepherd calls, "Come unto me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." (Mat 11). The voice of the shepherd has come to "proclaim good news to the poor; liberty to the captives; recovery of sight to the blind; liberty to those who are oppressed; those who proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Luke 4:18-20. We hear his voice saying: "Your sins are forgiven; go and sin no more." (John 8:11 paraphrase). "Take heart, my son, your sins are forgiven." (Mat 9:2). The voice of Jesus is calling, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, for the forgiveness of sins." (Acts 2:38 parap.) Hear his voice: "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again." John 10:11. "I know my own and my own know me." (John 10:14). "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live." John 11:25. Listen to the sound of his voice: "Take eat, this is my body. Take drink, this is my blood." (Mat 26). "However eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." (John 6:54). His voice is gracious; it is loving; it is kind and his words are full of life and salvation. When we are disturbed, afraid, tired, lost; The sound of his voice consoles us, comforts us, and gives us peace. When death is approaching, when we are sick and bedridden and our aging bodies are coming to their end, we hear the voice of the Shepherd who is always with us and comforts us with his rod and staff as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
His sheep hear his voice. Many sheep are there who don't listen; who refuse to hear his voice; who deny or reject his voice. Many are those who don't believe him, who run from him. Many are the sheep who take his voice for granted, are lukewarm, apathetic, who listen only once in a while when they aren't busy doing something else; for whom obeying his command to come to the Lord's house to hear his word and receive the sacraments is not a priority, but something to do when it is convenient. That is all of us at times. At times when we lose interest in hearing and learning his Word. At those times when we are too tired. At those times when his word is not convenient for us because He leads us to places we don't want to go, to do things we don't want to do. When he tells us to love our enemies, and we refuse. When he tells us to forgive those who sin against us, and we do not want to. When he tells us to turn the other cheek; or feed the hungry; or walk the extra mile for someone. Such words are not convenient for us, they frighten us, they go against the selfish desires of our flesh. At such times we don't really mean it when we pray, "Thy will be done." At such times we are not acting like his sheep, we are straying from his flock, we leave the fold.
We pray: "Dear Lord, you are our Good Shepherd, we confess the many times we have strayed from you. Forgive us when we wander. Come, search for us, bring us back, and ever preserve us in your flock."
"My sheep hear my voice... and they follow me." Here He makes a distinction between his sheep and sheep that are not his. Those who are truly his sheep scurry toward his voice; they run to it; they feed on it; they delight in it; they can't get enough of it. For it is his word that cleanse us from sin; it is his word that give us life; it is his words that raise us from the dead. His sheep gather to hear his words and receive them in the Sacrament every chance they can. His sheep desire it; they hunger for it. For the words he speaks are the source of our Christian life. Our life flows from right here where his word is heard and his body and blood are received. Here is the fountain and source of all life.
His sheep hear His words, not the words of another shepherd. For like animal sheep, they run from strangers; they flee from the voice they don't recognize. There are many voices today calling out, "Come to me. I will be your shepherd." But they are not his voice. They are strangers, robbers, thieves, and wolves. His sheep flee from these strange voices because they steal and scatter the sheep. Our reading from Acts tells us, "Fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, and men will arise among you speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert." (Acts 20:29-30). God tells us in I John, "Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world." (I John 4:1). The true sheep of Jesus test the spirits and run from the stranger's voice.
Who are the sheep who hear his voice? They are the ones the Father has given him. "My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all," (John 10:29) he says. The sheep don't decide who their shepherd will be, rather the sheep are given to him by his father. How did they become his sheep? "He obtained them with his own blood," (Acts 20:28) according to our First Reading from the Book of Acts. He is the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep (John 10:11, 17). He has purchased the sheep that his Father gives to him. He purchased them with his own life; by his death on the cross. By his death on the cross he speaks the words: "I forgive you all your sins." And by his resurrection he gives life to his sheep. "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish." (John 10:28).
"My sheep hear the sound of my voice, and I know them..." the Shepherd knows his sheep. That is not mere head knowledge; not just some information and facts about us. Rather, the word "to know" which he uses here means to know by personal experience; intimate relationship. It means he is united to us, joined to us, he is part of us and we are part of him, as St. Paul tells us, "In Baptism we were untied with Christ in his death, and if in his death, so also in his resurrection." (Rom 6). This is intimate knowledge, relationship, bonding together. We are joined to him intimately in the Supper at his altar for here he gives us his very body and blood which comes into us physically and is joined to us. We are one with him; he dwells in us and we in him. "That we may be one," he says (John 17:21) "just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us." The Shepherd knows the sheep, intimately. He is at one with them. He comes to them and lives in them. So closely does Jesus identify with his people that "whatever we do unto one of the least of his children, we do unto him." (Mat 25).
And their lives are transformed into the life of the Shepherd. They share in his life, hence their lives take on the characteristics of the shepherd. They begin to look like the shepherd. They begin to act like the shepherd. To talk like the shepherd. They love others as the shepherd loved them. They serve others, as the shepherd served them. They do unto others, as the shepherd did unto them. They forgive their enemies as the shepherd from the cross forgave his enemies. Their lives take on the form of his life as he lives in them and acts through them. And they share in his sufferings, in his pain, in his afflictions, but they rejoice in being able to share them.
"My sheep hear the sound of my voice, ..., and they follow me." The sheep follow the shepherd, but only the true shepherd's voice, not the voice of a stranger. But where does he lead them? He leads them to life. "I give them eternal life." He leads us to green pastures and beside still waters. (Ps 23). He leads us on the paths of righteousness. "He prepares a table for them, and fills their cup until it runneth over." (Ps 23). "And lo, though they walk through the valley of the shadow of death, they fear no evil, for their Shepherd is with them." He leads us through the valley of the shadow of death, to "the house of the Lord where we shall dwell forever." For he is the Lamb who was slain, but who has become the Shepherd. He is the one who laid down his life for us, but then took it back up, so he can lift us back up and give us life. He is the man of sorrows who wipes away every tear from our eyes. He is the Good Shepherd. He leads us through the valley of death unto life eternal.
Hear, then, the sound of his voice. It is the sound of Easter; the voice of the risen Lamb who has become our Shepherd. The voice of him who says, "I forgive you all your sins." We hear his voice and he knows us, and we follow him. We follow him out from our life of sin and death and from wandering astray, we follow him to the safety of his Father's hands where no one is able to snatch us out. He leads us to the house of the Lord, and he wipes away every tear from our eyes forever and ever. Amen.