Two people were walking together through a busy downtown outdoor plaza. Suddenly, one stopped, cupped an ear and quietly said to the other, “Do you hear the lovely sound of that cricket?” The other also cupped his ear and listened but said, “I don’t hear any cricket? With the sounds of the passing vehicles, the cars, the streetcar, the hundreds of footsteps on the sidewalk and the whirling blades of that overhead helicopter, how can you hear the minuscule scratching of a tiny insect?” His friend dropped a few coins on the sidewalk and they watched how not just a few in the crowd stopped and looked around. Then he said quietly: “We hear what we listen for!”
There used to be a commercial on some of the U.S. television stations we get here in Ontario about a particular stock brokerage firm. The commercial always took place in a crowded area. One man would ask the other what his stockbroker would say about a particular stock. The other man would then respond, "Well, my stockbroker is So and So and it says ...." At that moment in the commercial, everyone would turn toward the two men to listen to what the man was saying. The commercial would end with the words, "When my stock broker talks, people listen."
The story this morning from John’s Gospel, among other themes, is about listening. Using the figure of speech of a shepherd, sheep and a sheep pen, Jesus said his followers hear his voice – like sheep know and hear their shepherd’s voice. And sheep respond by following their shepherd because listening to him on the one hand, enables them to find pasture and, on the other hand, they sense they can enjoy safe haven at night.
Listening is an intriguing process. It requires understanding, discernment and response.
To listen well means we need to understand what it is we are listening for. Hearing the ‘ka-ching’ of money isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, there are times when it’s appropriate to listen for the drop of our money. After all, as another advertisement said, “It’s Your Money!” We listen for indications of whether our money will be safer with this particular company over here or that company over there. We want to know if this product will make us more than that one, if we choose to invest, especially for our future and retirement. We desire to be the wisest managers we can be of the resources we have earned and been given.
Listening for the voice of Jesus and listening attentively to what Jesus says results in a real and meaningful life – even an abundant life, Jesus said.
To listen well also means we need to discern between competing voices. In the financial field, this can be tricky. And I know when I am out of my element! I’m like that fellow in the television ad who is in the financial advisor’s office trying to figure out how to invest his money. This product looks good, but then so does this other opportunity, and someone else suggests something else. Confusion reigns as the man’s papers scatter all over the floor. Then the wise financial advisor puts another piece of paper in front of him and says: “This is the one. It has all that you want.” No more worries, it seems. He hopes he has listened to the right voice and responded well.
Jesus clearly understood this process of listening with understanding, discernment and response. He came among his own people but some, especially the religious leadership, simply reacted. They chose not even to try to understand, not even to try to discern whether or not Jesus was from God. Thus they chose not to respond to him as the Good Shepherd. That is why his opponents had so much difficulty with him and had no idea what he was talking about when he told them the story about the sheep, the sheep pen and the shepherd. Their system of hearing was closed. They were not open even in the face of the evidence before them. They were not open to pondering seriously what Jesus taught. They were not even open to responding with joy to the amazing healing miracles they saw Jesus do. They heard Jesus’ words but did not listen well and were not open to the possibility of Jesus being the Messiah.
- Just maybe Jesus was from God.
- Just maybe he was “the Son of Man.”
- Just maybe Jesus was “the Anointed One” whom the prophets said God would set as judge over the world.
The evidence was clear, really. In chapter 10, verse 10 of our passage in The Message Bible, Jesus said: “I came so my people can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.”
In John chapter 9 (you can read it at home later), Jesus gave an example of that life by healing a man who was born blind. This was a life-changing event for the man – he was quite delighted as a matter of fact, just like you and I would be. Well, actually, he was more than delighted -- even overwhelmed might be an understatement! But not the religious leadership. They did not share his joy. The big issue for them was that Jesus healed the man on a day he wasn’t supposed to – on the Sabbath. Therefore, in their opinion, Jesus could not be from God. He couldn’t be the Messiah. They chose not to see and not to listen to the healing, and not to discern the meaning of the compassionate evidence before their eyes and ears. They were like the thieves and robbers, sheep rustlers that Jesus spoke of in his story, which they didn’t understand. So the religious leaders robbed this man of life in the religious community (synagogue) by “excommunicating” him.
But there were those who did listen carefully to Jesus’ words and what they saw him do! They listened with the kind of understanding and discernment that drew from them the response of following this shepherd who cared for them, who provided good pasture for them and who came to give them more and better life than they ever dreamed of. Not surprisingly, the man born blind was one of the listeners. He not only rejoiced that his eyes were open and he could see but he also heard with his heart the compassionate voice of the love of God in Jesus. And the man believed Jesus, worshipped him and followed him [John chapter 9:35-41].
Listening with understanding and discernment assumes at least two things. First, that we are open, not closed to hearing that Jesus just may be from God in an unique way, and that Jesus may be the Messiah who has come to bring abundant life to all humanity. Especially because he defeated the (seeming) finality of death when he was raised literally to life, to the Resurrected Life. And, second, we are open, not closed, to the possibility that this Jesus of Nazareth may be worthy of our trust – and that the voice of this compassionate, healing Jesus resonates with truth and hope.
However, in the story of the sheep and the shepherd before us, listening with understanding and discernment moves beyond this essential attitude of openness, which is the necessary first step. There is now a listening that reveals a distinct familiarity between the shepherd and the sheep. Jesus calls, and those who belong to him hear their names being called and come running. They follow him as their shepherd because they are familiar with his voice. They won’t follow any other voice but will scatter because they are not used to the sound of the stranger’s voice. To this day in the Middle East, a shepherd will go into a crowded sheepfold and call out his own sheep one by one, naming them. And his sheep will recognize his voice and come to him.
Familiarity – A person walks into her home and her pet dog bounds over to greet her, tail wagging for all its worth. That's one response! However, the cat lazily glances up from her couch as if to say: “Oh, it’s you. I’m hungry. Get my food, will you?” Two people meet, seemingly for the first time. They are cautious, as strangers are at an initial encounter. But then one speaks a word of greeting and there is a flicker, then a flame, of astonishing recognition. "Is that you?" exclaims the other, arms opening for an embrace. "Is that really you? How many years has it been? How we've changed, you and I! I didn't recognize your face at first, but your voice ... I would know your voice anywhere!”
Something like that happened to me about three weeks ago. I met with four friends from high school and church and our wives over fish and chips! It was the first time in 52 years that we had seen each other. And, yes, we had changed somewhat in appearance! But we all recognized one another! And what a wonderful reunion we had!
In much the same way, Jesus' followers, those who listen with understanding and discernment, recognize his voice because his voice is familiar. They discern its cadences; they remember its reassuring rhythms … as phrases in The Message Bible put it. And they recognize Jesus’ voice as the truth in the whole of Scripture because, as Jesus told his disciples, Moses, the law, the prophets and the psalms – they all spoke of him!
My spirit and understanding resonates with Tom Long, Presbyterian preacher and teacher, who writes of the experiences of Jesus’ followers today:
“Over and again, in times of distress and pain, when they have not been sure that they could take one more step along the pathway of suffering, [Jesus] has spoken comfort to them: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid" (John 14:27). Many times when their faith has faltered and their vision grown dim, Jesus has reassured them: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me" (John 14:1). When they were uncertain of life's purpose, confused about what makes life good and true, Jesus has called them anew: "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you" (John 15:12). Even when they have stood at the rim of death's canyon, staring with grief into its violent depths, over and over [Jesus] has spoken to them of hope: "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, they will live ..." (John 11:25).”
In every predicament of life along the way, at every bend in the road, those who follow close to Jesus (Jesus’ followers) today have felt his presence and have heard his familiar words, especially in the Scripture. All the days of their lives, he has been their Good Shepherd. And they know his voice. In the flurry of the many, many competing and conflicting and contrary voices that fill our world today, followers of Jesus listen with understanding and discernment for the sound of the voice they know and love the best -- the voice that speaks compassionately, mercifully, lovingly, hopefully and with truth. When they hear this voice -- and only this voice -- they follow. They do not respond to the voices of strangers –like the voices of selfishness, confusion, deception, fear, materialism, bitterness, judgment, hatred or strife. They do not respond to the voices of other shepherds vying for their attention – only to the Good Shepherd, to Jesus Christ.
But it is more than familiarity that causes the followers of Jesus to recognize his voice. Listening with understanding and discernment, they hear Jesus "call his sheep by name and lead them out." They experience the voice of Jesus speaking purposefully to them. The voice they hear is not spoken over a public address system, making a vague general announcement for all the world to hear. The voice they hear is usually quiet and personal.
Dr. Larry Crabb, an American Christian psychologist, wrote about an encounter he had with Brennan Manning, a former Franscican priest, author and speaker. In the Foreword to Manning’s book The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus, Crabb told how he and Manning had just finished speaking at a pastors' convention. Crabb asked him where he was going next. Manning told him he was starting a seven-day silent retreat the next day. He would not be leading it. He would be taking it.
The pragmatic Crabb asked: "Brennan, help me here. I know you are into that sort of thing. How are you different after getting away for a week with just you and the Lord?"
Brennan gently cut through his American (and Canadian too, I think) pragmatism when he answered:
"I don't know what it does for me. I've never thought much about that. I just figure God likes it when I show up."
You know, God does like it when we show up too! Not only at a special occasional retreat. Not only on Sundays when we come together to worship God here. But also when we show up regularly, perhaps daily. Just the Lord and you. To read and reflect on what God has said. To talk to God, to cry out to God, to praise God. For it is when we show up that we have put ourselves in a place to hear the voice of Jesus. We have put ourselves in a place to hear God speaking to us, lovingly calling out our name, summoning each and every one of us to follow.“God’s voice comes for those who listen for it” observes Commentator William Barclay. While another writer [A.W. Tozer] remarked, “God speaks to those who take the time to listen.”
As a special event during the Christmas season, a church drama group presented a "dessert and drama" production of Charles Dickens' classic A Christmas Carol. The church fellowship hall was transformed into a theatre. Folding chairs clustered around tables, all facing a makeshift stage fitted with painted backdrops of the tenements and blackened chimneys of nineteenth century London.
As the audience gathered and were handed their programs, some were amused to note that the part of the tight-fisted Ebenezer Scrooge was being played by the chair of the church board -- a gentle man of quite un-Scrooge-like generosity! They were impressed, though, by the skill and energy he brought to his part. He growled his way through the opening scenes, ringing out every "Bah! Humbug!" with miserly ill will. He shivered with fright and dreadful self-recognition as he was encountered by the series of Christmas ghosts.
The final scene called for a transformed and jubilant Scrooge to chase away the shadows of the remorseful night and to greet the light of Christmas Day by flinging open his bedroom window and bellowing festively to the startled city street below, "Me-e-r-rr-y Christmas, everyone! Me-e-r-rr-y Christmas!" Then Scrooge, wishing to bestow Christmas gifts upon the people in need in London, looked for someone to help dispense his cheer. He acted as if he had spied a street kid passing by. "Hey you, boy, you there!" the mirthful Scrooge shouted, pointing vigorously at this imaginary figure. "Come up here, boy. I've got something wonderful for you to do!"
But something beautiful and unexpected happened. A six-year-old boy in the audience, seated with his family who were members of the congregation, spontaneously rose from his chair in response to this jubilant and generous call and walked up onto the stage, ready to do "something wonderful."
The actor playing Scrooge blinked in disbelief – as you can imagine. There was now an unscripted child from the audience standing at centre stage. What to do? The audience held its breath. Then the person of faith beneath the veneer of Scrooge took charge. Bounding down from his window perch, he strode across the stage and cheerily embraced the waiting boy. "Yes, indeed," he exclaimed, his voice full of blessing. "You are the one, the very one I had in mind." Then he gently led the boy back to his seat in the audience, returned to the stage and resumed the play. When the curtain calls were held, it was, of course, this boy, the one who had felt himself personally summoned from his seat, who received, along with old Ebenezer himself, the audience's loudest and warmest applause.
Who do we listen for and listen to in our daily lives?
- Are we taking the time to listen for a particular voice?
- Who are we listening for this morning?
- The compassionate and merciful voice of the Good Shepherd is here for us! For you and for me!
- Are we open to getting up out of our seats and bounding upon the stage of life ready to follow?
For the Good Shepherd himself desires nothing less than to embrace us – to embrace each of us – saying, "Yes, yes, you are the one, the very one I had in mind."
Amen and Amen!